James

A Novel

First Edition, 302 pages

English language

Published March 19, 2024 by Doubleday.

ISBN:
978-0-385-55036-9
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
1428082992

View on OpenLibrary

5 stars (3 reviews)

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illustrate’s Jims agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

2 editions

James

5 stars

Some novels grab you immediately and refuse to let you go until you have read through to the last page. James is such a novel. It's brilliant, astonishing, and packs an emotional wallop. I haven't read Huckleberry Finn in over 30 years, so I have no idea how closely Everett tracked to that book -- but it is irrelevant. As a sharp, funny, heartbreaking examination of slavery and life in nineteenth century America, James stands on its own, whether you have read Huckleberry Finn or not.

avatar for SocProf@bookrastinating.com

rated it

5 stars
avatar for pivic@bookwyrm.social

rated it

5 stars

Subjects

  • Fiction
  • Literary Fiction
  • Historical Fiction
  • Slavery
  • Fugitive Slaves
  • Mississippi River
  • Missouri
  • Illinois

Lists