🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷 (5 Hearts)
Some books entertain us. Some teach us. And then there are the rare books that fundamentally change the way we see a story we thought we already knew.
James is one of those books.
Before reading Percival Everett's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, I decided to revisit The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The last time I had read it was in seventh grade, and honestly, I hated it. At thirteen, the dialect felt impossible to process, and I was so distracted trying to decipher the language that I never fully connected with the story itself.
Listening to the audiobook as an adult completely changed that experience. I found myself appreciating Twain's humor and understanding why the novel has endured for generations. But one feeling surprised me more than any other.
I couldn't stop thinking about Jim.
As the story unfolded, I became increasingly frustrated with Tom Sawyer's antics and found myself wanting to know more about the man whose life and humanity existed largely at the edges of Huck's story.
Then I picked up James.
Percival Everett gives Jim exactly what history—and literature—so often denied him: his own voice.
This novel doesn't simply retell a familiar story from another perspective. It transforms it. Everett invites readers into James's mind, heart, fears, intelligence, and resilience, revealing a deeply complex man navigating impossible circumstances with extraordinary dignity and wisdom.
I felt every emotion alongside him.
His fear became my fear. His grief, frustration, hope, sacrifice, and triumph all felt deeply personal. That's one of the greatest achievements a novel can accomplish—to create such empathy that another person's experience becomes, even briefly, your own.
What makes James extraordinary isn't just its powerful themes. Everett's writing is brilliant, balancing sharp wit, devastating honesty, and breathtaking literary craftsmanship. Every chapter feels intentional, and every conversation reveals another layer of James's character. By the end, I wasn't simply impressed by the novel—I was profoundly moved by it.
The books that earn five hearts from me almost always have something in common. They are rooted in humanity, community, personal growth, compassion, and the quiet belief that people are capable of becoming better versions of themselves.
James contains all of those qualities while simultaneously challenging readers to reconsider one of America's most recognizable literary classics.
It isn't simply a companion to Huckleberry Finn. It's a masterpiece in its own right.
Thank you, Percival Everett, for writing the story I didn't even realize I had been waiting to read. This novel deserves every bit of the recognition it has received, including its Pulitzer Prize.
It is, without question, one of the finest books I've read this year.