Every now and then, my husband, Lloyd, reads a book that impresses him so much that he volunteers to write a review for my blog. This is one of those rare finds.
Reviewed by Lloyd Brinson
JAMES: A Novel. By Percival Everett. Doubleday. 303 pages. $28,
Often, after reading a really good book – fiction or otherwise – I will lean back, think and wonder: “Could I turn phrases like that?” or … “Maybe I could tell my story with those kinds of twists and turns?”
Not so after I finished James, the latest book by award-winning novelist Percival Everett. James is not only a dazzling masterpiece, bound to change forever anyone’s preconceived view of our cultural heritage; it is also deviously profound and so cleverly constructed (and so real) that I waited a week before I could screw up the courage to read the final five pages.
I am a slow, ponderous reader. I make notes, underline, reread pages for hints to where the author is going, and I feel really good when I am close to getting it right. Not so with this retelling of the story of Huckleberry Finn’s trip down the Mississippi, this time from the point of view of Huck’s companion, Jim, the runaway slave.
As Everett has the two face one challenge after another, interact together and alone with other people, he helps us learn a lot about the conditions of slaves’ lives and the realities of their existence (even with people supposedly against slavery). He also removes some of the veils of misconceptions about the abilities and talents of slaves.
Ten years ago, a white skeptic might have said the narrative is a bit of wishful fantasy, because, he might say: “No ignorant slave could write his own story.”
But, recent discoveries and resurrections of African-American (and other African) writers and composers have revealed the breadth and depth of thinking and creativity displayed by more than a few slaves and former slaves and their progeny.
Regardless the color of your skin, your religious or political beliefs, if you dare read this book of James, you will never look at U.S. history as you did before. And be prepared to be surprised.
To quote the best-selling author Ann Patchett: “James is funny and horrifying, brilliant and riveting…. Who should read this book? Every single person in the country.”