Old Man River

On my list of most anticipated books this year was Percival Everett's James (2024), a retelling of Mark Twain's classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1886) from the perspective of Huck's travelling companion, Jim, an escaped slave. Prior to embarking on the retelling, I went back to the source material and re-read Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1886), paying close attention to Twain's portrayal of Jim.

In James the narrative is changed from Huck's first person account, to the point of view of the enslaved man Jim - who wishes to be called by his proper name. The novel neatly parallels the original story, so readers experience familiar scenes -  like being bitten by the snake, meeting the Duke and King - but from James' perspective. Everett then crafts new scenes so we can see what happened to James while he was left alone on the island or the raft while Huck was off on his adventures, further enhancing the original story.  

In Everett's hands, slaves are literate, witty and forthright, simplifying their speech and becoming the caricatures expected of them when in the presence of white people. Speaking in a slave patois, they are disregarded and viewed as unintelligible by their masters. When able to speak freely, the slaves are erudite. James explains to his daughter that 'white folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don't disappoint them'. There is a hilarious scene where James runs language lessons for children, teaching them how to undertake 'situational translations' wherein they dumb-down their speech to meet the expectations of their masters. They must teach the children that their literacy must remain hidden to keep them safe.

James is constantly under threat - he is on the run, with a bounty on his head as an escaped slave. He wants is his freedom and the ability to purchase the freedom for his wife and child. James also wants to tell his story. With a stolen pencil, procured at a deadly cost, he writes:

'I can tell you that I am a man who is cognisant of his world, a man who has a family, who loves a family, who has been torn from his family, a man who can read and write, a man who will not let his story be self-related, but self-written. With my pencil, I wrote myself into being, I wrote myself to hear.'

For James, reading is essential but also risky. He has a revelation when he realises that even if he were caught with a book, it would be assumed that he cannot read and is just staring at the pages without comprehension. He explains:

'At that moment the power of reading made itself clear and real to me. If I could see the words, then no one could control them or what I got from them. They couldn’t even know if I was merely seeing them or reading them, sounding them out or comprehending them. It was a completely private affair and completely free and, therefore, completely subversive.'

There are dark themes in this novel - slavery, racism, poverty, violence - but Everett skilfully tackles these with an edgy humour that disarms the reader. He is a master of language, a sharp satirist willing to challenge his readers, make them uncomfortable, and guide them to consider different perspectives.

Retellings of familiar and beloved tales can often miss the mark, losing the magic of the original story. In the hands of a skilful author like Everett, a retelling can enhance and surpass the original tale. James is a brilliant standalone novel which takes its source material and infuses it with the richness of storytelling. It is one of the best novels I have read in ages and I am making an early call that this will be my favourite book of the year. 

Percival Everett is having a moment right now. The author of over thirty books - novels, short stories, poetry - he had been quietly going about his writing for decades when the spotlight turned on him. I first became aware of his writing with his Booker Prize shortlisted novel The Trees (2021) a story about modern crimes that have a link to the gruesome lynching of Emmett Till. More recently his novel Erasure (2001) was made into the brilliant film American Fiction (2023) which won best adapted screenplay at the 2024 Academy Awards. Everett is a brilliant writer and I am so glad he has an extensive back catalogue that readers can enjoy while they await whatever he comes up with next.