Sisterhood Book Club: James

James

by Percival Everett

Now short-listed for the Booker Prize, a brilliant, action-packed reimagining of the original Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from enslaved Jim’s point of view.

Overhearing that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, the enslaved Jim decides to hide out until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his recently returned 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 too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

While many narrative set pieces of the original remain in place (floods, storms, unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad river-bank stopping points, meeting scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin) Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

RSVP to Lori Fabry [email protected] or Angela Durand [email protected]