I try not to abuse my platform here by crowing about things on which I’ve been proven correct, but this week, I’m going to make an exception.
In July 2017, nearly seven years ago in the Tribune, I declared that we should consider Percival Everett our current Great American Novelist. I did this at the time of the release of his novel “So Much Blue.” Since then, Everett has released three more novels, each of them top-notch.
“Telephone” from 2020 is a twisty, heady mystery/thriller that was issued in three different versions, each of them enticing the reader to see the novel in a different light.
“The Trees” is a masterpiece of horror, mystery and humor, jumping off from a series of murders in a rural Mississippi town where each white murder victim is accompanied by the body of a man who resembles Emmett Till.
“Dr. No” is a satirical romp asking what it would be like for a brilliant mathematician (who specializes in the idea of nothing) to be kidnapped by an aspiring villain and made to do his bidding. The book combines slapstick, wordplay and philosophy in a way that is only possible coming from Everett.
Everett is an amazing writer in that no two of his novels are quite the same, and yet all of his work is unmistakably him.
Now, we have Percival Everett’s newest novel, “James,” and it is a masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of American literature, while also being a major achievement on its own.
“James” is a retelling of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the point of view of Huck’s enslaved companion, Jim. While the broad strokes and incidents of Twain’s novel remain present in “James,” retelling the story from James’ (the name “Jim” goes by among his kin) point of view, fundamentally transforms not just the story of Huck, but our broader cultural narratives around slavery as well.
I hesitate to give too many specifics because one of the great pleasures of the novel is allowing Everett’s deliberate shift in perspective work on readers who have absorbed narratives like “Huck Finn” for most of our lives. Everett gives the character of James voice and agency, things denied these characters in many of our most-read narratives about the lives of enslaved people.
The juxtaposition between what the reader has experienced through “Huck Finn” (even vicariously; you don’t need to have read the book to appreciate “James”) and what we see in “James” provides many opportunities for humor steeped in irony, you will laugh out loud at this book. At the same time, the novel maintains the thrill of Twain’s adventure story, while even adding depths to Huck’s character not present in the original.
“James” strikes me as the most accessible of Everett’s novels that I’ve read, and I’ve read many. It is warmer in tone than the brilliant and lacerating satire of “Erasure,” recently adapted into film as “American Fiction,” and is more of a page-turner than “The Trees” or “I Am Not Sidney Poitier,” two of my other personal favorites from Everett’s bibliography.
I almost cannot imagine a future where teachers assign “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” without also assigning “James” alongside it. Doing such a thing would be an amazing opportunity for discussion and learning for students of any age.
I needed no convincing that Percival Everett is one of the most, if not the most interesting writers working today.
The arrival of “James” is merely going to help lots of other people catch up to where I’ve been for a long time.
Welcome aboard.
John Warner is the author of “Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities.”
Book recommendations from the Biblioracle
John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.
1. “Never” by Ken Follett
2. “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus
3. “Return to Oakpine” by Ron Carlson
4. “The Lager Queen of Minnesota” by J. Ryan Stradal
5. “The Borgia Portrait” by David Hewson
— Milton L., Western Springs
I think I’m looking for a novel with some solid intrigue. What comes to mind is a classic of the form, “The Quiet American” by Graham Greene.
1. “Hello Beautiful” by Ann Napolitano
2. “The Other Eden” by Paul Harding
3. “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” by David Grann
4. “Horse” by Geraldine Brooks
5. “The Flower Boat Girl” by Larry Feign
— Chris Q., Lake Forest
If you like some history in your fiction, the sprawling “Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee is hard to beat. It looks like a match for Chris.
1. “Go Set a Watchman” by Harper Lee
2. “Holly” by Stephen King
3. “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” by David Grann
4. “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros
5. “Prophet Song” by Paul Lynch
— Jeff M., Oswego
I’m trying to think of a novelist who is more reliable in terms of delivering a combo page-turner and psychologically interesting exploration of human nature than Laura Lippman and not coming up with much. Her novel “Dream Girl” is my pick for Jeff.
Get a reading from the Biblioracle
Send a list of the last five books you’ve read and your hometown to biblioracle@gmail.com.
