The epitome of a retelling. The kind that does not feel contrived or produced to merely appeal to a woke market, the kind that is not more focused on stripping off anything that might offend a hypersensitive audience whilst taking no thought about artistic quality or literary merit, the kind that does not disrespect the original work but ennobles it instead. The kind that’s necessary.
This reader prepared for James by reading the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; because how can we make the most of a retelling if we don’t know, or have forgotten, what was originally told in the first place? Percival Everett revolutionizes the tale by rewriting Mark Twain’s novel through the perspective of Jim, Huck’s African American companion. Fresh from its antecedent, the contrast between old and new becomes more striking as Everett furthers the adventure by lending it more depth and feeling with layers that contemplate identity, family, sacrifice, the “tidiness of lies” in narratives, and even song lyrics, that justify prejudice.
My initiation to Everett’s work was through his humorous and modern retelling of Medea, For Her Dark Skin. As I delayed the reading of James, thinking that Medea’s story would always be more relevant to a woman, James continued to garner more awards — the National Book Awards, the Booker Prize shortlist, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction last month. I had to see why.
Published amidst another era of book bans that include several works that confront racism in the United States while Hitler’s Mein Kampf remains on the shelves, this book is a timely gift that takes the subject by the horns and transforms Jim’s story into a greater call to educate oneself, to master language, to read, and to write one’s way to freedom.
The Book-Butterfly 