Do you ever read a book that makes you pause and reflect? James by Percival Everett is one such book. Historical in setting and still very relevant in subject matter, this is one book you need to get your hands on if you’re still debating.

The correct incorrect grammar of the speech of the enslaved people strike you first as a reader. Then you realise the author is distinguishing the speech deliberately. Then comes the characters acknowledging the incorrectness of their language while they speak in front of the white masters to dupe them into thinking they are ignorant and stoke their racial suprimacy. By then you’re bowled over by the attention to detail and the state of living for the Black people in America even during the Civil War.

The performance of a role to meet the while people’s expectations permeates the whole plot.

James is a retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain from the perspective of Jim as he runs away from his master.

Jim runs away to avoid being sold off but Huck has stages his own murder the same day, so Jim is now a suspect of not only being a runaway slave but also a murderer. The way Jim always assumes the worst during his extremely difficult journey is intensified through the fact that Jim’s assumptions are true. The story is sad in its self-realisation, its intense irony.

Despite being aware of how this story goes, the insight into Jim’s character and his perceptions elevate the reading experience. I was touched by the representation of the power of reading and writing in the face of oppression. The fact that something as small as posessing a pencil could get people killed not too long ago is something very surreal to read about in the second quarter of the 21st century.

Huck, in Jim’s story, is a well-meaning but white boy who ends up comparing Jim to a mule as an owed property. The author gives Huck a complex depth of character that is almost too heavy for his age but possibly too necessary for his personal identity and role inhabited in the plot.

Religion and justice are absolute shams in the society of this historical novel that hits very close to home and keeps up a commentary on the power structure of society. If enough people do it, it’s not a crime is a sentiment resented throughout the book.

Some books make you slow down not owing to its pace or disinterest in the plot, but the pensive effect of the plot. This brought me to a standstill to the point that picking up another book following this became a difficult task.

Jim’s identity in different settings is tested. The sad reality of a person of colour existing in society and code switching constantly to fit in, to not stand out, to not bring attention to themselves is written here in a heartfelt style that is not in your face but just exists as the fact of life in pre-Civil War America. Other characters in the story act as a foil to Jim’s experience. Norman, a Black man who passes for a white one, occupies a strange in-between space that confuses even Jim to the point that he doesn’t trust him.

The in-between space occupied by slaves who want to live as “good slaves” to earn favour of the masters is intense. The traitors to their own class are really people trying to make the best of the situation they have been thrust into without any fault of their own.

Jim’s adventure is through the people he meets as much as the geographical distance he travels. It gives a comprehensive picture of the society. Young George is lynched for stealing a pencil while Sammy is shot down for running away. People look at hangings as entertainment. All of these instances are explerary of everything Jim risks throughout his journey and then some.

The journey of Jim becoming James takes him through his share of trials and tribulations with an air of resigned hope. Sustaining this mood throughout the book made it a work of art for the readers to experience and absorb. A slave attempting to take back power in the backdrop of the American Civil War shows how little such milestone historical events really meant against the ground reality rooted in racism and racial superiority.

Have you read James? What are your thoughts on it?

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You can grab your copy of James by Percival Everett here.

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