Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

James by Percival Everett

24 reviews

linden_elaine's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Slavery, and Death of parent

joanna_banana's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is exquisite! Everett challenges the common tropes in literature about enslaved Black people in the south during antebellum. The scene with James and Judge Thatcher towards the end was perfect. It did end rather abruptly but I appreciated the non closure too. He said what he had to say, and James did what he had to do. I recall reading parts of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn so some scenes on the river were familiar and the con men definitely came back to me. This stands all on its own! I liked how he developed the relationship of Jim and Huck more. It’s darkly funny in parts too with gotcha commentary about white people. Reading this in the aftermath of Trump elected to a second term d term…some of those quotes are still so true. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War

georgiarybanks's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring tense fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Blood, and Death of parent

polo_g's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gun violence and War

shoshin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Satisfying yet realistic end for James/Jim. I want to go back and read Huckleberry Finn again now, which I haven't read in years, to see how the two books compare. I think they mostly line up in major plot points, but I want to check. 

The depiction of slavery was very realistic in ways that a lot of people are still unaware of, yet still sanitized because a great deal (but not all) of the violence takes place "off-screen."

The horrific abuse that Sadie likely suffered at the breeding farm, even in only two weeks, wasn't touched on at all, for example. Despite it showing in one instance how exactly so many slaves who were white could be born, it was still a very male-centric viewpoint.

It did an excellent job wrestling with the nature of race in a system where race determines every element of your life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and War

tea_time's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was my first Percival Everett book and I was absolutely blown away! This story was tragic, action-packed, funny, and redemptive all at the same time and it's hard to put into words how I felt about as I was reading it. I think it will have to sit with me for awhile. I will say that I believe it's a book that everyone needs to experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

caitlin_bookchats's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

What an invigorating and challenging read. Having barely remembered The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn mere months after I read it and not caring enough to re-read, I found myself 19 years later acquiring a copy immediately upon finishing James so I could better interrogate how it is in conversation with Twain's text.

Everett managed to bring additional meaning to famous scenes from Twain's work by shifting the perspective and write believable new adventures that fit in well with the tone of what happened to Huck (and Tom Sawyer) while still building James (Jim) as his own person.

I'm hoping I can talk my friends into reading this one as well so we can discuss because I truly believe it's a book that begs to be examined, with new revelations to find in its depths.

I switched between the audiobook and the hardcover and found both reading experiences to be excellent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Slavery

Moderate: Death of parent

James is considered a runaway slave and doesn't shy away from the violence and cruelty of slavery in the society around him. Things he describes unflinchingly but in varied levels of detail include

a lynching, being whipped, being condescended to and treated as unintelligent and inhuman, the rape of an enslaved woman, strangling an overseer, the implied circumstances of a "breeding farm" for the enslaved, the casual cruelty of white people who are not enslavers towards the enslaved, the active cruelty of enslavers, Blackface and a Jim Crow show

. This list may not be complete.

casey_sunshine's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I read this as part of a book club, and would not otherwise have chosen it, so that colors my review.

The project that this book undertakes—retelling Adventure of Huckleberry Finn and reimagining it from the perspective of Jim, the enslaved man—is clever and thought-provoking. As someone who did not love Huck Finn and does not love the Americana of it all, some of this book’s excellence is lost on me. 

I appreciated the choices that the author made to differentiate from the source material, and the correctives he makes to the White Savior narrative lurking therein. This book permits Jim and other enslaved people to claim their own liberation, form their own senses of self, and always be in on the joke and the subversion—rather than always the one mocked and humiliated.

The content warnings should not come as a surprise, given the subject matter, but be warned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Death and Death of parent

leslie_overbookedsocialworker's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail