Reviews with content warning for Rape - James

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

James by Percival Everett

196 reviews

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.

Content Warnings

e11en's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark funny reflective sad 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? No

5.0

Content Warnings

athu's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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

Content Warnings

readingoverbreathing's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny 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? No

4.0

When I first heard that this was coming out, I knew a Huck Finn reread was definitely going to be in order to prepare for the subversive adventure this would be. And after months of waiting for my library hold to come through, it just so happened that it was finally my turn to read this just as I made my own trip to Missouri. With the NYT Book Review book club episode ready to go in my podcast queue, I could not have been better or more prepared to pick this up.

All that is to say, my expectations were pretty high. And while in some ways I had a good idea of what to expect, I also had no idea where Percival Everett's brilliant mind was going to take this.

I will admit that I was not really feeling the first few chapters. With little more than a racist stereotype to go off of, James's character felt like a carbon copy of Everett himself transposed onto this story, which is something that always bothers me. For the first half, there wasn't much departure from the original plot, and I was dreading the meetup with the Duke and the King, whom I find pretty unbearable as characters.

But thankfully that's just when things shifted and Everett's subversion really began to take shape. I kept expecting him to pick the threads of the original plot back up, but, honestly, he never did — and I loved it. Now we were getting the fresh, sharp, and realistically brutal spin that I had been waiting for.

True to Everett's style, we descended into more and more chaos and violence, but all of it was brilliantly done. By the end, we were verging on Everett's characteristic absurdity, but in a way that was truly the best possible climax this reimagination could have had.

I still feel like the first half was a little slow and James's character a little too close to Everett himself, but other than that, this is truly such a brilliant reimaging and, unsurprisingly, worth the praise and hype it's currently receiving. I don't think a read (or reread) of Huck Finn is essential, especially if you're already familiar with the historical context, but it will do so much to enrich your experience of this book, so I think well worth it for those considering.

Content Warnings