I’ll admit what few American male writers of my generation would or could: I’ve never read Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or its follow-up, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
No excuses, it just didn’t happen. Those novels were never assigned in English. Maybe as a young teen I picked them up on my own and something about the style or voice didn’t grab me. That’s my best guess, because I was reading all kinds of fiction. Brave New World and Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies. J.D. Salinger. Anything by Kurt Vonnegut. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. Big commercial bestsellers like Harold Robbin’s The Betsy, Herman Wouk’s The Winds of War, and Airport by Arthur Hailey. I loved a good story.
Although I missed Twain back then, some years ago I read Finn, by Jon Clinch, which told a story from Huck’s father’s point of view. Excellent novel. And I’ve just finished this year’s incredible James, by Percival Everett, which tells the story from the point of view of Jim, who was Huck’s slave friend. Nominated for this year’s Pulitzer Prize.
I’d put off reading James even though my friend who’d given me the book kept asking if I’d read it yet. That’s how good he found it. But he also said it helps to have read Twain, and I admitted my secret.
I finally read James anyway, and I enjoyed it from beginning to end. No need to have read the Twain books that inspired this novel. James reads like an intelligent action story. The inciting incident happens early—Jim learns he’s about to be sold, which would separate him forever from his wife and daughter. He escapes, and Huck runs with him because Huck finds out that his abusive father is back in town. From there on, it’s an escape and return adventure, but beautifully written, entertaining, insightful about the plight of the enslaved, and easy to read all in one.
“I was as much scared as angry, but where does a slave put anger? We could be angry with one another; we were human. But the real source of our rage had to go without address, swallowed, repressed.”
James
Am I going back and read those Twain books now that I’ve read two contemporary novels about the secondary characters? I don’t know. Right now, I’m satisfied, and my to-read pile is long. But I’m glad I didn’t miss James.
5/5 Stars
