James: Winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Paperback – 27 Feb. 2025

What a brilliant book! So good I read it in one day. It was a bookclub read which made me pick up something I might not otherwise have done. It was written so well and tackled horrific situations with grace. It shone a light on how difficult the divide of power was in America at the time and the horrific conditions slaves lived under. However what was underlying throughout the whole store was hope. Hope is what I took from it and I really recommend it.

A master storyteller uses Jim, the slave who is Huck’s friend, to hook us into a deceptively simple story of a runaway slave whose efforts to become free and to save his wife and daughter are the core of this book.Included is philosophy, history, drama, suffering and adventure in an America at the birth of the Civil War and the death throes of slavery in the Old South.A great read: fiction, fact, an allegorical rollercoaster of the realities of life for Jim and thousands of other slaves of the period. Somehow it informs while horrifying without ever becoming depressing or condemning of the white readers of the present. It does this through the matter-of-fact tone of Jim’s story, where he never shows self-pity but only determination and compassion plus a burning desire to live free.

A great read, a fabulously entertaining book, wonderfully written, great charactersHowever, iritatingly, the first five pages (before Part One) has 'The Notebook of Daniel Dacatur Emmett" written in the most Illegible and UNREADABLE script that I have ever seen. Who's stupid idea was that? I had to skip it - because I could not read the handwriting.As an example:'Here's my sagos in good orderMagnum bonner-jis hab bought 'Im.....'I realise that it's a slave writing it, but why not just put it in a typeface that is legible or add a translation? It's an unreadable scribble that I found annoying and almost put me off reading the book, which is so good, so well-written and a fabulously entertaining read.Note to new reader:Don't be put off by this first 5 pages of unreadable scrawl. Ignore it and tead the book.Note to the publisher and editor:When a new reader sees this AWFUL first 5 pages of illegible scrawl, it could seriously put him off reading this wonderful book and he could simply put it back on the pile. Consider putting a translation if you must put it at the front of the book...

I loved this book, Huck and Jim (the eponymous James) drifting down the Mississippi river on the run together with lots of very funny dialogue. Sounds like a jolly jape but is far from it. Percival Everett writes with great humour, however, the stark truth of slavery is always at the forefront of the story. As a white Englishman I couldn't possibly understand the effect of slavery on the black population in the USA. The matter of fact way that the characters talked about the buying, selling and ownership of fellow human beings made my blood run cold. That said, this is not a heavy depressing read and I would highly recommend it.

How important it has become to never forget the past and not to fall back into it. This was always important, of course, but as some try to remove history from schools and museums, we need the rawness of ‘James’ to keep us centred. Slavery did happen and is still happening. It was and is still horrific and immoral. Bringing the self awareness of the enslaved people to life using superior language and thought is nothing short of genius, showing how insults are as damaging as brutality. Thank you Percival Everett for your enlightenment and making James such a powerful character, full of empathy and grace.

A very good book with a very interesting subject. Cleverly told, delightfully written (IMVHO).A great twist that I won't give away in this review. A worthy winner.

I have rarely learned so much from a work of fiction. A story of terrible truth. Absolutely wonderful. Please read.

I was in two minds about whether to give this a go as I thought it might spoil the original (although Twain himself had already managed that with a weak ending). For the first many chapters I was relieved that the relationship between Jim and Huck was still magical, and it was for a long time highly enjoyable. Sadly that didn't last; hints appeared of a way to devalue it, and then once they were confirmed it was made ten times worse than expected, stripping all the value out of their friendship across the divide. That was disappointing, but the book still has a lot to offer, although it makes it a story about different characters from Twain's. Viewed as such, it remains a good read and has satisfying events to conclude it, but that ain't Huck, and that ain't Jim, even though it sho felt like them early on.