Author: Percival Everett
Year published: 2024
Category: Adult fiction (historical)
Pages: 320 pages
Rating: 5 out of 5
Location: (my 2024 Google Reading map): USA (MO, IL)
Summary: When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.
Review: I read this novel for one of my book groups (the in-person one) and am glad we did. I don't think I ever read Huckleberry Finn, but this 2024 Pulitzer Finalist is a take off on it, but from Jim's perspective.
It was interesting to read this right after the nonfiction Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo (link goes to my review). Both are about escape to freedom in the north but this one follows Jim, an enslaved person who has a much tougher time since he cannot pass.
Jim's friendship with Huck (and a later reveal) are well done: what is their connection? Why do they seem to get along given the age, race, and status differences? Both need one another and obviously get something from the relationship.
Everett's descriptions of the treatment of enslaved people from whippings to offensive language (yes, the n-word shows up quite a bit) to whites' beliefs about the intellectual abilities and emotions of Black Americans are difficult to read, but create tension and highlight life in the south in the 1800s in an effective way. For me the most interesting was the code-switching the enslaved people did between the "slave dialect" they put on for whites and "regular" (for lack of a better word) speech amongst themselves. I haven't ever read about this before and would be interested to know more.
I also liked that Jim kept books along the way, got access to paper and a notebook as well as a pencil, determined to write his story.
I can see why this was a Pulitzer finalist this year. The writing is good, the story compelling, and the characters worm their way into your heart.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Bookish
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