A captivating response to Mark Twain's classic that is both a bold exploration of a dark chapter in history and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit -- The 2024 Booker Prize Judges
I'm demanding that you read Percival Everett's novel James, in which Everett takes the camera from Twain's Huck Finn and hands it to the slave, Jim. Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them -- Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
James is funny and horrifying, brilliant and riveting. In telling the story of Jim instead of Huckleberry Finn, Percival Everett delivers a powerful, necessary corrective to both literature and history. I found myself cheering both the writer and his hero. Who should read this book? Every single person in the country -- Ann Patchett, bestselling author of Tom Lake
Pure brilliance. Funny, wise, gracious; this may be Everett's best book yet -- Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry
Percival Everett is a giant of American letters, and James is a canon-shatteringly great book. Unforgiving and compassionate, beautiful and brutal, a tragedy and a farce, this brilliant novel rewrites literary history to let us hear the voices it has long suppressed -- Hernan Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Trust
My favourite novel this year was James by Percival Everett. By giving the runaway Jim from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn his own voice (or voices) and his dignity - James, not Jim - he adds a dimension that's missing from the original, and, I think, improves on it -- Salman Rushdie, The Observer, 'Books of the Year'
Scorchingly funny . . . A significant and exhilarating corrective to history, told in the most compelling of voices -- The Sunday Times, 'Books of the Year'
Playful and viciously comic . . . James might be the book of the year and ought to have won the Booker Prize -- The Daily Telegraph, 'Books of the Year'
Percival Everett's magisterial satire James [is] an essential rewrite of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn -- The Guardian, 'Books of the Year;
One of the novels of the year . . . [It] is both true to the original and turns it entirely on its head. Crackling with insight and wit -- Daily Mail, 'Books of the Year'
You will never think of Mark Twain's seminal 19th-century novel in the same way again, as Everett's version is subversive, clever and exciting, while also being a rollicking good read -- i newspaper, 'Books of the Year'
James by Percival Everett [is] such a brilliant retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of the enslaved Jim, resisting and rebelling against underestimation and oppression. A wise and profound book - and funny too -- Kit de Waal,The Observer, 'Books of the Year'
James by Percival Everett is more than a retelling of a classic; it is a reclamation, somehow a homage and a rebuke - a retelling that centres a man we only previously accessed through the lens of a child. It is a wry, wise, funny and touching book that I would gift to strangers on the street if I could -- Attica Locke,The Observer, 'Books of the Year'
Funny, moving, beautifully written, Percival Everett's retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a brave thing to do - but Everett is a fitting match for Mark Twain -- Margaret MacMillan, New Statesman, 'Books of the Year'
Original, funny, quirky and serious without being solemn -- The Spectator, 'Books of the Year'
Choosing the best book of the year is usually a test . . . But this year Percival Everett's James . . . is so dazzling that it deserves wide appreciation and acknowledgement . . . [It] will surely become a classic to be read alongside Twain -- Elaine Showalter, TLS,