Karen
The character of Jim in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has deserved a book of his own since the original was written, and I'm glad Percival Everett was the one to write it. This retelling sticks closely to the events of TAHF for the first half of the book, and then diverges for a different storyline that gives James a more active role in what happens to him. That's fine with me. I want a retelling to add something new to the story I already know, and the story Everett tells allows James to reveal more of himself than he would if he were sitting chained up in a cabin trying to keep his temper with Tom Sawyer.
The changed storyline also allows for some pointed conversations between Huck and James about fatherhood, friendship, slavery, and what it means to be a Black person in the US at the time the story takes place (and by extension, today). Having re-read TAHF in preparation for reading this book, I'm so glad this book was written. The relationship between James and Huck needed explication, as James needed character development, and this book provides it in a very moving way.
The character of Jim in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has deserved a book of his own since the original was written, and I'm glad Percival Everett was the one to write it. This retelling sticks closely to the events of TAHF for the first half of the book, and then diverges for a different storyline that gives James a more active role in what happens to him. That's fine with me. I want a retelling to add something new to the story I already know, and the story Everett tells allows James to reveal more of himself than he would if he were sitting chained up in a cabin trying to keep his temper with Tom Sawyer.
The changed storyline also allows for some pointed conversations between Huck and James about fatherhood, friendship, slavery, and what it means to be a Black person in the US at the time the story takes place (and by extension, today). Having re-read TAHF in preparation for reading this book, I'm so glad this book was written. The relationship between James and Huck needed explication, as James needed character development, and this book provides it in a very moving way.
My dad read this book to me as bedtime stories when I was a kid, and I've read it a couple of times since, but not for many years. I re-read it this week in preparation for reading Percival Everett's James. On one hand I was in familiar and beloved territory, especially in scenes where Huck is lying his head off to some adult and in danger of getting caught. On the other hand, the incessant use of the "N" word is shocking, and it's more shocking to me that I don't remember it being incessant from previous readings.
This time around I also recognize more clearly how subversive this book is on the subject of race and slavery, in Huck's worry about how helping a runaway slave is "wrong" according to the social rules he's been raised to believe, and how there must be something wrong with him for not being able to turn Jim in, and in so many other subtle and not so subtle details of the story.
If you can set aside the horrifying callousness towards black enslaved people, the grim blood feud that kills off an entire family, and the grifters out to rob as many people as they can, Huck Finn's adventures are also hilarious and beautiful in parts. But the hilarity is also mixed up with callousness. I agreed with Jim that they'd had enough of kings and dukes, but honestly, I'd had enough of Tom Sawyer's insistence on prolonging Jim's imprisonment so that he could mimic the Count of Monte Cristo or other romantic escapes from prison.
This is an important piece of Americana, a great satire on American morals and conscience during slavery, and a classic adventure tale all in one, and it's ripe for a retelling from James's side. I'm looking forward to seeing what Percival Everett does with it.
My dad read this book to me as bedtime stories when I was a kid, and I've read it a couple of times since, but not for many years. I re-read it this week in preparation for reading Percival Everett's James. On one hand I was in familiar and beloved territory, especially in scenes where Huck is lying his head off to some adult and in danger of getting caught. On the other hand, the incessant use of the "N" word is shocking, and it's more shocking to me that I don't remember it being incessant from previous readings.
This time around I also recognize more clearly how subversive this book is on the subject of race and slavery, in Huck's worry about how helping a runaway slave is "wrong" according to the social rules he's been raised to believe, and how there must be something wrong with him for not being able to turn Jim in, and in so many other subtle and not so subtle details of the story.
If you can set aside the horrifying callousness towards black enslaved people, the grim blood feud that kills off an entire family, and the grifters out to rob as many people as they can, Huck Finn's adventures are also hilarious and beautiful in parts. But the hilarity is also mixed up with callousness. I agreed with Jim that they'd had enough of kings and dukes, but honestly, I'd had enough of Tom Sawyer's insistence on prolonging Jim's imprisonment so that he could mimic the Count of Monte Cristo or other romantic escapes from prison.
This is an important piece of Americana, a great satire on American morals and conscience during slavery, and a classic adventure tale all in one, and it's ripe for a retelling from James's side. I'm looking forward to seeing what Percival Everett does with it.
A very sweet book about looking past appearances, allowing yourself to change, healing from trauma, and finding your people. The main character is an adult in his 40's just trying to get through life and meet his responsibilities when he is presented with a task that pushes him to ask more from life.
In the world of this book, magical people exist and there is a lot of hostility towards them. All magical people must register with the government so that tabs can be kept on them, and most non-magical people are fearful and suspicious of them. The main character Linus's work situation is comically hostile and Linus is basically shut down, distanced from his emotions, just to survive. As a caseworker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth (DICOMY), he investigates the "orphanages" where the magical youth are housed to render judgment on whether the orphanage is doing its job properly and should be allowed to remain open. Because of his ability to distance himself emotionally from his work, Linus is sent to Marsyas Island where some very unusual children are being housed. The children are unusual indeed, and so is their caretaker, and Linus's ability to keep his distance begins to falter.
At first I wasn't a fan of the overly black and white situation in this book with an adult main character, and the sweetness of what he finds at the orphanage on Marsyas Island. But as I read on, it won me over. It's a YA book for adults. It's an encouraging hug. It's really pretty good!
A very sweet book about looking past appearances, allowing yourself to change, healing from trauma, and finding your people. The main character is an adult in his 40's just trying to get through life and meet his responsibilities when he is presented with a task that pushes him to ask more from life.
In the world of this book, magical people exist and there is a lot of hostility towards them. All magical people must register with the government so that tabs can be kept on them, and most non-magical people are fearful and suspicious of them. The main character Linus's work situation is comically hostile and Linus is basically shut down, distanced from his emotions, just to survive. As a caseworker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth (DICOMY), he investigates the "orphanages" where the magical youth are housed to render judgment on whether the orphanage is doing its job properly and should be allowed to remain open. Because of his ability to distance himself emotionally from his work, Linus is sent to Marsyas Island where some very unusual children are being housed. The children are unusual indeed, and so is their caretaker, and Linus's ability to keep his distance begins to falter.
At first I wasn't a fan of the overly black and white situation in this book with an adult main character, and the sweetness of what he finds at the orphanage on Marsyas Island. But as I read on, it won me over. It's a YA book for adults. It's an encouraging hug. It's really pretty good!
A satirical novel in which Americans elect a fascist as President, who then remakes the country into a totalitarian state, complete with firing squads and concentration camps. The hero of the novel, Doremus Jessup, is a newspaper editor in the fictional Vermont town of Fort Beulah.
Unfortunately, my book club chose to read this in November 2024, as Donald Trump was re-elected President, so it felt sickeningly real. If you've got the stomach for it, let it poke holes in your complacency.
A satirical novel in which Americans elect a fascist as President, who then remakes the country into a totalitarian state, complete with firing squads and concentration camps. The hero of the novel, Doremus Jessup, is a newspaper editor in the fictional Vermont town of Fort Beulah.
Unfortunately, my book club chose to read this in November 2024, as Donald Trump was re-elected President, so it felt sickeningly real. If you've got the stomach for it, let it poke holes in your complacency.
Kate Bowler's cancer diagnosis when she was a young mother came as a shock. As a professor of theology who studies the Prosperity Gospel and its adherents, it also put her directly in the path of some of the toxic messages American society, and in particular some evangelical communities, send to people suffering adversity. Her memoir is a readable and somewhat lighthearted (given the topic) story about how she grappled with her illness amid the cognitive dissonance.
I read this for a book club.
Kate Bowler's cancer diagnosis when she was a young mother came as a shock. As a professor of theology who studies the Prosperity Gospel and its adherents, it also put her directly in the path of some of the toxic messages American society, and in particular some evangelical communities, send to people suffering adversity. Her memoir is a readable and somewhat lighthearted (given the topic) story about how she grappled with her illness amid the cognitive dissonance.
I read this for a book club.
Added to listEcologywith 10 books.
Added to listConservationwith 11 books.
Added to listExcellent Female Characterswith 31 books.
Set in the not-very-distant future, this is a novel about pulling Earth back from the brink of catastrophic climate change. The bureaucratic sounding Ministry for the Future is an agency of the UN, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, and tasked with figuring out how to accomplish that impossible seeming goal. It's headed by Mary Murphy, an Irishwoman with a strong memory of the Troubles, with staff from all around the world. Chapters are from the perspectives of many different people (and other entities!) experiencing changes. A few characters return repeatedly (Mary Murphy and her staff among them), while others pop up only once.
The opening chapter is a heart rending description of people in a town in India experiencing a catastrophic heat wave. I had to put the book down for a couple of days after reading it, but given the subject matter I was surprised that that was the hardest chapter to read. The story wrestles with whether drastic enough change can be brought about quickly enough without violence. Some of the chapters go quite in depth on banking and world economic systems and don't read like a novel at all. This is a wide ranging, kind of shaggy novel with an optimistic heart.
Set in the not-very-distant future, this is a novel about pulling Earth back from the brink of catastrophic climate change. The bureaucratic sounding Ministry for the Future is an agency of the UN, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, and tasked with figuring out how to accomplish that impossible seeming goal. It's headed by Mary Murphy, an Irishwoman with a strong memory of the Troubles, with staff from all around the world. Chapters are from the perspectives of many different people (and other entities!) experiencing changes. A few characters return repeatedly (Mary Murphy and her staff among them), while others pop up only once.
The opening chapter is a heart rending description of people in a town in India experiencing a catastrophic heat wave. I had to put the book down for a couple of days after reading it, but given the subject matter I was surprised that that was the hardest chapter to read. The story wrestles with whether drastic enough change can be brought about quickly enough without violence. Some of the chapters go quite in depth on banking and world economic systems and don't read like a novel at all. This is a wide ranging, kind of shaggy novel with an optimistic heart.
