| James | |
| Author: | Percival Everett |
| Country: | United States |
| Publisher: | Doubleday[1] |
| Release Date: | 2024 |
| Pages: | 320 |
| Isbn: | 9780385550369 |
| Preceded By: | Dr. No: A Novel |
James is a novel by author Percival Everett published by Doubleday in 2024. The novel is a re-imagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain but told from the perspective of Huckleberry's friend on his travels, Jim, who is an escaped slave.
The novel is loosely based on Twain's classic. Some of the early scenes closely follow Huckleberry Finn, but as the two separate and Jim goes off on his own picaresque "adventures", the tone of the novel turns more serious as it explores issues of rape, murder, beatings and racism.
Writing for The New York Times, Dwight Garner praised the novel as more successful than many re-imaginings of famous classics, stating, "What sets 'James' above Everett's previous novels, as casually and caustically funny as many are, is that here the humanity is turned up — way up. This is Everett's most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful."[2] Writing for The Guardian, Anthony Cummins stated: "James offers page-turning excitement but also off-kilter philosophical picaresque".[3]
The novel was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize.[4]
Feature film rights were acquired in 2024 by Universal Pictures, with Amblin Entertainment for production, and Steven Spielberg as executive producer. Taika Waititi was in early talks as director.[5]