Page Count - Episode 2

Hello hello hello you sexy mf’s for episode two of Page Count (title pending). I feel like my first paragraph always drags on for too long so we’re going to get right to it! Today I’m going to blabber about the ever-popular book by Percival Everett, James.

Intro/One Minute Summary

For those that are busy here is your OMS.

As you read James you might start to discover some familiar names, Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer is mentioned multiple times. However, James is not a sequel or an alternate universe of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn but rather unraveled and restrung together from the perspective of Jim/James the slave from the farm that Huck comes from. For the sake of brevity we will refer to him as James. Upon learning that James was to be sold, separate from his family, he escapes the farm with the sole mission in mind being that he would somehow come back and rescue his wife Sadie, and daughter, Lizzie.

Now with that out of the way, let us get into the nitty gritty of the book.

James

By Percival Everett

The Nitty Gritty

I always like to start with the positives of a book rather than the negatives of a book unless the book is absolutely beyond saving and ultimately a waste of your time. Fortunately James is not that; however it did have some disappointing qualities (but we’ll get to that). Also a HUGE HUGE HUGE disclaimer, I have not yet read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it is on my ”To Read” List but like wayyyyyy far down there so it’s gonna be a minute. Anyways, I think its incredibly important to keep in mind that I do not know the original telling of this story and so therefore everything I complain or praise here is in complete ignorance of the original. Good or bad that’s entirely up to you to decide. MOVING ON!

Pros

Percival (can I call him Percival?), Mr. Everett has constructed an incredible story filled with characters that you LOVE and so so many that you just absolutely despise. But the central fact is indisputable, these characters are all incredibly fascinating and drive the story forward in ways you could not have imagined (Again, never read the original).

The path that James travels in his journey to escape his predestined fate and to come back to rescue his family is nothing short of Herculean. And his tenacity to not just survive but to LIVE is a godly force of nature. Not having read the original story telling, I found myself putting my kindle down and trying to deduce where the story was going to take James and the different predicaments he found himself in. There is a point in the story where James gets bought by a musical troupe and he travels momentarily through towns as a White man playing a Black Man by using blackface. He wakes up one night to find a man from a previous performance touching him and trying to figure out if he was actually black because his “blackface” was TOO convincing. IT WAS FUCKING INCREDIBLE.

My favorite thing to learn about James was his initial eagerness to trust all black folks. In his mind he believed that all black people wanted to be free and that there was no instance where anyone could want to willingly be the slave and property of another person. It is this innocence that he carries with him through most of the story and through some parts of the story it is this endearing quality of his that lands him in precarious situations. James grows as a person throughout this journey and while is it the marring of an innocent soul that is the ultimate journey, you love James so much and want him to succeed you follow him where he goes.

Cons

Now lets talk shit for a minute. My critique is actually super dumb and not even a real critique but I didn’t really have anything else I thought could have been better and this (IMO) would have made this book from a 4 star for me to a 5. Anyways, Mr. Everett does such a fantastic job of telling this story he spends 95% of the book regaling the harrowing journey that James goes on. Which is fucking fantastic, when the meat of the book is good it’s reallllly fucking good. But the whole time James’s journey is with the ultimate goal of going back home to steal his wife and kid away so that they may be free. Super noble, we love a man that takes care of his family. Except Mr. Everett gives you (on my copy, the kindle) thirty fucking pages to tie up all the loose ends and conclude his heroic journey. THIRTY!? How are we supposed to savor the sweet sweet victory of black family during slave times in THIRTY pages?

Ultimately folks, that is my gripe with this book. It is one of gluttony and the desire for more and I am not ashamed about it at all. The book read like Mr. Everett (with respect) had a HARD 300 page limit and accidentally wrote an amazing journey in 280 pages, forgot to check the time and had to hurriedly write the ending. And like the ending is still güd, I loved every bit of it, the twist at the end that prompts James to go on another journey and the rescue and the escape is incredible but it’s ONLY THIRTY PAGES. I needed more. The journey to resolution ratio was wayyyy skewed. And it lowkey made me bitter about it. It’s like having the best dinner of your life and then when you give your compliments to the chef they serve you a travel-sized pint of ice cream for the whole table to share. Excuse me? I thought we were friends? Why did you skimp out on me at the end? I was ready to tip you really well and write a legendary review on google about you but then you spit on my face at the end.

Now obviously Mr. Everett didn’t spit on my face. I still entirely enjoyed reading the book I just don’t understand why the ending would feel so rushed. That really is all. I implore you to still read the book and decide for yourself if you feel the same way as I do and maybe we can lament or debate about it together.

Closing Arguments

The story of James is one of harrow but also of triumph. From a different perspective you learn about the adventures of Huck but entirely from the eyes and the mind of James, a slave to the times. It truly is incredible how Mr. Everett is able to retell what (I can only assume) is a cult following tale in such a way where it makes you want to retroactively discover or rediscover the old one. As with all things there are some things that could be done to move it from better to best but ultimately there is nothing I would want to have read from him that he did not already write. Honestly I’ve run out of things to talk about with this book and am just spinning bullshit to fill the words. Why are you still reading?

My next review is about Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, whom I love, and at the time of this writing I have just finished reading so expect that one to come out soon. There’s obviously not a lot of you that are reading these reviews but for those that are I am sincerely grateful and embarrassed that you would waste your time on my work. But grateful nonetheless! I’m improv-ing these articles almost entirely (except for the critiques) and honestly, I feel like I ramble on too much some times. So if you have ideas or critiques of your own about my work, please let me know. I won’t even be offended, just embarrassed. I‘m totally kidding. Not. But seriously let me know what you think and how you would like to see me improve in this venture. I’m not trying to make money off this but I would like to improve on the things that I do and this is a thing that I do.

I’ve been thinking about dedicating a couple paragraphs to a Bio of the author of these stories but I already feel that these articles are too long and you guys might just want to get to the meat of the stuff. But if that is something you are interested in, and aren’t afraid to read an extra couple of paragraphs (which I commend you for) then let me know and my next body of work will be that much more specific.

As always, thank you for reading. You are definitely not what drives me to do this but regardless, it is really exciting to hear from the few of you that have reached out. I genuinely appreciate you guys and I will see you guys next time.

With crippling anxiety,

Chua