Percival Everett
Author of Erasure
About the Author
Percival Everett is a professor of English at the University of Southern California.
Works by Percival Everett
A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett & James Kincaid (A… (2004) 94 copies
The Book of Training by Colonel Hap Thompson of Roanoke, VA, 1843: Annotated From the Library of John C. Calhoun (2019) 11 copies
Ploughshares, Fall 2014 4 copies
The Appropriation of Cultures 2 copies
Châtiment 1 copy
Associated Works
Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African-American Fiction (1990) — Contributor — 270 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1956
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Ft. Gordon, Georgia, USA
- Places of residence
- Los Angeles, California, USA
Columbia, South Carolina, USA - Education
- Brown University (MFA/Writing)
University of Miami (BA/Philosophy) - Occupations
- professor
- Organizations
- Fellowship of Southern Writers
University of Southern California - Awards and honors
- Hillsdale Award for Fiction (2001)
American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award ( [2003])
PEN Center USA Award for Fiction (2006)
New American Writing Award
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Fiction
PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award (show all 7)
Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award (2022)
Members
Discussions
AMERICAN AUTHORS CHALLENGE--AUGUST 2023--PERCIVAL EVERETT in 75 Books Challenge for 2023 (February 4)
Is this (name a book!) worth finishing? in Book talk (March 2023)
Reviews
Lists
USA Road Trip (1)
ScaredyKIT 2023 (1)
Books Read in 2022 (10)
Diverse Horror (1)
Read These Too (1)
Black Authors (2)
Gimmicks (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 46
- Also by
- 11
- Members
- 4,222
- Popularity
- #5,951
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 240
- ISBNs
- 177
- Languages
- 5
- Favorited
- 12
James by Percival Everett is the reimagining of the story of Huck Finn’s runaway adventure, from the viewpoint of the enslaved person Jim. Mr. Everett is a published author and educator at the University of Southern California.
When Jim hears he’s going to be sold to a man in New Orleans, he decides to escape. He does separate from his wife and daughter for the time being, but he has to be careful since 1840s Missouri is no place for an escaped slave.
Huck Finn, meanwhile, fakes his own death to get away from his abusive father. The two embark on an adventure down the Mighty Mississippi hoping to reach free states.
I haven’t read Mark Twain’s The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn in a long time, but I do remember the highlights, and that I enjoyed the story. in James, Percival Everett retells the story from the viewpoint of Jim, the enslaved person who is running away after he was sold.
I found the story to be exciting, and very thought-provoking, contrary to the marketing which promised me a tremendously funny book. Frankly, I liked it much more for bringing up points of view I didn’t think of while entertaining at the same time.
The fact that Mr. Everett stayed true to Twain’s story, characters, and style while creating a different work is a feat all by itself. I think that humanizing Jim, the enslaved hero of the book, actually shows the inhumanity that he faces better than just describing atrocities.
I do have to read the original again at some point, but I have a feeling that as an adult James might be just as meaningful. I’m glad that Jim got his voice, a clear, proud, and strong one at that.
Around the middle of the book, the author changes course from the Twain narrative. There are twists and turns, new characters, and a revenge scene that would make Quentin Tarantino proud.
This is a remarkable novel, that shows self-awareness and irony, sometimes in the same scene. I have read several of my favorite books as an adult (Treasure Island for instance), and discovered that there’s a whole new novel in them when reading with a perspective of a few decades behind you. This novel, an intelligent and fascinating retelling, is one of them.… (more)