Last night the National Book Award for Fiction went to Percival Everett for his novel, James. What do you think of the decision? Below is this year’s longlist; which have you read, and what did you think of the book?
Pemi Aguda, Ghostroots
Kaveh Akbar, Martyr!
Jessica Anthony, The Most
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Catalina
Percival Everett, James
Miranda July, All Fours
Rachel Kushner, Creation Lake
Hisham Matar, My Friends
Sam Sax, Yr Dead
Tony Tulathimutte, Rejection
I enjoyed James very much. The story had many twists and turns, which kept it going.
The book that I wanted to win was The Women by Kristin Hannah. It is such a wonderful story.
I’ve read Martyr!, James, and My Friends from this list. I’m thrilled James won. It is a favorite this year.
Geez, I’ve got some catching up to do! I haven’t ready any of these!
I read Martyr! and thought it was good. James continues to be on my list but I’d like to read Huck Finn beforehand.
Yr Dead seems really interesting but also quite intense.
I support your desire to read Huck before James. It enriches the James adventure to be able to recognize where the two books intersect and where Percival Everett has created a whole different tale. I think he’s brilliant and I love James.
Did you like Martyr!?
I thought Martyr! was good, I thought it was well written and I enjoyed the structure. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the ending and I will probably have to reread that. It’s definitely a ‘heavy’ book, which I enjoy reading, but I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone.
Thanks Nick. I feel like Martyr! is a discussable book because readers probably take different things from it. I loved the ending and it sort made the whole thing work for me.
James is a great book. The characterization is dynamic. James switches from James to Jim, the slave, depending on his situation and the people he encounters. The plot seems to align with what readers of Twain might have wondered. Highly recommended. **
The only two I I have considered reading, but have yet to tackle, are Martyr and My Friends. Will be interested in people’s thoughts on them.
Do it. Both are great!
I read Huck before James and would highly recommend doing for an enriched reading experience. Huck was a difficult read with dialects and historical biases. Don’t remember struggling so much as a junior in high school, but that was a long time ago! Found Martyr an excellent read. Other titles have been added to my to read list, but that list is already quite long.
I didn’t love Catalina. **
I have just finished Huck and am ready to start James. I agree that Huck was a difficult read, but I stuck with it. I really think Twain should have ended the book when Huck has his moral crisis about turning over Jim. Have heard nothing but raves about James.
Twain did walk away from the book and almost didn’t finish it. He came back years later and it finishes with a somewhat different tone. Twain was basically writing outside his abilities. He had no knowledge of an enslaved man’s life experiences.
How interesting, @Anne_Glasgow! I didn’t know that about Twain. Thanks for sharing!
I only knew it because of listening to Percival Everett talk about James. Then I got curious and googled for more info.
I ended up reading Huck + James back to back. I was surprised how different the ending of Huck Finn felt from the rest of the book so that makes sense. I enjoyed James and knew it would be quite different from Huck Finn (for obvious reasons) but didn’t realize how different the plot would be - no complaints on that front though.
Yes, @nick. I react almost viscerally when anyone describes James as a rewrite of Huck because I think Everett took great pains to insure it was not that. It is its own book and story and it does so beautifully much of what Twain couldn’t do which is tell a Black man’s story. I did as you did and read the two back to back so I could readily see the points where Everett took inspiration. James is a brilliant creation and I think the two books should be considered companions from now on. As Percival Everett likes to say, “ They are in conversation with one another.”
I agree with you. Percival said he “likes” and respects Twain, but you are so right. He couldn’t tell a Black man’s story. This book deserved the National Book Award.