It turns out that all the book reviewers and book prize judges were right, Percival Everett's James was really really good. We had a great discussion about it, and it seemed to capture most if not all of us. One interesting thing (to me at least) was that the people who listened to the book liked it just as much as the people who read it. The dialogue would seem hard to follow to me but I was assured that the recording was amazing.
The use of language as a tool of survival was brilliant. The overt use of "slave dialect" (my term) to avoid provoking those in power and the way James gradually abandoned its use added a lot to the understanding of his own character growth as the book went on.
Many of us did not remember much of the original story line of Huck Finn. Lacey said this book tracked pretty closely, and in this content the plot line seemed pretty ridiculous, or at least improbable. That wasn't the point here of course, it was all about someone finding and using their own agency after being denied that agency for a long time.
The violence that James wrought on his former captors was much less troublesome that perhaps it should have been, but after so much injustice with no recourse, perhaps it was only to be expected. Frankly, it was hard to root against him.
So all in all, this was really a great choice and well worthy of having had three people bring it to the Christmas swap! Thanks to Margo for hosting us, we certainly ate well and had a lovely time.
On we go, our next book is Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. We are lucky enough to go to Sally Ashburn's lovely house with a beautiful view of a lake! In order to fully enjoy, Sally has agreed for us to come Sunday, February 9 at 1 pm instead of the 10th in the evening. It seemed to work for the group at Margo's, weigh in if this doesn't (or does) work for you.
See you all then!
