Oh what an incredible premise for a book, I need to read this asap... I live exactly where Mark Twain lived so Huck Finn is huge around here, the book's river is my river and I've read it many times at different levels of schooling. It's quite a weird one to wrestle with ngl (but in an interesting way). Man. Even just the title of James, that little twig of nuance in calling the character James instead of Jim, that added respect and adulthood that Huck Finn itself largely lacks... Putting this on my list for sure! Also, your voice sounds so great!
great recommendation, it sounds really amazing! slavery is a deeply traumatic topic in colonial america even if most people strangely prefer not to deal with it and end up perpetuating racist ideas. 😪 (it's wonderful how you've found your own way into reading by yourself: the world of books needed your valuable contributions!) 😊
I wasn't aware Mark Twain is not a household name. He is for me here in Germany, and I read him as a child as well as in my comparative studies at university. My father still reads him a lot.
Fellow German here: I also thought that Twain and his work is widely known as I think is the case in Germany. Maybe Twain's connection to Germany through traveling around and living in Germany contributes to that? He also wrote a famous humourous essay on "the awful German language" 😄
Well in Poland he's not, ad least from my perspective. He's books wee translated but they don't have huge cultural influence. When I think of adventure books from my childhood London comes to mind, I think we had some of his workes at school. By curiosity how is it with Astrid Lindgren? She was the author that very much shaped my childhood.
@@Nixx0912Astrid Lindgren is really big in Germany but apparently less in Britain. Fun fact: Huckleberry Finn was Astrid Lindgren's favourite book when she was small.
I've read James twice already, once in print and then on audio. The narrator's switch between the two ways James speaks was subtle, so different from the exaggerated voice I've heard (white) people use when reading Jim's dialogue aloud from Huck Finn. I have read Huck Finn 4 times (3xs for school and once on audio during a road trip for my son's school assignment) and I have a lot of strong like/hate/loath opinions on it but I love James. The Trees is still my favorite Everett novel but James is amazing.
I've been seeing so much about this book, I really need to pick it up. Also Willow I can't believe how different your voice is, even from 3 weeks ago! Lovely then, and lovely now ❤
My dad read Tom Sawyer and Hucklberry Finn to myself and my brother when we were children. I need to read this . We are British but my Dad was a wonderful storyteller who read allsorts to us. We were blessed
To prepare my reading of James I read both Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and I hated Huckleberry Finn lol (would've been great 30 years before it was published, but c'mon, it was 1884 already ) so I'm very glad of the direction Everett took James, absolutely a masterpiece
This was on my radar when I saw it on a goodreads list of retellings that aren't Greek. It sounds sooo interesting. Confession: I've lived 30+ years without having ever read Huckleberry Finn, despite growing up in the US, lol
So glad you are reading Everett, and James specifically. I agree it's a masterpiece. Pulling for it this awards season and for next year's Pulitzer. For those who've read James and want to know which Everett book to read next: The Trees or Erasure...then anything else he's written. He has a PhD in the philosophy of language and never ceases playing with language. He has the knack for locating the absurdity in any situation and leaning into it. He's always having fun on the page. And the darker the subject becomes, the funnier he gets. James is more restrained in that regard, but it's definitely there. This is my top book of 2024. Can you tell I'm a fan? Great review, Willow. Keep 'em coming!
Great review of a great book. I heard that you didn't need to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to enjoy James but I did read Huck Finn first and I do think it made me like James even more than I otherwise would have. The first half of Huck was good but I didn't like the rest of it much. James is great and I'm sure it works as a stand alone novel but I feel like reading Huck first was well worth it. I read Erasure soon after and it was good but I think James is a step above. I'd love to hear anyone's recommendations of other Everett novels.
First things first - your voice - wow ! You have been killing it with the voice therapy- sounds fabulous. Second, i just finished your book and i love it. Third, this book isn't for me but still loved the video
I read the first page or so of the book, noticed the dialect and was immediately thrown off; both because it seemed cliché at first glance and because I'm not a native speaker, therefore I sometimes find it quite exhausting to read books written in dialect. What you said regarding the clever use of dialect makes me want to pick it up again, so thank you for another brilliant video. :)
Is there a translated version in your native language? I'm currently reading James in the German translation and am surprised by how well the dialect/ sociolect has been translated. Makes it easier for me to read. Translators do such an important work, making literature accessible to a wider range of potential readers 😊
@@maika0395 Haha, I'm German too. Didn't realise the translation was out already. Now I'm curious how the translator handled it, maybe I'll check out both versions. Thank you!
Dear Willow, I know it’s a different kind of comment but I am seeking International attention on the recent r@pE incident which has happened in Kolkata, India. Please raise your voices as much as you can because some powerful men are behind this incident and we feel helpless here. You can read case details online because I literally have no strength to type it. It has shaken every woman in our country.
This sounds like such an interesting book. I only know about Tom Sawyer through cultural osmosis and I was a very bookish kid so I think it's normal to not know it if you're not American
Huckleberry Finn is a freaking brilliant novel. It’s hardly a children’s book-not even close. It’s a an ingeniously crafted work of high art that employs humor and irony to shed light on the horrors of slavery. In many eyes including mine, Jim is also the hero of Huckleberry Finn.
SPOILER! How did you feel about the end - the reveal of Huck's paternity? It so offended me. In Huckleberry Finn, Huck learns to respect James as a human, not as a possession and embrace a friendship with him ... because Jim is a good human being. Alternatively, James holds Huck as a friend, out of paternal obligation. I felt so betrayed. A white boy recognizes the humanity of a black man, but the black man only acknowledges the obligation. What an ugly spin.
Oh what an incredible premise for a book, I need to read this asap... I live exactly where Mark Twain lived so Huck Finn is huge around here, the book's river is my river and I've read it many times at different levels of schooling. It's quite a weird one to wrestle with ngl (but in an interesting way). Man. Even just the title of James, that little twig of nuance in calling the character James instead of Jim, that added respect and adulthood that Huck Finn itself largely lacks... Putting this on my list for sure! Also, your voice sounds so great!
great recommendation,
it sounds really amazing!
slavery is a deeply traumatic
topic in colonial america even
if most people strangely prefer
not to deal with it and end up
perpetuating racist ideas. 😪
(it's wonderful how you've found
your own way into reading by
yourself: the world of books
needed your valuable
contributions!) 😊
Oh, I hope it wins the Booker Prize ❤
I wasn't aware Mark Twain is not a household name. He is for me here in Germany, and I read him as a child as well as in my comparative studies at university. My father still reads him a lot.
Interesting!
Fellow German here: I also thought that Twain and his work is widely known as I think is the case in Germany. Maybe Twain's connection to Germany through traveling around and living in Germany contributes to that? He also wrote a famous humourous essay on "the awful German language" 😄
Well in Poland he's not, ad least from my perspective. He's books wee translated but they don't have huge cultural influence. When I think of adventure books from my childhood London comes to mind, I think we had some of his workes at school. By curiosity how is it with Astrid Lindgren? She was the author that very much shaped my childhood.
@@Nixx0912Astrid Lindgren is really big in Germany but apparently less in Britain.
Fun fact: Huckleberry Finn was Astrid Lindgren's favourite book when she was small.
I've read James twice already, once in print and then on audio. The narrator's switch between the two ways James speaks was subtle, so different from the exaggerated voice I've heard (white) people use when reading Jim's dialogue aloud from Huck Finn. I have read Huck Finn 4 times (3xs for school and once on audio during a road trip for my son's school assignment) and I have a lot of strong like/hate/loath opinions on it but I love James. The Trees is still my favorite Everett novel but James is amazing.
I need to read The Trees asap!
Put on hold at my library!
I've been seeing so much about this book, I really need to pick it up. Also Willow I can't believe how different your voice is, even from 3 weeks ago! Lovely then, and lovely now ❤
Thank you so much 🥹
Ahhhh! Can't wait to read it! Thank you for this remarkable review.
My dad read Tom Sawyer and Hucklberry Finn to myself and my brother when we were children. I need to read this . We are British but my Dad was a wonderful storyteller who read allsorts to us. We were blessed
To prepare my reading of James I read both Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and I hated Huckleberry Finn lol (would've been great 30 years before it was published, but c'mon, it was 1884 already ) so I'm very glad of the direction Everett took James, absolutely a masterpiece
I read this recently, and loved it! Definitely inspired me to pick up one of his other books.
This was on my radar when I saw it on a goodreads list of retellings that aren't Greek. It sounds sooo interesting.
Confession: I've lived 30+ years without having ever read Huckleberry Finn, despite growing up in the US, lol
So glad you are reading Everett, and James specifically. I agree it's a masterpiece. Pulling for it this awards season and for next year's Pulitzer. For those who've read James and want to know which Everett book to read next: The Trees or Erasure...then anything else he's written. He has a PhD in the philosophy of language and never ceases playing with language. He has the knack for locating the absurdity in any situation and leaning into it. He's always having fun on the page. And the darker the subject becomes, the funnier he gets. James is more restrained in that regard, but it's definitely there. This is my top book of 2024. Can you tell I'm a fan? Great review, Willow. Keep 'em coming!
I hope it's Everett's year to win. It's still riding in first place of books I've read this year.
Great review of a great book.
I heard that you didn't need to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to enjoy James but I did read Huck Finn first and I do think it made me like James even more than I otherwise would have. The first half of Huck was good but I didn't like the rest of it much. James is great and I'm sure it works as a stand alone novel but I feel like reading Huck first was well worth it.
I read Erasure soon after and it was good but I think James is a step above. I'd love to hear anyone's recommendations of other Everett novels.
First things first - your voice - wow ! You have been killing it with the voice therapy- sounds fabulous. Second, i just finished your book and i love it. Third, this book isn't for me but still loved the video
Just finished it today and Agree
As if you couldn’t get any better… there was a Rush reference!!!
Such an informative and interesting video, thank you
I only know of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn because I lived in the US for a few years. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known them either.
I read the first page or so of the book, noticed the dialect and was immediately thrown off; both because it seemed cliché at first glance and because I'm not a native speaker, therefore I sometimes find it quite exhausting to read books written in dialect. What you said regarding the clever use of dialect makes me want to pick it up again, so thank you for another brilliant video. :)
Is there a translated version in your native language?
I'm currently reading James in the German translation and am surprised by how well the dialect/ sociolect has been translated. Makes it easier for me to read.
Translators do such an important work, making literature accessible to a wider range of potential readers 😊
@@maika0395 Haha, I'm German too. Didn't realise the translation was out already. Now I'm curious how the translator handled it, maybe I'll check out both versions. Thank you!
@@Ghues you're welcome! I'm listening to the audiobook, narrated by Benito Bause and he does it so well!
Happy reading :)
Great review of a great book ❤
Dear Willow,
I know it’s a different kind of comment but I am seeking International attention on the recent r@pE incident which has happened in Kolkata, India.
Please raise your voices as much as you can because some powerful men are behind this incident and we feel helpless here.
You can read case details online because I literally have no strength to type it. It has shaken every woman in our country.
Added to the list, thank you ❤
This sounds like such an interesting book. I only know about Tom Sawyer through cultural osmosis and I was a very bookish kid so I think it's normal to not know it if you're not American
Huckleberry Finn is a freaking brilliant novel. It’s hardly a children’s book-not even close. It’s a an ingeniously crafted work of high art that employs humor and irony to shed light on the horrors of slavery. In many eyes including mine, Jim is also the hero of Huckleberry Finn.
Okay :)
I must read ❤
SPOILER! How did you feel about the end - the reveal of Huck's paternity? It so offended me. In Huckleberry Finn, Huck learns to respect James as a human, not as a possession and embrace a friendship with him ... because Jim is a good human being. Alternatively, James holds Huck as a friend, out of paternal obligation. I felt so betrayed. A white boy recognizes the humanity of a black man, but the black man only acknowledges the obligation. What an ugly spin.
✨📚
You're a masterpiece
🥹
@@WillowTalksBooks ❤️😍