Bourbon and Books: James

Forget what you know about that school day classic The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn - THIS is the wide-eyed candid telling of an antebellum adventure you THOUGHT you were going to read in 8th grade. And while it may be an unpopular opinion, no you don’t need to read the original or Tom Sawyer.

Like Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Fin, Percival Everett's James follows a similar plot - Jim, enslaved in Missouri, is on the run to avoid being sold away from his family and Huck is escaping his abusive father when the two find themselves partners of circumstance on an epic adventure. Don't be fooled, however, into thinking this is the same story. We're getting Jim's, or James as he prefers to be called, perspective this go round. Which means a delightful romp (said no one ever about a book on slavery, I know) where we discover a sophisticated and educated James hiding behind the social conventions the enslaved employ, portraying themselves as ignorant and superstitious, to avoid drawing attention to themselves and risking corporal punishment. We also get a look at the less than educated but surprisingly thoughtful Huck who grapples with slavery and the ways of the world.

Hands down, Perceval Evrett is a master storyteller infinitely better than Twain who always failed to make me feel any sort of connection to his characters or the perils they faced. Might I be biased by my deep love of sarcasm, the delight I took in the books subversive code switching, and my deep seated desire for justice? Sure. But there is something to be said about a storyteller who can write about slavery and this horrible time period and have you racing to the end of the book excited to see what will happen next. In other words this is a quick read and not a painful slog requiring a beverage just to get through it. #ifyky

Pairing this with a 12 mile limit, in a cheeky nod to everyone out there breaking the rules in the name of justice.