James by Percival Everett

This is a reimagined and expanded story of the slave Jim and Huckleberry Finn the way it should have been told. Like every slave Jim is very aware of the need to stay out of the spotlight but when he learns that he will be sold he takes the only path available to him and runs. Huck is running too and they both travel one step ahead of danger from slave catchers and con men finding life on the river just as dangerous as Hannibal. Jim has a big heart and he tries to keep others particularly Huck safe but there is no future for a runaway slave just as there is no such thing as a kind slave owner. The biggest difference in this telling of Mark Twain's classic is that Jim secretly can read and write showing far more intelligence and humanity than the idiotic white people he meets. HIs speech changes completely once he is with fellow slaves or free people of color as does theirs which is the biggest irony of all . All the songs and entertainment and speech secretly mock the very white people who consider themselves superior. This story also highlights the extreme abuse, idiotic assumptions and justifications made by slave owners. A brilliant retelling of a classic filled with brutal honesty and the same ironic wit of Mark Twain. A new classic is born. ​  5 stars