James

Jim is enslaved on a plantation with his wife and daughter, whom he loves dearly. As he performs his many jobs for Miss Watson he overhears that he will be sold to a man in New Orleans. Devastated that he will be separated from his family, Jim decides to hide out on nearby Jackson Island until he can figure out what to do. At the same time, Huck Finn, a young man Miss Watson looks after, is terrified when his drunkard father returns to town. Faking his own death he tracks down Jim and insists they run off together. As the well known story goes, they travel down the Mississippi on a raft and canoe getting themselves in an out of all sorts of trouble. With a bounty on Jim’s head for murder, theft and kidnapping he is having a hard time figuring a way out of this mess. Ironically - and this story is filled with witty irony - Jim speaks beautifully and reads and writes better than most white folks. He hides his true self and acts the part speaking “slave language” and keeping his eyes on the ground. The promise of making their way to the free states so he can make money and eventually buy his wife and daughter keep hope alive. Along the way Huck, who has known Jim for his whole life, learns what friendship really means. No longer a children’s tale, this completely original novel of the classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is astounding. The same story told from a different voice becomes a powerful and historical retelling of the horrifying ignorance found in the antebellum south. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐