To those who think that artists do their best work before age 50, meet Percival Everett (Dr. No; So Much Blue). He has produced some of his greatest fiction since he passed the half-century mark, including James, his hilarious yet angry reimagining of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Everett tells the story from Jim's--now James's--perspective. At his side again is Huck, as James, fleeing from Hannibal, Mo., vows to secure his family's freedom when he overhears plans to sell him to a man in New Orleans.
In making James the narrator, Everett cleverly addresses ruses intended to make white people feel good, such as when Black people speak with correct diction in one another's company but use stereotypically poor syntax when white people are around. That James occasionally slips up and confuses white people with his proper diction is only one of many brilliant details. Winner of the National Book Award and the Kirkus Prize, and shortlisted for the Booker Prize, James marks yet another late-career triumph from one of America's most original authors. --Michael Magras, freelance book reviewer