James

I should have known that I wouldn't love an award winner. We just don't mix. But I gave this acclaimed book - a Pulitzer Prize winner! - in audiobook format a try. It's a reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which sounds great but perhaps not a good choice for me.

Important to note for this review:

I'm not a big Classics reader and have never read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I'm not a fan of literary fiction or satire  

I'm in the vast minority with my feelings

But I went into this audiobook wanting to know what all the fuss was about. I appreciated the concept and initially I was very interested in the linguistic code switching done by the slaves in front of white slave owners. But this book dragged for me and I never felt pulled into the story.

I had expected to enjoy this book, but with literary fiction being one of my least favourite genres, this book left me with a story where the humour didn't hit its mark, and its dialogue-heavy story didn't hold my attention. 

I am in the vast minority so if satire and lit fic are your jam, give this book a try. 

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Percival Everett

Genre: Historical Fiction, Retelling, Literary Fiction

Type and Source: eAudio from public library

Narrator: Dominic Hoffman

Publisher: Random House Audio

First Published: March 19, 2024

Read: June 11-14, 2025

Book Description from GoodReads: When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers/listeners of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.