In this reimagining of Mark Twain’s ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’, Jim tells the story of his and Huckleberry Finn’s travels to the Northern states of America to escape Jim’s owner after learning he is due to be sold to someone else.
“White folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don’t disappoint them..”
The story itself contains many scenes from the original, including storms and floods, unexpected deaths and encountering scam artists. There are many meaningful conversations between Huckleberry and Jim and Huckleberry doesn’t seem to attach as much meaning to Jim being a slave as some of the other characters do. As there are other characters introduced to the story as well which makes this an interesting and necessary read. However, there were sections that were difficult to understand, especially while listening to the audio (there is a particular dialect Jim speaks with) and parts of the book written in a foreign language (French) as well. Jim seems cognizant of the code-switching he does and the stark difference in his thoughts, which are in American Standardised English, and his words when speaking to white characters which is broken English effectively only done for the white characters. As soon as they leave the scene, he code-switches again speaking eloquently only to other slaves, but broken English to white characters.
“The back door, the only one a slave would ever use was unlocked.”
At 303 pages, the book was very descriptive and the readers are introduced to a lot of characters, many of whom don’t stay in the story for most of the story. The ending was not disappointing, and ends with a very brief paragraph explaining what happens to Jim at the end. A large proportion of the book is actually dialogue, different characters speaking to one another. Set in Missouri in the 1840’s, the tone of the book is more serious than ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’. Part of this to be expected as this is written from an adults point of view, rather than young Huckleberry Finn. However the tone is darker, and much of the humour that can be found in the book takes place at the beginning of the book. Marketed as having a humorous plot, the humour can be satirical and also whimsical. I also wouldn’t begin reading expecting a lot of humour as the book is about a serious subject and even the presence of black humour or satire does not lighten it. The plot centres Jim, in a first person narrative, who clarifies his real name is ‘James’ near the ending.
****
Content warning: racial slurs
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