If you’ve been under a rock in the reading community and haven’t yet heard of James by Percival Everett (2024), you can stop right now and go put a hold on it at your library or order it however you typically purchase books. If you listen to audiobooks, I’d highly recommend listening to it, as Dominic Hoffman does a fantastic job narrating.
So far, James is on the 2024 Booker Prize longlist, but that will not be it’s last award, I’m certain. It should receive all of the awards possible.
Everett has given us the story from the perspective of “Jim,” who prefers to be called James, from Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). We learn how well-respected James is within his community of enslaved persons, including how he teaches the children about code-switching–the safest way to speak in front of white people, and that they can speak proper English amongst themselves. James has been allowed to borrow from his master’s library, although the fact he can read is a well-kept secret.
We see all of the events from Twain’s book from James’s point of view–the cave hideout, the rafting down the river, meeting the con artists the King and the Duke–and it’s harrowing. What to Huck Finn was an adventure is life or death for James. All he wants is to get back to his wife and daughter, and for them all to be free, and he is resourceful and persistent in that quest.
Everett includes some surreal humor, though, too. When James is feverish or dreaming, one or another of the philosophers he has read in the books that he’s borrowed will appear to him in his dreams, where they will argue about James’s essential humanity.
I could not stop listening, and Everett has some surprises along the way as well. It is a masterful book–and I look forward to getting it in print so I can take my time with it. I don’t recall any anti-fat bias, so would consider it weight-neutral as well.
Reading While Fat 
I’m 347th in the Libby line for this one! Just a few more people to go!
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New to your blog, SO HAPPY IT EXISTS! Do all the books you review have fat characters or are bodies mentioned? I’m familiar with the fat rep (or just body rep) in most of the books you’ve reviewed, but not in James. Would this be good for a list of books that have fat protagonists?
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Thank you! All the books I review are categorized into Fat positive, Anti-Fat biased, Mixed portrayals, or weight-neutral. If body sizes aren’t mentioned and there is no diet culture/anti-fatness, it’s generally weight neutral. You should be able to click on the categories on the front page at the top to sort that way or there is a tag cloud at the bottom of the thumbnail page. Hope that helps!
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And sorry I didn’t directly answer your question–no, I read what I’m drawn to, and they don’t all have fat characters. but I do try to find as many as I can. If a book does have a fat character, and they are portrayed positively, it gets the fat positive label. If there are no fat characters or body descriptions are neutral, it gets the weight-neutral label. If there is any diet culture or anti-fat bias, it gets the anti-fat biased label. Some books are mixed, with some fat characters portrayed positively, but there are descriptions of anti-fat bias or intentional weight loss that seem to be unnecessary, then it gets the mixed label. I hope that makes sense!
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This is the page with the tag cloud so you can drill down on books you are interested in.
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