I began rereading Mark Twain’s classic novel to see how it compared to James by Percival Everett. I soon discovered that these books are completely different books. James is narrated by Jim who is a runaway slave but is educated, violent and angry. It is the story of a slave on the run who has to fight to stay alive. In Huck Finn, Jim is naive, superstitious and subservient. Although Huck is in the novel, he is not a major character. James is clever with several ironic situations, but it lacks the humor and innocence of Huckleberry Finn. I think Everett’s novel is good; Twain’s is great. Both are worth reading but they are very different.