Books to Read if You Liked James by Percival Everett

James is a retelling of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, the enslaved man with whom Finn makes his runaway journey.

Through a 21st century view of race in America, Percival Everett blends humor and criticism to address Twain’s 19th century perspective of freedom, identity, morality and social norms in the American South. In doing so, Everett poignantly refreshes and revives a classic work of American literature.

Here are some recommendations that echo these aspects of Everett's newest novel, which are sure to resonate whether or not you’ve read it yet.

If you are a fan of Everett's social satire, consider The Sellout by Paul Beatty. The novel's narrator, an urban farmer in California, spent his childhood participating in racially motivated psychological experiments conducted by his own father, a controversial sociologist. As Everett does in James, Beatty uses incisive wit and complicated characters to portray a contemporary perspective on race and identity in America.

The Intuitionist will entice fans of Everett's storytelling as it follows Lila Mae Watson, the first black female elevator inspector in a near-future society where elevator inspection is a prestigious occupation. As she investigates an elevator accident, she finds herself navigating the divide between the Empiricists and Intuitionists (two rivaling ideologies practiced by elevator inspectors). Like Everett, Colson Whitehead’s rich language and inventive plot is for readers who appreciate complex and thought-provoking narratives that are still fun to read.

Toni Morrison's Beloved is an exploration of slavery's devastating legacy as told through the experience of Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman who is haunted by the ghost of her daughter. Fans of Everett's writing style will find Morrison's lyrical prose and psychological insight compelling. Her talent for expressing empathetic and nuanced stories matches Everett's ability to gracefully tackle difficult themes.

For fans of Everett's reimagination of a literary classic, Demon Copperhead reworks Charles Dickens's 19th century novel, David Copperfield. Barbara Kingsolver's contemporary narrative follows a young biologist through the Appalachian Mountains where he discovers a rare snake species; there, he must also survive the challenges of poverty in the American South. This mirrors Dickens’ original protagonist, who works to overcome a childhood similarly marked by economic hardship, but in Victorian England. Both authors offer stories of resilience while also emphasizing how societies can uniquely perpetuate cycles of poverty and violence.

If you enjoyed any of the books on this list, what book would you recommend?