James by Percival Everett

As the novel that has been perched at the top of the New York Times reading list for weeks on end, James has been on my TBR shelf since its publication. As part of the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures Ten Evenings series and also a selection for the Gables Book Club, it was time to move from TBR to Reading.

What an incredible novel Percival Everett has crafted. James is the re-imagination of Mark Twain’s Hucleberry Finn told from the point of view of Jim, Huck’s runaway slave companion. Jim is a husband to Sadie and father to Lizzie and is well respected among the other slave s to Judge Thatcher and Miss Watson because he can read and write. When he learns that he is going to be sold and shipped to New Orleans, he runs away. Huck is being abused by his alcoholic father and fakes his death and likewise runs away. The two meet up serendipitously on an island and from there the adventures begin as they encounter a couple of con artists, a minstrel group who appear with black face, One of that group, Norman, has been passing escapes with Jim. The two concoct a plan for Norman to sell Jim and help him escape and sell him over and over again. The owner of a mill, Old Mr. Henderson, buys Jim, and he escapes with another slave, Sammy, whom he witnesses being raped.

The adventures are harrowing, the cruelty and violence are disturbing, but it is history told through fiction. It is difficult to pinpoint what is the most outstanding feature of this novel. It is remarkable for the point of view and language from which Jim relates it. It is told in the first person by Jim who is trying to define what freedom is and how it can be gained outside enslavement. Everett uses a code switching technique, that Everett ini his lecture, sometime questions. When talking to superiors, he uses the “slave filter” and when he is talking with those on equal ground, uses an erudite proper language. He steals a leather notebook where he records his thoughts and where he develops a sense of self. Words are important to him.  During his lecture he read a part of the novel where James was instructing children on the way to talk to the enslavers 

The children said together, “And the better they feel, the safer we are.” “February, translate that.” “Da mo’ betta dey feels, da mo’ safer we be.”

Throughout James the overlying motive for his actions to to get back to Hannibal to free his family and move to where they can enjoy their life. It is what keeps him going. He came to the realization that if he didn’t have them in his life, freedom was meaningless.

Sadness, irony, humor, the myth of racial identity and so many other attributes come together to make this a book for all ages. It should be taught along its companion, Huckleberry Finn in all English curricula. I am not sure that would happen in Florida, After all, as Everett said, “Reading is subversive.”

Percival Everett at Carnegie Music Hall - 24 March 2025

Percival Everett at Carnegie Music Hall - 24 March 2025

Percival Everett at Carnegie Music Hall - 24 March 2025

This is Happiness by Niall Williams

WOW! What a read. Our March Book Club took place on St. Patrick's Day and the hostess chose Niall Williams book, set in Ireland, as an appropriate selection. I have a friend who is an enthusiastic fan of Williams' books so this one had been on my TBR list for a while. I can say now, that I have also joined that group of fans. 

Set in Faha in County Kerry, Ireland This is Happiness is the account of electricity coming to the village in 1958. It is told through the eyes of Noel (Noe) Crowe, now 78 years old as he reflects on the summer when he was 17. After one of the most descriptive and poetic passages in literature about the village and the rain that has been pelleting it for days, the action begins close to Easter when Christy MacMahon, who is supervising the laying of cables to the village, becomes a lodger in Noe's grandparent's (Goady and Ganga) home and shares a room with Noe. 

The reader is brought into the Easter season with the rituals of Spy Wednesday and the remainder of the Holy Week. Noe had been attending seminary, but decided to take a break. Description of the parishioners and the Mass bring the Catholic rites full front. Williams through Noe provides enough of character traits that really entices the reader to learn more about them. 

As the plot develops, the reader discovers that the real reason for his arrival in Faha is to ask forgiveness of the chemist's wife, Annie Mooney Gafney for leaving her at the altar. That plot is really one of three in the novel. Second, Noe has his romantic feelings awaken as he becomes infatuated with all three Troy sisters. Finally, central to Christy's arrival are the lengthy descriptions of the actual installation of electricity from cutting the logs in Finland to getting them installed as poles in Faha.

There are really no words that accurately describe the lyrical prose that permeates this novel. Rarely do I highlight so many sentences and add so many bookmarks to an eBook as I did this novel. Williams writing is an ode to description and the feelings that are derived from the beautiful combination of words that evoke a time and place for a reader. I cannot wait to read his next book, Time of the Child, which I understand is even more poetic and poignant than this novel.

The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany by Gwen Strauss

It was somewhat difficult reading Madness and The Nine at the same time. Both nonfiction and both detailing horrific experiences of two groups of people who were made to endure situations that in many cases would destroy the human spirit.

Strauss tells the story of her great aunt, Hélène Podliasky who was part of the French Resistance during World War II and eight others who were arrested for their actions and sent to Ravensbrück Camp in Germany. During the journey there they became a cohesive group. The others in the group were

Suzanne Maudet (Zaza), Nicole Clarence, Madelon Verstijnen (Lon), Guillemette Daendels (Guigui), Renée Lebon Châtenay (Zinka), Joséphine Bordanava (Josée), Jacqueline Aubéry du Boulley (Jacky), and Yvonne Le Guillou (Mena). While on a death march from the camp, the nine decided to escape. Their journey to freedom is the crux of the book.

Strauss through her research of the time and with the survivors of The Nine, presents a book that is nearly unbelievable as to the heroics of these women. Their 10 day journey is told through the eyes of each woman who has her own chapter in the book. It presents a bit of biography and the roles that they each assumed while on their journey. Their goal was to get to the front and cross into the area that was held by the Allies and especially the Americans. With bloody feet, tattered clothing, and a dearth of food, the reader is brought along on the painful journey with them. They struggle to find safe places to rest and German citizens to trust. At times they played into the stereotypical role of women to advance their cause - helpless and ignorant about war.

Strauss also gives insight into how the Nazis treated the prisoners in the camps, babies snatched from mothers while those mothers were raped, slave labor and starvation. It was painful to read.

The nine women formed such a bond that gave them the strength to have hope and survive. It goes without saying that if they had tried to do this alone, none would have made it. They developed strategies for survival, including trading recipes, one of the more upbeat sections of the book.

The book is so well researched with an abundance of footnotes. At times, I had wished for a more linear account, but understood the rationale for Strauss to write the way she did. Another interesting feature was how the author managed to find the women and/or their surviving family members. It was an intriguing, tho painful read.



 

Madness: Race and Insanity at a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton

A Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures selection, Madness  was a tough read because of the brutality of the treatment to those who were virtually incarcerated at the Crownsville State Hospital in Maryland, known as the Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland. Antonia Hylton's recounting of the treatment of blacks who had or supposed to have had a mental illness is heart-rending. Spurred by the dialogue with a relative who was so fearful of the treatment by white supremacists, she researched this institution for nearly 10 years. 

Through a series of case studies, she described the establishment of the hospital in 1911, built by those who would occupy it, through its closure in 2004. Prevalent throughout the history were some common threads of an understaffed and overcrowded facility, despicable conditions of the facility, and abusive behavior toward the black patients. It was an emotional read that makes the reader shake her head as to how any human being can be treated as such. However, when one looks around at our contemporary society, this history doesn't seem that far removed. 

One of the more saddening stories was that of Elsie Lacks, daughter of Henrietta Lacks. Elsie was born in 1940 and suffered from epilepsy and cerebral palsy as a result of a head injury at birth. Because of this she needed constant attention and Henrietta and her husband. Day, were advised to send her to a hospital, that being Crownsville. She was only 10 years old. Her mother visited her religiously for a few years before she, herself, became ill with cervical cancer. At her death, no one seemed to think that it was necessary to tell Elsie or bring her to her mother's viewing. Elsie died in 1955 at fifteen. Just like her mother, Elsie was subjected to many unauthorized and unorthodox treatments, including aggressive forms of shocks to the brain. It was her younger sister, Deborah, and author Rebecca Skloot who dug to the bottom of the hidden files to find out how Elsie was treated without any informed consent. 

Antonia spoke on 10 February 2025 and beautifully articulated how she wrote her exposé of the Crownsville hospital. The book is a well-researched work of journalism that details the tragedy of treating the mentally ill in the United States and the civil rights, or lack thereof of black citizens. 

 

None Of This is True by Lisa Jewell

Generally characterized as a suspense novel, None of This is True, can be at times a good read, a frustrating read, and a depressing one. The novel opens as Josie Fair and Alix Summer, a podcaster, meet each other at a restaurant where each was celebrating her 45th birthday. They discover that, not only, were they born on the same day, but also the same hospital in London. Using this, Josie integrates herself into Alix's life by coming up with an idea for a podcast based on Josie's life. She indicates that having reached the age of 45, she is about to move on from her loveless marriage and family. 

Alix embraces the idea and begins a series of interviews with Josie. As she discovers more about Josie's life, she feels it necessary to meet Josie's husband, Walter, and to learn more about Josie's daughters, Roxy and Erin. Roxy ran away while she was still in high school and Erin is a gamer, who stays in her room, eats nothing but soft or baby food, and has ADS. Alix is also not without strife in her marriage as she deals with a husband, Nathan,  who has a drinking problem. After an awkward dinner party at which Nathan is a no-show, Josie decides to confront Walter about her plans to leave. She then appears at Josie's doorstep, beaten and tattered. 

Alix offers Josie a room for the night, but Josie has different ideas and stays with her. During this time the reader gets an inside glance at some of her odd behaviour. She borrows Alix's makeup and clothes. steals a bracelet, and stashes a key underneath the mattress. These are the actions that lead to the suspense of what is really the background story of Josie and what are intentions for Alix and Nathan? 

The narrative is interspersed with clips from a Netflix documentary, complete with interviews with the main players, as well as the podcast interviews Alix conducted with Josie.  As the title suggests, the reader knows that someone is lying and the truth will be hard to ferret out. The end has some interesting plot twists that make for an explanation of the actions of Josie, Walter, Roxy, and Erin. A quick read for the month of January and one that will keep you turning the pages until the end.