FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | NOVEMBER 2025 49
Our Book Club selection for Nov. 11 is James, by Percival Everett. Here is a brief
description from Doug S., who will be leading our discussion: "James is the most
acclaimed fiction of the past two years and winner of most major awards, including
the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. It is a reimagining of the Huckleberry
Finn story told from the perspective of the enslaved Jim (who refers to himself as
"James"). The Book Club will discuss not only the novel but what Percival Everett and
James add to the legacy of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. In all ways, it is a creative
and inspiring book. The Amazon.com description says it well: 'When the enslaved Jim
overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife
and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate
a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father,
recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the
dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the
elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. While many
narrative set pieces of e Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (f loods
and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the
myriad stopping points along the river's banks, encountering the scam artists posing
as the Duke and the King), Jim's agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a
radically new light.'"
Our meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 9:30 am in the RCN,
Activity Room #3. All our book selections are recommended by book club members.
Someone volunteers to lead the discussion about the book we have chosen for the month.
For more information about the Four Seasons Book Club or to get your name on our
mailing list, please contact me at michelesrosen@gmail.com. ~ Micki Rosen
Book Club
