James

Alright, it’s another segment of ‘What is Amy Reading?’ And this edition…this is beautiful, huggable book. “James” by Percival Everett. I know I’ve mentioned different times books being consumable or digestible- this one is huggable. 

So it’s the story of the enslaved ‘Jim’, but from Jim’s perspective. We’ve been waiting for this! Jim’s perspective, and his unique relationship with Huckleberry Finn.  At moments it’s funny- it’s a really funny book. But really it’s the story of our own human spirit and journey. And what I love is how complex we are as individuals and how when we’re invited into a situation, we get to choose how we respond. We’re also like this Rube Goldberg filter system. So I imagine our brains as one of those Rube Goldberg drawings where the input comes in and it goes through the mousetrap and up and down the rollercoaster and then we get the output. And all of that machination of design is really our experiences that we’ve had in life that have taught us how to react to situations and our own nature. So this book by Percival Everett does a beautiful job, in my mind, of kind of elucidating that. 

One of my favorite lines from the book really capitalizes how we get to respond to situations. And it’s in a situation Jim has to say ‘Should I respond as myself or should I be safe and respond as the slave Jim’? And he says ‘So I chose safe and I answered “I is, suh”. 

Alright, enjoy this beautiful, huggable book.

Bye!