Karen’s review of James > Likes and Comments

I have been wanting to read this. Interested in your thoughts Karen 😊

Esta wrote: "I have been wanting to read this. Interested in your thoughts Karen 😊"

Stay tuned. Posting in a moment! 🙂

Such an insightful review Karen! Thanks so much. I feel the same conflict about the dialogue written in phonetic dialect, however I’m still encouraged to read this knowing you liked it. Brilliant review my friend 🧡

Esta wrote: "Such an insightful review Karen! Thanks so much. I feel the same conflict about the dialogue written in phonetic dialect, however I’m still encouraged to read this knowing you liked it. Brilliant r..."

Thank you Esta. I know there are others who were more in tune with the story, and could feel it more intimately than I did. 🙂

Audio book is brilliant! The narration is done so well, in fact, I have purchased another audio book by the same narrator. :)

Shine with Shauna wrote: "Audio book is brilliant! The narration is done so well, in fact, I have purchased another audio book by the same narrator. :)"

I am so glad that the audio made it so easy to experience Shauna. Thank you for letting me know! 💕

Excellent review, Karen!

I also had problems with the dialogue. Luckily, it evolved, but was a major problem at the start. I am happy I sticked with it, because the story was worth telling.

👏

Sujoya(theoverbookedbibliophile)- wrote: "Excellent review, Karen!"

You are being kind Sujoya! Thank you. ☺️

Flo wrote: "I also had problems with the dialogue. Luckily, it evolved, but was a major problem at the start. I am happy I sticked with it, because the story was worth telling."

Yes, I agree. It was worth telling, Flo. 🙂

TL wrote: "👏"

😁

Karen, a beautiful and thoughtful review. Once again you bring up my concerns about this book, and probably why it has been on and off my TBR many times! 🤗

Nice review. I agree that having to read the story in the "slave dialect" would have been annoying; however, I think Everett is no doubt correct in his point that slaves talked that way in order satisfy white people's expectations that slaves were inferior to whites. If they had talked openly in standard English, they would probably have been the target of severe reprisals for being uppity. That being said, I found the idea expressed in the book that slaves talked in perfect English when there were no whites around to be suspect. It was probably meant as a joke on Everett's part and as a way to avoid the issue of having James writing in slave dialect all the way through, but it threw me out the story. I think some sort of compromise using a mild, easy to read, modified dialect would have been preferred.

Wonderful review! I've been meaning to check this out but wary as...i've actually never been much for Twain haha. Glad to hear this was good though despite the dialect. Perhaps I'll finally read one of his others first, so thank you for the wonderful descriptions and analysis on this one!

Terrific review, Karen!
Glad you were able to enjoy it despite the written language in parts of it!

Lorna wrote: "Karen, a beautiful and thoughtful review. Once again you bring up my concerns about this book, and probably why it has been on and off my TBR many times! 🤗"

Thank you for saying so, Lorna. It has been so hard for me to read all the glowing 5 stars, when I have felt as I have. But I appreciate all the various perspectives. 🙂

Pseudonymous wrote: "Nice review. I agree that having to read the story in the "slave dialect" would have been annoying; however, I think Everett is no doubt correct in his point that slaves talked that way in order sa..."

As always, you bring up excellent points. Thank you on all of them! 🙂

Karen wrote: "Terrific review, Karen!
Glad you were able to enjoy it despite the written language in parts of it!"

Thank you so much Karen. I think we find our way through on books like this - there is value. 🙂

s.penkevich wrote: "Wonderful review! I've been meaning to check this out but wary as...i've actually never been much for Twain haha. Glad to hear this was good though despite the dialect. Perhaps I'll finally read on..."

Thank you. 🙂You know Steve, stick with what you know. I struggled with Twain, too. That may have been my first stumbling block, and I hadn't realized it until you said it! Thank you for that epiphany! 💕

A fab review Karen! 💖

Fantastic and insightful review, Karen! I have my eyes on this book, so I appreciate you sharing your experience. (I like short chapters, too, btw.) ☺️

Tina wrote: "A fab review Karen! 💖"

Thank you for sharing that Tina. I appreciate you! Always. 💕

Debbie Y wrote: "Fantastic and insightful review, Karen! I have my eyes on this book, so I appreciate you sharing your experience. (I like short chapters, too, btw.) ☺️"

Thank you as always for commenting, Debbie. I appreciate when you come and share with me. And yes, short chapters do make such a difference! ♥️

Karen wrote: "TL wrote: "👏"

😁"

🫂

Glad the reading of it got better as the chapters progressed, Karen. It's a book I bought, and will read sometime this summer. My feeling is that Everett had his reasons for writing the dialect this way. Maybe I'll know more after reading the book. Gone with the Wind did it for the wrong reasons, imo anyway. Enjoyed your review!

Ron wrote: "Glad the reading of it got better as the chapters progressed, Karen. It's a book I bought, and will read sometime this summer. My feeling is that Everett had his reasons for writing the dialect thi..."

Thank you so much Ron. I look forward to hearing your thoughts after you read it! 🙂

Great review, Karen. I recently bought this book, your lovely write-up come as a lovely reminder to amend it. Thanks for sharing it :)

Gaurav wrote: "Great review, Karen. I recently bought this book, your lovely write-up come as a lovely reminder to amend it. Thanks for sharing it :)"

Oh my, thank you Gaurav. I was so tough on this book. I look forward to your thoughts when you are done! 🙂

Good review.👍
I urge you—if you haven’t—to listen to the audiobook, it is narrated brilliantly. I am buying a hard copy for my second read, but feel because I have listened first, I may not struggle as much with the dialect.
Personally I feel Everett has tackled the dialect well (I have no factual basis in terms of authenticity) but I feel he is trying to convey dialect of the time.

When you say “uncomfortable and unpleasant” are you referring to the words the themselves, or just the phonetics in pronouncing them? If it’s the latter then I understand, but the former, is why words are important in both fiction and non fiction.
We often feel uncomfortable and unpleasant, but it’s these emotions that hammer home ugly truths of our past, and ultimately continue to teach us.

Paul wrote: "Good review.👍
I urge you—if you haven’t—to listen to the audiobook, it is narrated brilliantly. I am buying a hard copy for my second read, but feel because I have listened first, I may not struggl..."

Hi Paul. Thank you for the discussion. It is trying to read the words. I completely get the story, and I'm good with the story. That is what makes James story so good. It is hard to read the words as they are written that is difficult - trying to pronounce them as they are written. That was what was difficult. I hope this helps. Thank you again for your comments. I appreciate them. 🙂

Honest review, Karen, as always.
You found the ‘slave talk’ difficult to read from the page, but I kind of liked it. It added authenticity to the book. What I found amusing was that the slaves spoke perfectly normal English with each other, only to dumb down and speak their dialect in front of the whites, because the white man expected them to talk like that. I wonder if this was true. My knowledge of this subject is extremely limited, as apart from ‘Gone With the Wind’ I haven’t read any other book on slavery. I read a children’s version of Huckleberry Finn as a boy, and remember very little of it.
I loved this book though. It has action, pathos, humour, history and two great characters of American fiction.

Beetashok wrote: "Honest review, Karen, as always.
You found the ‘slave talk’ difficult to read from the page, but I kind of liked it. It added authenticity to the book. What I found amusing was that the slaves spo..."

Thank you for your comments Chatty. You bring up some great points! 🙂

I agree

Bonnie wrote: "I agree"

Thank you Bonnie. 🙂

Love that you're getting books from the library! I can definitely see your point on how the code-switching and language is hard to get used to, but I also thought that it added a layer to book as I read it. For me this use of language helped to highlight the danger in everything and how even what words were used had to be so closely monitored.

Melora wrote: "Love that you're getting books from the library! I can definitely see your point on how the code-switching and language is hard to get used to, but I also thought that it added a layer to book as I..."

Thank you Melora for your share here. I appreciate your comments. 🙂

Karen...wonderful review! I loved listening to your ruminations!

Fran wrote: "Karen...wonderful review! I loved listening to your ruminations!"

Oh gosh, Fran, thank you...sometimes it embarrasses me! ☺️

And now he has gone on to actually win the Pulitzer. Appreciated your free frank review.

Alicia wrote: "And now he has gone on to actually win the Pulitzer. Appreciated your free frank review."

Thank you Alicia. ☺️

A fascinating review, Karen. Thanks for sharing your journey with this prize-winning read.🥰

Dialect written like that would have me setting this aside-authentic or not! Terrific review!

If I decide to give this one a go I might grab the audio. Thanks for the heads up. Fantastic review!💗

I love your review, Karen!🥰 And, thank you for the link to Jamie's review, which I missed. I have the book and audio, and I believe this will help with the dialect, but I appreciate you sharing your personal experience. It's something I didn't consider when planning to read this one. I want to read Twain's version first, a book I've never attempted. You might say, I'm going on an adventure, too!📚

Thanks for your review Karen. I would like to look at Jamie's too but for some reason Goodreads won't let me copy text. Can others copy a link or might that just be settings on my phone, do you have experience with that?

Tami wrote: "Thanks for your review Karen. I would like to look at Jamie's too but for some reason Goodreads won't let me copy text. Can others copy a link or might that just be settings on my phone, do you hav..."

Thank you Tami. It could be the phone. I find it easier to be on Goodreads with my computer. It has been rather limiting for me on my iPhone. Good luck! ☺️

Darla wrote: "A fascinating review, Karen. Thanks for sharing your journey with this prize-winning read.🥰"

Thank you Darla. Yes, it definitely was a journey! 😉

Jayme wrote: "Dialect written like that would have me setting this aside-authentic or not! Terrific review!"

Thank you Jayme. Yes, it takes a lot of patience, and I am not sure I had a lot of it with this book! ☺️

Krystal wrote: "If I decide to give this one a go I might grab the audio. Thanks for the heads up. Fantastic review!💗"

Thank you Krystal. I hope the audio makes it easier to follow along! ☺️