James by Percival Everett
4/21/20261 hr 42 min
Percival Everett won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his novel James, a modern masterpiece that retells The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, the enslaved man who accompanies Huck on his journey down the Mississippi River. This week, Jeff and Rebecca discuss what Everett does with Jim's interiority and intelligence that Twain couldn't, how the novel's central conceit literalizes W.E.B. Du Bois's theory of double consciousness, and how Everett pulled off making a book that is layered and intellectually rich into a genuine page-turner. Subscribe to our free newsletter, and become a member for access to early, ad-free listening and bonus content. Follow Zero to Well-Read on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Email us: zerotowellread@bookriot.com Thank you to ThriftBooks for being the presenting sponsor of this season of Zero to Well-Read! Zero to Well-Read is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Use code THEBOOKS for 20% off at Cozy Earth. Go to quince.com/bookriot for free shipping and 365-day returns. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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First 90 secondsJeff O'Neal· Host0:00
Zero to Well Read is sponsored by thriftbooks.com. Today's episode, we discuss James by Percival Everett, which is out now, today, the release date, April 21st, 2026, in paperback, and you can get new books on thriftbooks.com and at a competitive price. The sticker price for a paperback is 20 bucks for James. With thriftbooks.com, looking at it right now, you get $3.52 off that. Plus, if you're ordering that in the US, you're gonna get free shipping, and you're gonna get credit towards a free book credit as part of thriftbooks.com Reading Rewards program. Go check out thriftbooks.com for James and everything else you might want to need to stock your shelves. Thanks to them for sponsoring the show. All right, James, a modern classic. So excited. Let's go. [upbeat music] Welcome to Zero to Well Read, a podcast about everything you need to know about the books you wish you read. I'm Jeff O'Neill.
Rebecca Schinsky· Host0:58
And I'm Rebecca Schinsky. Today, we are discussing a modern masterpiece. We're really excited about this. Uh, it is Percival Everett's James, which is finally coming out in paperback this week.
Jeff O'Neal· Host1:09
Um, this is maybe the, was the easiest call when we heard the book was coming out. We knew Everett. We heard the subject matter. Even the book deal, which maybe we'll get into a little bit here, there's some, you know, publishing imprint stuff that's interesting to note in Percival Everett's career and this book in particular. But this was