New York Tri-State Network: UCLA/Cal Alumni Book Club - May 2026
Wed 6/3 • 7:30PM PDT
Zoom
In June, our book group turns to a work of award-winning fiction. We will discuss "James," by Percival Everett, which won the 2024 National Book Award for Fiction.
A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view.
When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature. (from GoodReads)
Join us for a discussion on Zoom. Newcomers are always welcome.