James

Everett's novel is a sly, forceful act of literary re-visioning that pulls a familiar American story into a new moral light. It centres voice—who gets to narrate, who gets believed, and what language can hide or reveal. The book moves with propulsive clarity while keeping its mind on larger questions of power and personhood. Its humour is sharp, but it never lets comedy soften what's at stake. Characters are allowed complexity, contradiction, and agency rather than serving as symbols. The narrative continually tests the reader's assumptions about history and "classic" storytelling. It's both a page-turner and an argument—delivered with precision. You finish feeling entertained, unsettled, and newly alert.