PanLos Angeles Review of BooksThough the novel clocks in at over 300 pages, it can be read in a few short hours ... The secret language of James and the other slaves is a clever way of accounting for the racist diction of Huckleberry Finn. It’s also a major constraint for James’s dialogue and structure. As a gambit meant to comfort racist white sensibilities by making slaves seem as stupid, deferential, and, of course, Black as possible, it’s pretty funny for a while, and then it becomes clear that the book has structured itself around this conceit and doesn’t have very many other ideas.
