James is loosely based on Mark Twain's classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Some of the early scenes of Everett's novel closely follow Huckleberry Finn, but as the two separate and Jim goes off on his own picaresque "adventures", the tone turns more serious as it explores issues of rape, murder, beatings, and racism.

[3] Writing for The New York Times, Dwight Garner praised the novel as more successful than many re-imaginings of famous classics, stating, "What sets 'James' above Everett's previous novels, as casually and caustically funny as many are, is that here the humanity is turned up — way up.

"[4] Writing for The Guardian, Anthony Cummins stated: "James offers page-turning excitement but also off-kilter philosophical picaresque".

[9] Feature film rights in the novel were acquired in 2024 by Universal Pictures, with Amblin Entertainment for production and Steven Spielberg as executive producer.