Book Review: Jim

Title: Jim

Author: James Agee Jr

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Blurb: Can you imagine living life with only memory from the day in which you are living? This is the story of someone who deals with just that and goes by the name of Jim. With an amazing cast of characters and an interesting plot this book is a must read!

My Review: Jim is a short story about a guy who after an accident in his teenage years developed a severe case of memory loss. He is now an adult and the narrator of the story. He’s had a difficult life with people continuously taking advantage of him. At some point something happens and he begins to remember. It’s an interesting story that gets better as it progresses.

Initially, the first thing that really captured my attention after I started reading was Jim’s description of flying: “The plane ride was shaky at first, but after about two hours of flight, I believe I took on my wings and grew to like the feeling that flight offered me. Being so high above the world, taking in scenery of the small patches of green that would differ from one another over the course of time, it was almost magical.” I found this so beautiful and very well said. In a sense, it is kind of poetic. It did the trick of completely capturing my attention.

At a certain point after reading, though, I developed a complaint. At some points more than others I felt that the story was told and not showed. I think that’s self explanatory but am still feeling the need to explain this. Again, this was not always the case, and the farther in I got the less this became the case. Yet there were many instances where instead of actions being showed to us we were told. Imagine watching a movie and the actors are acting and the story line is being established. Then at a certain point the screen goes black and it says ‘he watched tv’. As an audience we can all understand it but it can take away from the quality of the movie by the audience being told about it instead of the actor going through the motions. That to me is an example of being told not showed.

I think if the short story had been a novel, it would have been a lot better. With it being a novel I think a lot of things could have been further developed and I personally would of enjoyed that. More thorough explanations and a better developed story line could have made Jim a really great read. As it is, it was interesting and short and a decent read. On a very plus side, although you can buy it on Amazon and own it, you can also go online and read this for free on Wattpad.

Jim for me was definitely in the ‘not bad but could of been better’ category. It is a decent read and short enough that even if you don love it you wouldn’t regret reading it. 😉 I would say to stop by Wattpad and give Jim a try.