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The Good Lord Bird (National Book Award Winner)
Reader Score
86%
86% of readers
recommend this book
Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 12 reviews on
Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction
From the bestselling author of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, Deacon King Kong (an Oprah Book Club pick) and The Color of Water comes the story of a young boy born a slave who joins John Brown's antislavery crusade--and who must pass as a girl to survive.
Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1856--a battleground between anti- and pro-slavery forces--when legendary abolitionist John Brown arrives. When an argument between Brown and Henry's master turns violent, Henry is forced to leave town--along with Brown, who believes Henry to be a girl and his good luck charm.
Over the ensuing months, Henry, whom Brown nicknames Little Onion, conceals his true identity to stay alive. Eventually Brown sweeps him into the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859--one of the great catalysts for the Civil War. An absorbing mixture of history and imagination, and told with McBride's meticulous eye for detail and character, The Good Lord Bird is both a rousing adventure and a moving exploration of identity and survival.
Book Details
- Publisher: Riverhead Books
- Publish Date: Aug 5th, 2014
- Pages: 480
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 7.90in - 5.10in - 1.10in - 0.75lb
- EAN: 9781594632785
- Recommended age: 18-UP
- Categories: • African American & Black - Historical• Historical - General• Literary
About the Author
More books by James McBride
What people are saying
@SHO_TheCircus host/creator/ep; @NBCNews+@MSNBC natl affairs analyst/Hell&HighWater pod host/Game Change+Double Down coauthor/Great Dane valet. Wu Tang? Yup. 👐
New pod alert! A special best of #HHW ep on the intersection of entertainment and politics: with Aaron Sorkin talking @Chicago7Film; Ethan Hawke, @DaveedDiggs, and James McBride talking "The Good Lord Bird;" and @lucasbros talking @JATBMFilm. Get it here: https://t.co/egnpg0KF9y https://t.co/6wULq2yXJV
American biographer, historian, author. Winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction and Pulitzer Prizes for Biography and History.
Good point. We have to remember that everything looks different to different characters. What seems Good and right may not be good for everyone. Onion in James McBride's "The Good Lord Bird" doesn't want to be in a crusade—he's just trying to survive. 7/11 https://t.co/GmUyww68Mt
Sasha Weiss is culture editor at the New York Times Magazine.
.@carvellwallace with a searching consideration of "The Good Lord Bird," Ethan Hawke's adaptation of James McBride's novel about John Brown and why, despite its excellence as TV, it just doesn't sit well with him https://t.co/rHbMZjNQU8
Critics’ reviews
Praise for this book
Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction
Winner of the Morning News Tournament of Books
"A brilliant romp of a novel...McBride...pulls off his portrait masterfully, like a modern-day Mark Twain." --The New York Times Book Review
"You may know the story of John Brown's unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry, but author James McBride's retelling of the events leading up to it is so imaginative, you'll race to the finish."--NPR
"A boisterous, highly entertaining, altogether original novel ...There is something deeply humane in this [story], something akin to the work of Homer or Mark Twain." --The Washington Post
"Wildly entertaining... a rollicking saga about one of America's earliest abolitionists." --People
"McBride delivers another tour de force...A fascinating mix of history and mystery."--Essence
"A story that's difficult to put down."--Ebony
"Outrageously entertaining... rockets toward its inevitable and, yes, knee-slapping conclusion. Never has mayhem been this much of a humdinger." --USA Today
"An impressively deep comedy."--Salon "Both breezy and sharp, a rare combination outside of Twain. You should absolutely read it." --New York Magazine
"Superbly written....McBride...transcends history and makes it come alive."--The Chicago Tribune
"Absorbing and darkly funny."--San Francisco Chronicle
"An irrepressibly fun read."--The Seattle Times
"The Good Lord Bird is just so brilliant. It had everything I want in a novel and left me feeling both transported and transformed."--John Green
"[McBride's] effervescent young narrator is pitch-perfect and wholly original."--Geraldine Brooks
What people are saying
@SHO_TheCircus host/creator/ep; @NBCNews+@MSNBC natl affairs analyst/Hell&HighWater pod host/Game Change+Double Down coauthor/Great Dane valet. Wu Tang? Yup. 👐
New pod alert! A special best of #HHW ep on the intersection of entertainment and politics: with Aaron Sorkin talking @Chicago7Film; Ethan Hawke, @DaveedDiggs, and James McBride talking "The Good Lord Bird;" and @lucasbros talking @JATBMFilm. Get it here: https://t.co/egnpg0KF9y https://t.co/6wULq2yXJV
American biographer, historian, author. Winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction and Pulitzer Prizes for Biography and History.
Good point. We have to remember that everything looks different to different characters. What seems Good and right may not be good for everyone. Onion in James McBride's "The Good Lord Bird" doesn't want to be in a crusade—he's just trying to survive. 7/11 https://t.co/GmUyww68Mt