James McBride

Fleeing her violent master at the side of legendary abolitionist John Brown at the height of the slavery debate in mid-19th-century Kansas Territory, Henry pretends to be a girl to hide his identity throughout the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. By the best-selling author of The Color of Water.

The Good Lord Bird

Ryan LaFerney

The Good Lord Bird, written by James McBride, won the National Book Award for fiction in 2013. It's been on my to read list ever since. It's a wild work of historical fiction and a work that features wonderful folksy language, scandalous caricatures of historical persons, and one that possesses a flair for the historical mining of our past - particularly that of John Brown and the institution of slavery. It's a risky book. One that balances maladroit jokes about slavery with the heartfelt conviction that all of God's children deserve to be free. The humor and the musicality of voice lures you into the violence of the 19th century and allows one to wrestle with the bigger issues of violence, slavery, and the way we romanticize the past. But McBride knows how to shock, to tickle your funny bone, all while making you think about these serious issues. This is no small feat.

As The Good Lord Bird starts, the memoirs of Henry Shackleford, an enslaved person in Kansas during the Bleeding Kansas era, are discovered in a Delaware church. Henry, nicknamed "Little Onion" for eating a particularly rancid onion, accidentally encounters abolitionist John Brown in a tavern. Brown mistakes Henry for a girl and gives him a dress to wear as Brown rescues him after the death of his pa; Shackleford wears a dress for much of the novel. The two join together, and Henry narrates his encounters with Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and the events at John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. The book is delightfully narrated in the first person through Henry using such folksy language that would cause Mark Twain to cheer.

The Good Lord Bird is an incredible journey, rich in language and characterization and steeped in history. McBride studiously honors history, perhaps more than many previous portraits of Brown have done. Sure, he plays with the facts a bit - where he can - but this creates, in my opinion, more interesting characterization. For instance, take John Brown. McBride portrays Brown as a little off kilter, displaying the intensity of a religious zealot, while not quite realizing his goal is beyond his grasp. Does McBride take some liberties? Yes. And depending on your point of view, you may or may not like what he does with Frederick Douglas. 

I found this novel to be a thoughtful, moving, and entertaining look at many hypocrisies of the era . I thought it was also a wonderful mediation on the nature of conviction, and the dangers of belief. Yes, John Brown was right....Slavery is and was an immoral institution but, killing is always an immoral act. I also found this novel to be fascinating in how it humanizes historical figures - with warts and all. 

Ultimately, The Good Lord Bird is successful because even as a piece of historical fiction and satirical comedy, it has important things to say not just about America of the 1850s but America today. 

I'm sure if John Brown were alive today, he wouldn't rest until all of God's children are free.

Carroll Lachnit

A good listen, an interesting, fresh story. It makes me want to delve into Russell Banks' "Cloudsplitter." I am not anxious to see the upcoming film version, however, featuring Jaden Smith. Let's just hope he's not working on the screenplay http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/20...

Now a Showtime limited series starring Ethan Hawke and Daveed Diggs Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction From the bestselling author of 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.

The Good Lord Bird

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