The Good Lord Bird
Ratings32
Average rating4
15
Ratings32
Average rating4
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.
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This was incredibly good. I hope the limited series does it justice.
I loved reading this book. It's the story of a young boy in slavery who is mistaken for a girl and “freed”/kidnapped by John Brown during a raid and then, because he has nowhere else to go, stays with Brown's ragtag army as they skirmish across Kansas and prepare for their assault on slavery at Harper's Ferry. “Onion,” as the boy-posing-as-girl is known, is ambivalent throughout the book–always meaning to get away, but never quite doing it, believing that John Brown is insane, but also loving and admiring him. Onion's ambivalence makes him a great narrator–detached enough to be a very funny storyteller, but invested enough to make the story incredibly moving. It's a pleasure to recognize a nod to Huckleberry Finn in the hilarious narration and the theme of youth observing adult hypocrisy, but this story is all its own.
Short Review: This is the best of the three McBride books I have read over the past year.
It is the story of a young teen, sort of freed by John Brown. But in the process his father was killed. Brown thinks that Henry is a girl because he is dressed only in a long shirt and for the rest of the novel Henry plays a girl. This is both played for humor and social commentary.
The novel continues through the Harper's Ferry raid. Worth reading, but feels a little bit off of perfect but I am not quite sure why.
My longer thought http://bookwi.se/good-lord-bird/
