The Good Lord Bird National Book Awa..., James McBride
The Good Lord Bird National Book Awa..., James McBride
6 Rating(s)
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The Good Lord Bird (National Book Award Winner)

Author: James McBride

Narrator: Michael Boatman

Unabridged: 14 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 08/20/2013


Synopsis

Now a Showtime limited series starring Ethan Hawke and Daveed Diggs

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.

About The Author

James McBride is an accomplished musician and author of the New York Times bestseller, The Color of Water. His most recent book, The Good Lord Bird, is the winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction. His second book, Miracle at St. Anna, was optioned for film in 2007 by Black Butterfly Productions with noted American filmmaker Spike Lee directing and co-producing. He is also the author of Song Yet Sung, available from Riverhead Books. McBride has written for the Washington Post, People, the Boston Globe, Essence, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times. He is a graduate of Oberlin College. He was awarded a master’s in journalism from New York’s Columbia University at the age of twenty-two. McBride holds several honorary doctorates and is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. McBride lives in Pennsylvania and New York.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jeffrey on January 31, 2020

****NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER**** “The old face, crinkled and dented with canals running every which way, pushed and shoved up against itself for a while, till a big old smile busted out from beneath 'em all, and his grey eyes fairly glowed. It was the first time I ever saw him smile free. A true sm......more

Goodreads review by Steve on May 22, 2014

Here’s what I knew prior to reading The Good Lord Bird: § That some guy in the history books named Brown tried to eradicate racial injustice. § That this guy was not the same Brown who took on the Board of Education. He was from slavery days. § That Harper’s Ferry was a place, not a boat. And something......more

Goodreads review by William2 on January 26, 2024

A real corker. The action is set around abolitionist John Brown's raid on the Harpers Ferry armory in 1859, which helped precipitate the American Civil War (1861-65). Brown's plan was to steal tens of thousands of rifles from the sleepy, rural armory. With them he would arm fugitive slaves hiding in......more

Goodreads review by Gary on December 17, 2013

If Mark Twain and Mel Brooks had ever collaborated, they would have invented a comic character like Henry(etta) Shackleford, a light-skinned slave boy who is freed by the American Abolitionist John Brown and who passes as a girl for most of The Good Lord Bird. It is lucky for us that James McBride t......more

Goodreads review by Shelley on September 10, 2016

As the Reader's Advisory Librarian in a library system, I read many, many books. There are only a few that I would truly consider to be works of lasting significance. This is one such book. In my reading I was struck with the story. For me, it started as a very entertaining recounting of Onion’s adve......more


Quotes

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


Awards

  • National Book Award