 Cover toThe Good Lord Bird | |
| Author | James McBride |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Michael Boatman |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical fiction, comic |
| Published | Riverhead Books |
Publication date | August 20, 2013 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover, paperback), audiobook, ebook |
| Pages | 417 pp. (hardcover 1st ed.) |
| Awards | 2013National Book Award for Fiction |
| ISBN | 9781594486340 (hardcover 1st ed.) |
| OCLC | 820123671 |
| 813/.6 | |
| LC Class | PS3613.C28 G66 2013 |
The Good Lord Bird is a 2013 novel by American journalist and authorJames McBride about Henry Shackleford, a slave, who unites withJohn Brown in Brown's abolitionist mission. The novel won theNational Book Award for Fiction in 2013 and received generally positive reviews from critics.
The memoirs of Henry Shackleford, a fictional enslaved boy in Kansas during theBleeding Kansas era, are discovered in aDelaware church. Henry, nicknamed "Little Onion" for eating a particularly rancid onion, accidentally encounters abolitionistJohn Brown in a tavern. Brown mistakes Henry for a girl and gives him a dress to wear; Shackleford wears a dress for much of the novel. The two join together, and Henry narrates his encounters withFrederick Douglass,Harriet Tubman, and the events atJohn Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. The book is narrated in thefirst person through Henry.
In a review for theLos Angeles Times,Héctor Tobar called the novel "laugh-out-loud funny and filled with many wonderfully bizarre images", but noted the lack of humanity in comparison toHuckleberry Finn orMiddle Passage (1990).[1]
Tobar went on to say "those looking for verisimilitude orgravitas in their historical fiction might want to avoidThe Good Lord Bird."[2]Laura Miller ofSalon drew comparisons between the novel andHuckleberry Finn, specifically comparing the moral awakening of Finn to the journey of Henry; writer Christine Brunkhorst notes how Onion and Finn both encounter "drunken rebels, brutal slave owners, spineless men, clairvoyant women, crooked judges and some brave and principled people."[3][4] In a review for theSan Francisco Chronicle, novelistAmity Gaige praised McBride's "reimagining" of Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry and added that he "[managed] to novelize real historical events without dreary prostrations to the act".[5]
The novel won theNational Book Award for Fiction in 2013.[6] National Book Award judges called McBride "a voice as comic and original as any we have heard sinceMark Twain."[7] McBride did not prepare an acceptance speech, as he thought he would not win, and was described as "clearly stunned" upon receiving the award.[8]
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | National Book Award | Fiction | Won | [6] |
| 2014 | Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence | Fiction | Longlisted | [9] |
| BCALA Literary Awards | Fiction | Won | [10] | |
| Booklist Editors' Choice | Adult Audio | Won | [11] | |
| Hurston/Wright Legacy Award | Fiction | Finalist | [12] | |
| Maine Readers' Choice Award | — | Longlisted | ||
| 2015 | International Dublin Literary Award | — | Longlisted | [13] |
| Meilleurs livres de l'année du magazine Lire | Révélation étrangère | Longlisted |
Ethan Hawke andJason Blum adapted the book for atelevision show, which premiered on October 4, 2020, onShowtime.[14][15][16][17]