The Good Lord Bird
 Cover to The Good Lord Bird | |
| Author | James McBride |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical fiction, comic |
| Published | Riverhead Books |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 432 |
| Awards | 2013 National Book Award for Fiction |
| ISBN | 978-1-101-61618-5 |
| OCLC | 820123671 |
The Good Lord Bird is a 2013 novel by James McBride about Henry Shackleford, a slave, who unites with John Brown in Brown's abolitionist mission. The novel won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2013 and received generally positive reviews from critics.
Plot
[edit]The memoirs of Henry Shackleford, a fictional enslaved boy 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; 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 narrated in the first person through Henry.
Reception
[edit]The novel received generally positive reviews from critics,[1] with several reviewers comparing it to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). In a review for the Los 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 to Huckleberry Finn or Middle Passage (1990). Tobar went on to say "those looking for verisimilitude or gravitas in their historical fiction might want to avoid The Good Lord Bird."[2] Laura Miller of Salon drew comparisons between the novel and Huckleberry 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 the San Francisco Chronicle, novelist Amity 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 the National Book Award for Fiction in 2013.[6] National Book Award judges called McBride "a voice as comic and original as any we have heard since Mark 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]
Adaptation
[edit]Ethan Hawke and Jason Blum adapted the book for a television show, which premiered on October 4, 2020 on Showtime.[9][10][11][12]
References
[edit]- ^ "Book Marks reviews of The Good Lord Bird by James McBride". Book Marks. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
- ^ Tobar, Héctor (August 30, 2013). "'The Good Lord Bird' is a twisted take on an abolitionist's story". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
- ^ Miller, Laura (November 14, 2013). ""The Good Lord Bird": A new take on Huck Finn". Salon.com. Archived from the original on November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
- ^ Brunkhorst, Christine (August 17, 2013). "Review: "The Good Lord Bird", by James McBride". Star Tribune. The Star Tribune Company. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
- ^ Gaige, Amity (August 23, 2013). "'The Good Lord Bird,' by James McBride". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Corporation. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
- ^ Bosman, Julie (November 20, 2013). "'Good Lord Bird' Is Surprise Winner for National Book Award in Fiction". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 5, 2013. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
- ^ Minzesheimer, Bob (November 20, 2013). "James McBride wins National Book Award for fiction". USA Today. Gannett Company. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
- ^ Dugdale, John (November 21, 2013). "National Book Awards leave winner lost for words". The Guardian.
- ^ Lang, Brent (June 11, 2018). "Ethan Hawke, Jason Blum Adapting 'The Good Lord Bird' for TV". Variety. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
- ^ "Academy Award(R) Nominee Ethan Hawke to Executive Produce and Star in Showtime(R) Limited Series "Good Lord Bird"". The Futon Critic. March 11, 2019.
- ^ "Showtime Taps Tony Winner Daveed Diggs and Wyatt Russell in "The Good Lord Bird"". The Futon Critic. August 2, 2019.
- ^ Rico, Klaritza (2020-05-13). "TV News Roundup: Showtime Sets 'The Good Lord Bird' Premiere Date (Watch)". Variety. Archived from the original on 2020-05-13. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
Further reading
[edit]- McTaggart, Ursula (2018). "Historical Fiction about John Brown and Male Identity in Radical Movements". African American Review. 51 (2): 129–142. doi:10.1353/afa.2018.0019. S2CID 166181361 – via Project MUSE.