From the bestselling author of The Color of Water and Song Yet Sung 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 1857, when the region is a battleground between anti- and pro-slavery forces. When John Brown, the legendary abolitionist, arrives in the area, an argument between Brown and Henry’s master quickly turns violent. Henry is forced to leave town—with Brown, who believes he’s a girl.
Over the ensuing months, Henry—whom Brown nicknames Little Onion—conceals his true identity as he struggles to stay alive. Eventually Little Onion finds himself with Brown at 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.
Goodreads
Disposition
This is the November 2020 selection for Susan Orlean’s bookclub on Literati. Another one that I have never heard of, but I love historical fiction, and the anti-slavery crusade of John Brown does peek my interest. Granted, not sure I ever would have picked this to read on my own volition.
Editorial
This was a trek! I found it very difficult to read almost 400 pages of broken English. I never got into a nice flow, and I had to read it really slowly in order to take in what the author was saying. Granted, McBride definitely earns some props for writing it in this fashion, and being able to hang on to that style for the entire novel.
“I reckon you is not feeling righteous about what has just transpired thereabouts, but in the name of freedom we is all soldiers of the cross and thus the enemy of slavery. Like as not, you now believes you has no family or may ne’er see what family you has ever again. But the fact is, you is in the human family and is welcome to this one as any. I like that you might hold this, my child, as a token of your newfound freedom and family, joining us as freedom fighters, even though you is a girl and we need to get rid of you as soon as possible.”
This novel is surprisingly funny, while also being very profound. I am not sure how much of John Brown’s character was artistic license, and how much was based on reality, but Brown is mad as a fish! I thought I was embarking on a hero’s story… That is not really what you get with this novel. While Brown seems to stumble into some moments of greatness, he is not a character people would aspire to be. His quirks and insanities would equally make me scratch my head, laugh, yawn. There are some important tidbits to definitely be pulled from this novel, hidden amongst the words like little gems.
“It seemed to me the whole business of the Negro’s life out there weren’t no different than it was out west, to my mind. It was like a big, long lynching. Everybody got to make a speech about the Negro but the Negro.”
I am glad I read it, and I did learn a lot more about John Brown, and the abolitionist movement. However, I just never fully attached to any of the characters, even Onion. In the end, I gave it three out of five stars. Honestly I felt it was about 100 pages too long, and if cut back I probably would have rated it higher. I also wanted a bit more emotion and rawness.
“It occurred to me then that you is everything you are in this life at every moment. And that includes loving somebody. If you can’t be your own self, how can you love somebody? How can you be free?”
Distant Bookends 