The Good Lord Bird
{{short description|2013 novel by James McBride}}
{{for|the Showtime limited series|The Good Lord Bird (miniseries){{!}}The Good Lord Bird (miniseries)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox book
| name = The Good Lord Bird
| image = The Good Lord Bird.jpg
| caption = Cover to The Good Lord Bird
| alt = Inside an uneven red rectangular box is a straw hat (top), the book's name, and the author's name, in black font
| author = James McBride
| title_working =
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = United States
| language = English
| series =
| genre = Historical fiction, comic
| published = Riverhead Books
| media_type = Print (hardcover, paperback)
| pages = 432 pp.
(hardcover ed.)
| awards = 2013 National Book Award for Fiction
| isbn = 9781594486340
| oclc = 820123671
| dewey = 813/.6
| congress = PS3613.C28 G66 2013
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
| pub_date = August 20, 2013
| isbn_note =
(hardcover ed.)
}}
The Good Lord Bird is a 2013 novel by American journalist and author 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
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
The novel received generally positive reviews from critics,{{Cite web |title=Book Marks reviews of The Good Lord Bird by James McBride |url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/the-good-lord-bird// |access-date=July 31, 2023 |website=Book Marks |language=en-US}} 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). According to Book Marks, the book received a "rave" consensus, based on twelve critic reviews: seven "rave", four "positive", and one "mixed".{{Cite web |title=The Good Lord Bird|url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/the-good-lord-bird/|access-date=16 January 2024 |website=Book Marks}} On the March/April 2014 issue of Bookmarks, the book received a {{rating|4|5}} (4.0 out of 5) with the critical summary stating, "Most agreed that McBride has taken a risk with his irreverent approach. Although The Good Lord Bird might offend some readers, it might also offer "a new way of talking-indeed joking-about race in America today" (New York Times Book Review)".{{Cite web |title=The Good Lord Bird|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/New+books+guide.-a0367741034|access-date=14 January 2023 |website=Bookmarks}} On The Omnivore, in an aggregation of British and American press reviews, the book received an "omniscore" of 4.0 out of 5.{{Cite web |title=The Good Lord Bird by James McBride|url=http://www.theomnivore.com/the-good-lord-bird-by-james-mcbride/|access-date=17 February 2024 |website=The Omnivore}}{{Cite web |title=James McBride|url=http://www.theomnivore.com/tag/james-mcbride/|access-date=17 February 2024 |website=The Omnivore}}
Tobar went on to say "those looking for verisimilitude or gravitas in their historical fiction might want to avoid The Good Lord Bird."{{cite news| title='The Good Lord Bird' is a twisted take on an abolitionist's story| url=http://articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/30/entertainment/la-ca-jc-james-mcbride-20130901| last=Tobar| first=Héctor| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| date=August 30, 2013| access-date=November 22, 2013| archive-date=November 22, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131122004747/http://articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/30/entertainment/la-ca-jc-james-mcbride-20130901| url-status=dead}} 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."{{cite web| url=http://www.salon.com/2013/11/14/the_good_lord_bird_a_new_take_on_huck_finn/| title="The Good Lord Bird": A new take on Huck Finn| date=November 14, 2013| last=Miller| first=Laura| work=Salon.com| access-date=November 22, 2013| archive-date=November 22, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131122184052/http://www.salon.com/2013/11/14/the_good_lord_bird_a_new_take_on_huck_finn/| url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Review: "The Good Lord Bird", by James McBride|url=http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/219828441.html|date=August 17, 2013|newspaper=Star Tribune|publisher=The Star Tribune Company|last=Brunkhorst|first=Christine|access-date=November 22, 2013|archive-date=December 2, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202231043/http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/219828441.html|url-status=live}} 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".{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/The-Good-Lord-Bird-by-James-McBride-4757245.php#photo-5085672|title='The Good Lord Bird,' by James McBride|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|publisher=Hearst Corporation|last=Gaige|first=Amity|date=August 23, 2013|access-date=November 22, 2013|archive-date=December 2, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202231539/http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/The-Good-Lord-Bird-by-James-McBride-4757245.php#photo-5085672|url-status=live}}
Awards
The novel won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2013.{{cite news|title='Good Lord Bird' Is Surprise Winner for National Book Award in Fiction|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/books/james-mcbride-and-george-packer-receive-national-book-awards.html?ref=books|last=Bosman|first=Julie|date=November 20, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=February 28, 2017|archive-date=December 5, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205214535/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/books/james-mcbride-and-george-packer-receive-national-book-awards.html?ref=books|url-status=live}} National Book Award judges called McBride "a voice as comic and original as any we have heard since Mark Twain."{{cite news|title=James McBride wins National Book Award for fiction|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2013/11/20/national-book-awards/3652957/|newspaper=USA Today|publisher=Gannett Company|last=Minzesheimer|first=Bob|date=November 20, 2013|access-date=September 16, 2017|archive-date=October 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019164959/https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2013/11/20/national-book-awards/3652957/|url-status=live}} McBride did not prepare an acceptance speech, as he thought he would not win, and was described as "clearly stunned" upon receiving the award.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/21/national-book-awards-james-mcbride-good-lord-bird|title=National Book Awards leave winner lost for words|newspaper=The Guardian|last=Dugdale|first=John|date=November 21, 2013}}
Adaptation
{{Main|The Good Lord Bird (miniseries)}}
Ethan Hawke and Jason Blum adapted the book for a television show, which premiered on October 4, 2020 on Showtime.{{cite news|title=Ethan Hawke, Jason Blum Adapting 'The Good Lord Bird' for TV|url=https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/ethan-hawke-jason-blum-adapting-the-good-lord-bird-for-tv-exclusive-1202841171/|website=Variety|last=Lang|first=Brent|date=June 11, 2018|access-date=June 13, 2018|archive-date=June 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613041104/https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/ethan-hawke-jason-blum-adapting-the-good-lord-bird-for-tv-exclusive-1202841171/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Academy Award(R) Nominee Ethan Hawke to Executive Produce and Star in Showtime(R) Limited Series "Good Lord Bird"|url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2019/03/11/academy-award-nominee-ethan-hawke-to-executive-produce-and-star-in-showtime-limited-series-good-lord-bird-7514/20190311showtime01/|work=The Futon Critic|date=March 11, 2019}}{{cite web|title=Showtime Taps Tony Winner Daveed Diggs and Wyatt Russell in "The Good Lord Bird"|url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2019/08/02/showtime-taps-tony-winner-daveed-diggs-and-wyatt-russell-in-the-good-lord-bird-559415/20190802showtime01/|work=The Futon Critic|date=August 2, 2019}}{{Cite web|title=TV News Roundup: Showtime Sets 'The Good Lord Bird' Premiere Date (Watch)|url=https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/tv-news-roundup-showtime-good-lord-bird-premiere-trailer-1234604974/|last1=Rico|first1=Klaritza|date=2020-05-13|website=Variety|language=en|access-date=2020-05-13|archive-date=2020-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200513015840/https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/tv-news-roundup-showtime-good-lord-bird-premiere-trailer-1234604974/|url-status=live}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite journal
|title=Historical Fiction about John Brown and Male Identity in Radical Movements
|last=McTaggart
|first=Ursula
|journal=African American Review
|year=2018
|volume=51
|number=2
|pages=129–142
|doi=10.1353/afa.2018.0019
|s2cid=166181361
|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/699343
|via=Project MUSE}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before = The Round House
Louise Erdrich}}
{{s-ttl|title = National Book Award for Fiction|years = 2013}}
{{s-aft|after = Redeployment
Phil Klay}}
{{s-end}}
{{John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry}}
{{NBA for Fiction 2000–2024}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Good Lord Bird}}
Category:Cultural depictions of John Brown (abolitionist)
Category:Cultural depictions of Harriet Tubman
Category:Books about Frederick Douglass
Category:National Book Award for Fiction–winning works