The Good Lord Bird

With his latest novel, James McBride gives us a whole new take on famed abolitionist John Brown and his passionate fight to end slavery.  Additionally, McBride also gives us pause on what we may or may not understand about the cost of slavery in very human terms.

McBride goes about this renewed look not through a somber, serious take on a somber, serious topic, but with irreverence, humor and wisdom. I remember reading about John Brown and his attack on Harper's Ferry in elementary school, but this story is told from a  wildly different perspective: a young slave who is "released" from slavery and taken in by Brown.  Brown mistakes the boy Henry for a girl (long story; read the book : ) and renames him Onion after a lucky vegetable of the same name that Brown keeps in his pocket.  When Brown shows the onion to Henry, he grabs it and quickly consumes it which leads to Brown stating that henceforth Onion will be his/her name and she shall be his lucky charm.  Confused yet? Hang in there, it's worth the trip.

McBride weaves a multilayered story(told through the eyes of Onion; hmm...layers...onion) of Brown's ragtag group of followers who in what can only be described as a wildly chaotic, unorganized, poorly-equipped and lackluster way,  ride throughout the south releasing (sometime) reluctant slaves.  

While Brown is fiery in his zeal to visit freedom upon the slaves, he is also fiery in his delivery of half-baked, bible-quoting rants and raves that are also sprinkled throughout the story.  Brown's rants are definitely one source of McBride's wry observations.

Henry's odyssey from slave to free man is engaging, colorful and dotted with interactions amongst Harriet Tubman, Frederik Douglass,  and, of course, Ol' John Brown.

Recently named the National Book Award Winner for Fiction, The Good Lord Bird delivers a wholly consuming story and an imaginative look at a time and place with which we might mistakenly think we are familiar.

"He was like everybody in war.  He believed God was on his side.  Everybody got God on their side in a war.  Problem is, God ain't tellin' nobody who He's for."

Some things never change.

My Rating ****