The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
As you know, my book club is a serious group. But every year we try to select a light hearted book with no success. After the disaster that was Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, we pretty much gave up.
But this year we chose a truly comedic novel without realizing it.
The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2014 National Book Award, is a rollicking read in the tradition of Mark Twain. The premise sounds a little off putting–a young African-American boy disguised as a girl (Henry/Henrietta “traveling incog-Negro”) joins John Brown of Harpers Ferry fame. We know how that turned out, so at first glance not a ho, ho, ho kind of book.
But it is. McBride is a master of both the slapstick and subtle, sometimes in the same paragraph. Brilliant
Note: not all the gals enjoyed this book as much as I did.
WHAT OTHER REVIEWERS THINK
The Washington Post: “A boisterous, highly entertaining, altogether original novel.”
WHO WROTE IT
James McBride is an accomplished musician and author of The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, The Color of Water, Song Yet Sung and Miracle at St. Anna, which was made into a film by Spike Lee. McBride is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.