The Good Lord Bird, book review
By James McBride.
Having recently finished my first book by James McBride, which was, in fact, his most recently published book, I find myself working backwards, for I followed it up with his second last and then this, his third- last book, The Good Lord Bird. As of now, I find that no other writer can keep me interested. Only a few persistent chapters into other books (I tried three), I finally had to accept that, right now, all I want to read is books written by James McBride. Thanks be to goodness, I see that he has published quite a few, they will keep me going for a while yet, for his books are all nice and long.
I’m not sure what it is about these books that so attract me. Perhaps it’s the great number of characters, with one very vital main character and some equally vital and colorful characters around him or her. This last book I read, The Good Lord Bird, could have been an adventurous and racy coming-of-age book except for the fact that the central character is too young. At the end of the book, we read that he is about fourteen. By that stage, we’ve followed his adventurous life for about three years. No-one can tell what age he really is, least of all he himself. Like so many blacks in the US at the time (early 1960s), he can only guess his approximate age. Like most people around him, he celebrates his birthday at the beginning or end of each year.
As in McBride’s other books, there are so many factors to delight. The main character himself dresses like a girl and is accepted as such. His/her protector is an old, white leader of a loosely held together abolitionist group, adventurers mostly, with amongst them quite a few sons of the old man. The central character came to join this band of anti-slavers because the old man fatally shot his father by accident while carrying out a raid in a pro-slavers establishment. Following this opening, the action takes the boy all-over the continent, right up into Canada and back to the northern states of America and down into some of the middle states, mostly in the east of the country. The old man is a religious fanatic who habitually sermonizes to his men for hours at a time, at any time of the day or night, and in any situation, especially when his followers crave battle action.
This book differs from the previous books I read by this author in that it is mainly set in the middle states of the US. In the mid 1960s, slavery was still commonplace in this part of the US. People — especially women and children — were still sold into slavery to the south, and white traders and customers who frequented the inn where the story begins, still bring their personal slaves with them, and pen them in for the duration of their visit.
I don’t want to give the story away, so I’ll leave it at this. And yes, you guessed it, I can highly recommend this book, just like the previous books I read of this author. Meanwhile, I caved in just today, and bought three more of his novels. Other authors just must wait till I’ve read all of McBride’s books. That seems to be a long way off yet, since his books are long. I hope some of you will try this author and see if you like them as much as I do. That’s a dangerous recommendation to make, of course, since we are all so different, and so is our literary taste, which, again, changes as we age. Still, you might give him a try and let me know what you think!
Wishing you great reading, whatever it is!
