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“Wildly
entertaining…A rollicking saga about one of America’s earliest abolitionists.”
— People (4-stars)
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“Outrageously
entertaining…The Good Lord Bird rockets
toward its inevitable and, yes, knee-slapping conclusion. Never has mayhem been
this much of a humdinger.”
— USA Today
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“A brilliant romp of a novel…[McBride] pulls
off his portrait masterfully, like a modern-day Mark Twain: evoking sheer glee
with every page.”
— New York Times Book Review
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“A boisterous, highly entertaining,
altogether original novel.”
— Washington Post
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“You may know the story of John Brown’s unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry, but author James McBride’s retelling of the events leading up to it is so imaginative, you’ll race to the finish.”
— NPR
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“A fascinating mix of history and mystery.”
— Essence
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“A story that’s difficult to put down.”
— Ebony
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“A superbly
written novel....McBride...transcends history and makes it come alive.”
— Chicago Tribune
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“Absorbing
and darkly funny.”
— San Francisco Chronicle
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“As in Huck
Finn, this novel comes in through the back door of history, telling you
something you might not know by putting you in the heat of the action…It is a
compelling story and an important one, told in a voice that is fresh and
apolitical.”
— Minneapolis Star Tribune
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“An irrepressibly
fun read.”
— Seattle Times
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“Both
breezy and sharp, a rare combination outside of Twain. You should absolutely
read it.”
— New York Magazine
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“An
impressively deep comedy...It’s a view of the antebellum world refreshingly
free of pieties and full of questions about the capacity of human beings to act
on their sense of right and wrong, about why the world is the way it is, and
what any one of us can do to make it better. It’s the rare comic novel that
delves so deep.”
— Salon
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“Outrageously
funny, sad…McBride puts a human face on a nation at its most divided.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“[A]
masterful performance that lives up to all the power and humor of McBride’s
words.”
— Library Journal (audio review)