The Good Lord Bird (National Book Award Winner)

I’ll admit: I approached *The Good Lord Bird* expecting a solemn, worthily grim meditation on slavery. Instead, I got a novel that’s *funny*—like, laugh-out-loud-in-public funny—while also being one of the most incisive critiques of racial mythmaking I’ve encountered. Michael Boatman’s narration is a masterclass in balancing tone. His Henry Shackleford is a perfect blend of youthful naivety and world-weary sarcasm, and his John Brown is a revelation: part firebrand preacher, part unhinged zealot, all delivered with a gravitas that makes the absurdity land harder. The production quality is flawless, with clear audio and pacing that never drags, even during the novel’s more philosophical digressions. That said, this isn’t a flawless listen. The episodic structure sometimes feels *too* loose, with certain set pieces (a brothel scene, a bizarre detour with a “Indian chief”) that, while darkly hilarious, risk undercutting the emotional stakes. And Boatman’s female voices occasionally veer into caricature, a minor but noticeable misstep in an otherwise stellar performance. Still, the audacity of McBride’s vision—turning a sacred cow like John Brown into a tragicomic figure, or using a cross-dressing protagonist to expose the performativity of race and gender—makes this audiobook unforgettable. It’s the rare historical novel that’s both a riot and a reckoning, and Boatman’s narration ensures you’ll feel every contradiction.