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I didn‘t like this as much as Deacon King Kong and Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, but it was still good and definitely has some of the funny tongue in cheek satire you‘d expect from McBride. It‘s a low pick for me. DKK is my fave by him.

In this broadly comic account of a tragic story, an enslaved 12-year-old boy is freed by John Brown, mistaken for a girl, and spends the next few years enmeshed in Brown's plans for an uprising to end slavery. Henry, aka Onion, is focused mainly on his own survival and definitely not on heroism. By the inevitable end, his attachment to Brown gives emotional resonance to a death that forced a nation to face its sins.

Very good! This writer is amazing, and again this book doesn‘t disappoint

I loved Deacon King Kong, so I added this one to my book stacks soon after I read Deacon. I loved many things about this book, and McBride's humor is on point. I found, though, that it tended to drag on and become tedious for long sections of the narrative. While I can appreciate his skill and his irreverent humor, it was a less-could-have-been-more situation for me. This was my July #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

Following the recent death of this author I made a purchase request to the library for the audiobook hoping it would be my catalyst to read this book long on my TBR. It was! This is a long winded book (could easily edit out 2-300 pages) of the imagined musings of the long winded surviving 3rd son of John Brown. Owen contemplates his life as well as that of, might I add, his long-winded father. I appreciate this book and the writing style ↓

Sad to see he had passed.I have read a couple of his books , but not the tagged one often considered his masterpiece. https://apnews.com/article/russell-banks-dead-cloudsplitter-affliction-sweet-her...

Russell Banks passed away. Cloudsplitter has been sitting on my TBR shelf for years. I'll try to get to it this year, along with the Good Lord Bird, by James McBride. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/08/books/russell-banks-dead.html

3⭐️ Really liked the overall story, but felt that it could have used some more editing. I can see why the book won the #nationalbookaward, but felt it was slow in a number of places and it felt at times like the author was trying too hard to make the story more compelling. #2022 #fallreads #fiction #historicalfiction #bookreview #bookstagram #americancivilwar

I really enjoyed this novel that made me discover John Brown, and his fight for the abolition of slavery.
I loved the narrator, Onion, who recounts his time in John Brown's army with a truth-revealing sense of humor.

You can‘t lose with McBride and this lively tale of John Brown‘s wild life is worth picking up.