Reviews with content warning for Ableism - The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

131 reviews

amandarosetea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Well written, and you can really feel what’s happening, but it’s also got some really sad parts and the language is almost jarring at times, so the thing I really felt the most throughout was grief. Good book that inspired reflection and taught me a lot, but also had some really heartbreaking parts and the ending left something to be desired.

Content Warnings

maceface290's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

pbruce593's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

haircutshort's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Lots of themes about American communities. The immigration story. Justice.

Content Warnings

kaneebli's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

carleyf's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love how this book opens with a mystery but doesn’t discuss it until the very end. It perfectly dives into everyone’s stories, how they intertwine with those of the community, and how a ripple effect can run its course. This book highlights true injustices for both Black and Jewish communities in a small town and gives them a voice they might not have had at that point in history. It also shows the very real, raw reality of people with any sort of disability at the time and how they were treated. I will recommend this book to everyone.

Content Warnings

gmrickel's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

2.5 stars for enjoyment. I am very surprised how much I didn't enjoy reading this book! I love a family saga and Booklist's review described this as a "neighborhood saga." I often felt like I was just getting interested in a set of characters and then it would shift to another set. At some point someone described this as a mystery and I disagree with that assessment. Yes, there are certain suspenseful plot points, but the mystery doesn't drive the story. The leisurely pace grated and I wish there had been more women characters. All of the above is completely my preference based on the types of stories I enjoy reading and isn't a comment on McBride storytelling skill (which is immense). From the professional reviews, I was expecting the racism, anti-Semitism, and ableism, but none of them mentioned the sexual violence (rape and assault).

Content Warnings

abigailrsimard's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

fremlo's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious sad

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Slow to start, the heaven and earth grocery store creates an in-depth image of community and characters both relatable and deeply human. The ending is perfect and reminds me to always fight for justice and hope for more.

Content Warnings

emmakrof's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store tells the story of from the perspectives of Jewish, Black, and White members of a small, early 20th century Pennsylvania town. There are many subplots (some of which I found totally uninteresting), but I found the “main” plot most intriguing — it had me racing to the end!

A Jewish couple must hide a deaf Black child to keep him from being institutionalized. But when the child stops the town’s doctor (and member of the KKK) from raping the unconscious woman who was sheltering him, the doctor turns him into the authorities. Rumors abound, but, of course, the white man’s story is believed. After a short but traumatic stay in the state mental institution, the community conspires to and succeeds in breaking the boy out. With money from Jewish friends, the black family buys a farm down South and goes on to live a fulfilling, prosperous life. And the doctor meets a karmic, albeit accidental, end.

One thing I really loved about this book was the way the author portrayed the dynamics between the Jewish, black, and white community members. He depicts the different concepts of self, life goals, allegiances, and tensions community members create (and the ideas they create about others) in order to coexist. Everyone has a complicated relationship with everyone else, both inter- and intra-racial. It felt very detailed and very human.

But I found a few of the characters kind of one-dimensional. In particular, I had complicated feelings about Chona. Chona is a Jewish woman who is beloved by all in the community. She rebukes racism, rebukes antisemitism, rebukes misogyny, rebukes gender roles, rebukes ableism. She is not afraid to speak her mind and do what she believes is right. She spends her life running a grocery store at a loss and giving food away for free to help alleviate structural poverty.

She does everything to protect Dodo from institutionalization, until the moment she dies. Perhaps her only flaw is not inquiring when her black childhood friend Bernice drops out of school and subsequently avoids public life.

Doubtlessly, Chona is a great person, and I enjoyed her role in the story!! But I am conflicted about how to feel about her. Her colorblind, abilityblind anyone-is-capable-of-everything approach to life feels naive; but at the same time, she is closer to the “truth” than many of the other characters in this book!

Though perhaps her death signifies that viewpoint alone cannot carry one to success?

Chona feels too perfect, too certain, but maybe that’s the point.

While I enjoyed the plot, I felt the ending was rushed. I would’ve liked to hear more about Dodo

and his escape

than some of the more mundane town drama the author spends so much time on. I liked the inclusion of the mundane drama as it added more dimension to the story, but I felt the balance could’ve been better.

My final gripe is that the author includes a seemingly random rant about how cellphones are ruining our lives?? The timing of this rant was bizarre

(right after the community learns about Chona’s death — are cellphones really that evil that they should overshadow the death of a beloved woman, that the characters’ reaction to them would be stronger than their grief in that moment??? TOTALLY anticlimactic, and it took me out of the scene completely.)

Additionally, it was about two thirds of the way through the book, and up until that point, the story was firmly set in the early 20th century; there was not a single mention about how the events of the story would be interpreted in the present day or vice versa. It was SO weird and out of place, and he never returns to this point? I was so confused that it brought my overall rating down.

Content Warnings

More...