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djbobthegirl's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Racial slurs, Death, Excrement, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Grief, Mental illness, Ableism, Antisemitism, and Sexual violence
wanderingghost12's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
James McBride is phenomenal at his use of irony and describing people. He creates a colorful cast of characters that are loveable, fearless, and completely human. He shows us the good, the bad, and the ugly very well and keeps us intrigued by their character development. This book was relatively slow at times, so portions were difficult to get through, but the last third of the book was great and so well-written. This book is very dark and portrays a clear and concise image of how America was like for minority groups in the 1930s.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Chronic illness, Classism, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Ableism, Cursing, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault
mollyrook's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Ableism, Antisemitism, and Sexual assault
biobeetle's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Xenophobia, Ableism, Antisemitism, Racism, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Child abuse
Moderate: Murder and Child death
Minor: War
emtees's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
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
4.0
There are a couple of different things going on in this book. Some of them worked better than others but all were necessary to weave a tapestry of the life of a community.
First, the plot. The book opens in 1972, with the discovery of a body hidden in an old sewage tunnel in what was once the mixed Black and Jewish neighborhood of Chicken Hill, Pottstown, PA. The mysterious dead man is clutching a medallion with a Hebrew inscription, so the detectives go first to a local, nearly abandoned temple, where the Rabbi refuses to tell them anything useful. The narration helps us understand that the man’s death was justice for people who rarely get that, and then the story flashes back decades to very, very slowly explain what happened. I’ll admit, by the time the book, in its final chapters, explained why there was a dead guy in the tunnel, I’d completely forgotten that’s what we were leading up to. I had to go back after I finished to reread the introduction. But that doesn’t mean the plot was badly written. Actually, the way McBride weaves together the different storylines, including several that seem completely unrelated - what does a temple’s quest to fix a water supply problem have to do with a young Black boy unjustly locked in a mental institution? - is masterful. Some mysteries end up making their world seem too small by having everything fit together too neatly, but by keeping the disparate elements of the plot just that, mostly unrelated to each other but touching on each other in the way the lives of people in a small community do, McBride ends up crafting something that feels believable. But it is also a very, very slow build-up and ultimately I’m not sure “dead guy in the well” should have been the centerpiece of it.
Mystery aside, the book is also a depiction of a community and that is where it shines. McBride has a gift for crafting unique characters. Some of them feel so real it’s like you know them, others are quirkier, bordering on unbelievable, but all of them are memorable and specific. Chona, a young Jewish woman, was my favorite. A passionate thinker and believer in social justice, Chona is the kind of woman who writes letters to the paper and makes her elders roll their eyes - but she’s also the kind of person whose actions match her convictions, whether that’s maintaining a grocery store in a Black neighborhood when the other Jewish families begin to move away to better areas, or protecting a young boy from the long arm of the state. There’s Moshe, her ambitious and loving husband; Paper, the beautiful town gossip; Fatty, a quick-witted eternal entrepreneur and Soap, his huge, dimwitted but loyal best friend; Nate, the most mysterious figure in the book, a gentle man with a deeply buried violent streak whose mysterious past is a running thread; and of course Dodo, a young deaf boy who the state wants to institutionalize and who a community comes together to protect.
Speaking of community, McBride does a fantastic job not just with the unique characters of Chicken Hill but with the different, overlapping communities that make up its population. This isn’t an idealistic portrayal of a world where differences don’t matter in the face of outside oppression; the Black, Jewish and other communities in Chicken Hill have the places where they overlap, and those were they keep their distance. Religion, class, immigration status, racism and the ways they are differently perceived by the outside world are never forgotten and sometimes they create barriers to friendship or solidarity, but at other times those lines are crossed in immensely satisfying ways so the people of Chicken Hill can help one of their own.
A final strength I have to mention is the depiction of disability. McBride mentions in an author’s note at the end of the book that it was heavily inspired by the time he spent working at a camp for disabled kids and the life of the man who ran it. I’m glad I didn’t have that information before I read the book, because it might have put me off reading it - too often, that kind of starting point can lead to inspiration porn. But McBride works the theme of disability into his story carefully and without ever dehumanizing his disabled characters. There are many of them, and they are all complex; some are heroes, others just regular people trying to get by; one is a villain. McBride manages to balance their normal, flawed humanity with a sense of the way they are underestimated and dismissed, giving the impression that he is uncovering stories that haven’t been told without turning them into paragons of inspiration. I appreciated that a lot.
And, to balance, a final weakness, probably the only thing I didn’t like about the book: occasionally, the narration wanders away from the plot to rant about some subject or another, and while it works when the rants are about historical injustices (or even contemporary ones) that fit thematically with the story, occasionally these rants appear to be barely related to the story at all. The one where he goes off on modern technology - in a book sent in the 1930’s - was especially jarring.
First, the plot. The book opens in 1972, with the discovery of a body hidden in an old sewage tunnel in what was once the mixed Black and Jewish neighborhood of Chicken Hill, Pottstown, PA. The mysterious dead man is clutching a medallion with a Hebrew inscription, so the detectives go first to a local, nearly abandoned temple, where the Rabbi refuses to tell them anything useful. The narration helps us understand that the man’s death was justice for people who rarely get that, and then the story flashes back decades to very, very slowly explain what happened. I’ll admit, by the time the book, in its final chapters, explained why there was a dead guy in the tunnel, I’d completely forgotten that’s what we were leading up to. I had to go back after I finished to reread the introduction. But that doesn’t mean the plot was badly written. Actually, the way McBride weaves together the different storylines, including several that seem completely unrelated - what does a temple’s quest to fix a water supply problem have to do with a young Black boy unjustly locked in a mental institution? - is masterful. Some mysteries end up making their world seem too small by having everything fit together too neatly, but by keeping the disparate elements of the plot just that, mostly unrelated to each other but touching on each other in the way the lives of people in a small community do, McBride ends up crafting something that feels believable. But it is also a very, very slow build-up and ultimately I’m not sure “dead guy in the well” should have been the centerpiece of it.
Mystery aside, the book is also a depiction of a community and that is where it shines. McBride has a gift for crafting unique characters. Some of them feel so real it’s like you know them, others are quirkier, bordering on unbelievable, but all of them are memorable and specific. Chona, a young Jewish woman, was my favorite. A passionate thinker and believer in social justice, Chona is the kind of woman who writes letters to the paper and makes her elders roll their eyes - but she’s also the kind of person whose actions match her convictions, whether that’s maintaining a grocery store in a Black neighborhood when the other Jewish families begin to move away to better areas, or protecting a young boy from the long arm of the state. There’s Moshe, her ambitious and loving husband; Paper, the beautiful town gossip; Fatty, a quick-witted eternal entrepreneur and Soap, his huge, dimwitted but loyal best friend; Nate, the most mysterious figure in the book, a gentle man with a deeply buried violent streak whose mysterious past is a running thread; and of course Dodo, a young deaf boy who the state wants to institutionalize and who a community comes together to protect.
Speaking of community, McBride does a fantastic job not just with the unique characters of Chicken Hill but with the different, overlapping communities that make up its population. This isn’t an idealistic portrayal of a world where differences don’t matter in the face of outside oppression; the Black, Jewish and other communities in Chicken Hill have the places where they overlap, and those were they keep their distance. Religion, class, immigration status, racism and the ways they are differently perceived by the outside world are never forgotten and sometimes they create barriers to friendship or solidarity, but at other times those lines are crossed in immensely satisfying ways so the people of Chicken Hill can help one of their own.
A final strength I have to mention is the depiction of disability. McBride mentions in an author’s note at the end of the book that it was heavily inspired by the time he spent working at a camp for disabled kids and the life of the man who ran it. I’m glad I didn’t have that information before I read the book, because it might have put me off reading it - too often, that kind of starting point can lead to inspiration porn. But McBride works the theme of disability into his story carefully and without ever dehumanizing his disabled characters. There are many of them, and they are all complex; some are heroes, others just regular people trying to get by; one is a villain. McBride manages to balance their normal, flawed humanity with a sense of the way they are underestimated and dismissed, giving the impression that he is uncovering stories that haven’t been told without turning them into paragons of inspiration. I appreciated that a lot.
And, to balance, a final weakness, probably the only thing I didn’t like about the book: occasionally, the narration wanders away from the plot to rant about some subject or another, and while it works when the rants are about historical injustices (or even contemporary ones) that fit thematically with the story, occasionally these rants appear to be barely related to the story at all. The one where he goes off on modern technology - in a book sent in the 1930’s - was especially jarring.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Ableism
Moderate: Racism, Antisemitism, and Rape
The main plot contains a scene of sexual assault. It is only vaguely depicted. The story focuses on Jewish and Black characters in the 1930s, so period-typical racism and antisemitism play a significant part. One of the main characters is a disabled child who experiences extreme ableism, including institutionalization.amybartoli29's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Ableism, Sexual violence, Antisemitism, Racism, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Violence and Alcohol
Minor: Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pedophilia
spacebeyonce's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
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
4.75
thank you monkey pants 😭😭😭😭😭😭
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Classism, Ableism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Antisemitism, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Pedophilia and Child abuse
lets_book's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is an intriguing examination of the small town of Chicken Hill in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. The narrative opens with Malachi, an old Jewish man, being questioned about a skeleton found in a well with items linked to him. From here, Malachi details how he came to know the local theatre owner Moshe and his wife Chona, owner of the Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, the epicenter of a rich and diverse community. The couple help their friend, Nate, hide his nephew, Dodo, a deaf boy who lost his mother and whom the government is seeking to place into Pennhurst mental asylum. The arrangement goes well until Dodo intervenes to protect Chona from an attack and ends up caught by the police. The aftermath of this climactic moment spans beyond the modest store, implicating all in the community who knew each of those present. Narratives are twisted by prejudice and cruel lies while the truth rests with those whose perspectives are dismissed by authorities for arbitrary assumptions. The story rounds off beautifully as these characters’ individual stories resolve and all that remains is the skeleton, which is only discovered years later and which holds the memory of that unique slice of time.
This is an extremely vague overview because I don’t want to spoil any major developments! I highly recommend you read this if you enjoy:
- Heavy emphasis on characters and their relationships with one another. They are developed so meticulously and you understand more about how the town operates with these intertwined narratives.
- Race relations and how they impact the outcome of a story. The tensions between white people and the Black and Jewish community play a significant role in how each character is perceived by one another. The injustice of what happens with Dodo reveals how power, control, and discrimination shape the outcome of a situation. We see one man with power upend the lives of the disadvantaged around him, all for his own sick motives.
- Witty and engaging dialogue. The conversations between these characters paint a picture of who they are.
- Bleak situations balanced by lively characters, everyday depictions and humorous quips.
I really enjoyed this book and while there are a lot of people and stories to keep track of, I took my time with it, immersing myself in the story and getting to know each of the characters. And wow, it was so worth it. Please do yourself a favor and pick this up. A week or two has passed since I’ve finished the book and I’m still thinking about it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Racism, Racial slurs, Ableism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and Terminal illness
aggie2010's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Death, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Excrement, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Mental illness, and Murder
clarkg's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
5.0
"The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store" is a beautiful, lyrical tale of community and solidarity. McBride has created a rich world full of brilliant, dynamic characters whose fates entwine in surprising places. I appreciated many things about this book--the language, the care given to crafting the story's Black and Jewish communities, the breadth and depth of disability representation (though not without flaw), and its callbacks to a larger conversation about the possibilities and limits of justice on stolen land. If I had to describe "The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store" in a single word, it would be "abundant".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Ableism, Child death, Death, and Excrement
Moderate: Classism, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infertility, Death of parent, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Xenophobia
Minor: Slavery, Infidelity, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, and Alcoholism