Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

231 reviews

kellyllin's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Forced institutionalization, and Antisemitism

kellijones's review against another edition

challenging dark informative 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? Yes

3.0

I read this book because of the accolades it received, but I'm not sure how much I liked it. It was all anecdotes, and perspective changes, and tangents - I was halfway through the book wondering what the point of the story was. I love character driven stories, but I'm not sure I'd even call this book that. There were certainly enough characters, and the reader gets to learn a little about each of them. It felt like a lot of words to say a little. The perspectives of the characters' contained a lot of "isms" and perhaps were purposed to shed light on the biases we all carry. It was not uninteresting, but it wasn't my cup of tea. It felt like a chore to read most of the time and not even the kind of homework that was for my own good that I would see in hindsight.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Excrement

alexacat_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

artdec0's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia

schausjk's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

There were many aspects to this book I did enjoy. Some of the characters were very interesting, particularly Chona and Nate. The way James McBride really showcases his characters serves the book well in driving home how interconnected everyone is, and how one person's decisions can impact everyone else. That being said, I would have loved to have seen more character growth from many of those involved. And while I know that the characters are the main focus here, I'd also have loved more frequent descriptions of Chicken Hill itself as a place. At times I'd just sit back and soak in the sense of place created by the characters and their histories, and I would've liked to see more on how their surroundings impact them in turn. I also found the ending somewhat anticlimactic in part because of all this time spent building up this web of characters. I've seen how they relate to each other, and I learned what became of a few of them, but there are many more who I came to know and care about over the course of the story but never really found out what happened to them. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

amylav's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Racism, Rape, and Antisemitism

bessadams's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Excrement, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

juanat77's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

carlyguari's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.0

I enjoyed this novel. I gave it 4/5 because I was not completely immersed in it and I do not feel like its a book I would recommend to EVERYONE.

I have looked at a few other reviews and there are things I agree with and don't agree with regarding these critiques. Some critiques say that they think McBride should have had a better editor because most of the book was about introducing characters (that all eventually play a role) and that this meandered for too long. I would argue that this is likely just the form of story telling. I think some people tell stories like this, with lots of side stories to get you to understand the persons, the history, and the tensions between the characters. I didn't think there was really going to be much of a plot actually until about halfway through the book. But I was enjoying the stories regardless. This style of story was similar to me as Remarkably Bright Creatures or even Lessons in Chemistry. You have a cast of characters who all eventually converge later on. But these critics don't seem to be criticizing those books for meandering and only having a loose plot. I enjoyed the exposure of stories from minority perspectives. This book reminds me of something I'd have read in an American literature class.

I can agree with some critiques that some character development is not impactful as others. With character building we need to have more show than tell, and I think Chona is a character where more is being told about her and she didn't get to see much of her character.

Lastly, I did find the political commentary at the end of the last chapter (not in the epilogue) to be shoehorned in there. I don't disagree with the commentary, it did feel out of place and took me a little out of the story because now I wasn't sure who's perspective it was sharing the commentary.

The audio book narrator was fantastic and probably helped with my level of engagement.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Body horror, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Murder

mmamckinney's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Rape