Reviews

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

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plbeyer70's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

pia_felizia's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

very well written, very moving in parts, kind of rambling in others

kaylacakes33's review against another edition

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4.0

Why I really liked this book: I appreciated how James McBride painted a picture of of 1930’s America: increasing becoming culturally diverse, politically white american’s are afraid of being othered, global tensions rising, and socially people just want to independently succeed.

Each character was able to be connected in some way, as most people who live in a small town/ community are. Yet everyone has their own misgivings, problems, and aspirations.

However, my reasoning for the four stars is the story is left unfinished. Characters are just kind of written off and not spoken of again? Finally, McBride tried to loop back to the beginning, but it didn’t work out because it was very vague and it should have been more explicit, like I felt i read so many twists and turns that I needed a re-write of how the book started to understand what he was referencing.

Otherwise I enjoyed the read!

maliae's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.75

annaf90's review against another edition

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slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

I feel like this book was pretty slow moving. It is interesting in that it gives at least part of the story of every person and situation involved in some way, demonstrating just how complex life is, but that also makes it very, very convoluted and somewhat difficult to follow. I had to re-listen to various parts a few times to make sure I understood what was happening.

It also felt like, for how slowly the story moved and for how immensely detailed the whole story was, the ending felt abrupt and rushed. There was very little story about what happened to everyone after the fact, aside from one person. The dichotomy of that could be artful, I suppose, but instead it felt unbalanced and lacking.

There were a few points that were too graphic for my comfort.

My final verdict: I’d recommend the book if someone was already interested in the story but wouldn’t likely encourage someone to read it.

Content Warnings