Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

75 reviews

lyndsay_bibliophile's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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“The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store" is a unique story, highlighting the power of community and the strength of the human spirit. Its unconventional storytelling and character building with its satisfying ending was a joy to experience. This is a book for those who appreciate slow-burning character studies, intricate narratives, and the unique beauty of a story that defies traditional structure.

What sets this book apart is its patient, layered, non-linear approach to character development. McBride does a glorious job of weaving individual tales into a larger community story in a way that was deeply satisfying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Antisemitism

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Police brutality, Grief, Classism

alichan459's review against another edition

4.0

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement

heremireadz's review against another edition

4.0

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Violence, Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcoholism

knkoch's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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This was quite an astounding, complex, layered, clockwork mechanism of a book. Like in Deacon King Kong, McBride creates a huge and intricate community. In 1930s Pottstown, PA, the black residents are segregated onto Chicken Hill and neglected by city leaders and infrastructure; white protestants cling to power, privilege, and the false Mayflower-tinged history they believe justifies it; and the Jewish community, made up of both long-established families and recent immigrants, is caught in the middle of the town's hierarchy. Of course, when there's racial hierarchy, the middle is not so different from the bottom, and there are untold ways to experience cruelty and discrimination. 

There are lots of mysteries in the plot, and I don't think I understood all of them, but the story didn't suffer for it. It's hard, and there's a lot of ugliness, individual and societal, exposed. But there's kindness, triumph, and joy, too. Truly everything between heaven and earth is present in these human beings, and in us, too. The world we inhabit can be both deeply broken and full of wonder at once. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Excrement

Moderate: Rape

books_brews_and_booze's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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James McBride does it again. He's crafted a compelling, well-written, powerful story with special attention paid to the setting, to the characters, to humanity.

One of the greatest storytellers of this time, in my humble opinion. I'd love to see school curriculums include his books in their lists, if they aren't already doing so.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma

Minor: Excrement, Abandonment

meganpbell's review against another edition

3.75

emotional hopeful mysterious 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

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While there’s much to love about this book—its strong sense of place, its vast, lovable, diverse, and very human cast of characters, and its central message about community amid difference—religion, race, ability, class—I found it too structurally scattered to enjoy uninterruptedly and the author’s descriptions of women’s bodies (the number of times boobs and angelic singing occur smh) distracting to put it lightly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Infertility, Medical content, Death of parent

kimveach's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This was an excellent book. I just didn't enjoy it. It felt slow and meandering at first. It eventually picked up the pace, and the various storylines came together for a thrilling ending. However, I spent most of the book wishing I had finished it. Once again, I must remember that just because a book is on a best-seller list doesn't mean I'll like it. I can appreciate this novel and even enjoyed parts of it, but I would have preferred this story as a mini-series to watch instead of reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

booknerd_therapist's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense 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

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Oh my goodness. If you've ever read a book that ripped your heart out and made you examine it.... this is that kind of book.

Admittedly, it was off to a slow start. I had a tough time getting into it, because the author meticulously goes into every character's back story. But without that, there is no story. So it's necessary, and if you want to experience the full beauty of this book, you need to truly understand the characters.

This book isn't just about being black. It's not just about being Jewish. It's not just about racism and antisemitism and surviving those things. It's not just about the horrific abuse disabled children experienced a century ago. Those things are omnipresent.... but they are a backdrop. They are a backdrop for the real story: Friendship, love, resilience, family, hope. 

If you are hoping for a plot-driven story, this is not it. This is unapologetically character driven. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Murder, Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Excrement

purplepenning's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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In 1972, a construction crew finds a skeleton in the bottom of a well in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. But really, that's the end of the story. The real story takes place in the minority community of Chicken Hill in the 1930s, when Black and Jewish neighbors, estranged friends, quiet community protectors, well-intentioned hustlers, crooked public officials, morally diseased doctors, bankrolling mobsters, predatory monsters, and one deaf child intersect to reveal how an extraordinary community of communities came together to support and protect each other.     

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, Violence, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Infertility, Death of parent

nuah_rains's review against another edition

1.0

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I can see why people like this but my low rating is because this is simply not for me. Historically fiction can be hit or miss with me (like lessons in chemistry was a hit and this one a miss). I think I kept comparing it to lessons in chemistry because they are both historical fictions and they both have become boty. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment

Moderate: Confinement, Forced institutionalization

Minor: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings