12.5k reviews for:

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

James McBride

3.9 AVERAGE

turtlehami's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional funny informative sad tense fast-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

busystressedbutbookblessed's review against another edition

4.25

emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

evelinacantina's review against another edition

5.0

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Magnificent. I strongly disagree with people who said there were too many characters and detours. You are missing the whole point! This book is about community, and it understands that an individual’s personal experience is absolutely relevant to understanding how a community operates on a broader scale. If an editor had scaled back the individual narratives, as many have suggested should have been done, I doubt the book would have interested me nearly as much. I was also shocked to see that people struggled to get into it as I could not put this book down from the very beginning. (I do realize this is a beloved book with a 3.96 star average I just got mad because I read a couple 1 star reviews)

joanis_na's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Book has a ton of exposition in part 1 and throughout the book! The ending made me sob, I’d reread again!

hodgdon_sarah's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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: Complicated

readingis4me's review against another edition

4.0

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Wonderful and sad.

There were quite a few characters so I never latched on and felt connected (also maybe cause it started with a time jump). But it was all about community and about hope. I was totally swept up and dragged by story.

emilycboyd's review against another edition

4.0

dark reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

dbmcgrath's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional tense 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: Yes

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A slow move through a hard story. McBride is a master of character building and story development and I so appreciated his care of the many cultural elements. 

scott_wilson_kc's review against another edition

5.0

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Beautiful.

danlisle's review against another edition

4.0

emotional 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