Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

I had trouble with this book. I thought it was well-written with a lot of detail. And it started strong: the first chapter begins with a flash-forward of a body being discovered, leading me to believe the mysterious murder would be central to the story, à la Where the Crawdads Sing. This was not the case- the "mystery" of the body is primarily referenced in the first chapter and the last two, with little impact on the story.

At points, there was too much detail. Introducing a new character required multiple paragraphs (or even pages) of backstory- and there were A LOT of characters. I could not keep track of all of the characters, several with primarily used nicknames; however, on occasion a real name was used and I forgot who that character was and had to go back for context clues. There were also so many points-of-view which made it hard to keep up with. I wasn't sure who the main character was supposed to be, if any.

The plot seemed very convoluted. I wasn't sure why any of these characters specific stories were told until the very end when it was explicitly laid out "This character did this, which meant this character could do this and, as a result, this happened." So it did tie together in the end, but took so long to get there.

This story primarily took place in the late 1920s with the first and last chapters taking place in 1972. At least twice - in random spots - modern day 2000s events were mentioned, specifically referring to school shootings despite almost no gun violence in the book, so I wasn't entirely sure why it was mentioned at all.

Content Warning: Explicit SA.

The first instance happened about midway through the novel and felt semi-important to the story, but was hard to read. The second instance happened near the end and did not feel important to the story; the context of the scenario made some sense, but so would other acts of violence/assault that would have been less traumatic to read.

Overall, I am glad I read this, but would not jump at the opportunity to read it again. Maybe somewhere down the road I will read it with a different perspective (and knowing what's going to happen) and find a way to appreciate it more, but that day will not come anytime soon.

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aggie2010's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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clarkg's review against another edition

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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".

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lexcellent's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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? No

1.0

The premise was interesting and some parts were done well. However, I couldn't fully get into the book. It felt like McBride was trying to accomplish too much with this all the side plots, so quality was sacrificed at times. I also really wish there had been a warning about the pedophilia in the last part of the book.

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isaarusilor's review against another edition

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reflective sad slow-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

4.75

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cassondradubois's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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wackydopamine's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

3.75

I would've loved it if not for the way that the women were described and for the wildly unnecessary interject of a "cell phones are evil" message in the middle of an intensely dark and sad scene.

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