Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

69 reviews

kamrynkoble's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

3.5 stars rounded up. I'm not sure I would've read this if it wasn't for my book club, but I'm glad I did.

My main complaint is the sheer volume of characters and the lack of a clear goal/plot/central story. And for all of the random stories I had to read about them, I really don't know them well at all. I told my cousin that if I was trying to make these characters in the Sims, I would have a bear of a time trying to come up with three traits for any of them.

Reading felt like a bit of a chore, and I think I would've taken much longer if I wasn't trying to meet my book club deadline. The nature of it just made me skim, and when I skimmed, I missed a lot of what makes this book strong. I ended up transitioning to audio because of how much I was skimming, but then I struggled to focus on the audio too. I ended up reading a summary that made me appreciate it a bit more, and I think I would've benefitted from active discussion as I read rather than just being independent until the end.

I do wish that the setting would've been more grounded. I feel like I can't clearly picture much of it, and it was so important to the story.

The strength lies in the themes. It provides ample opportunity for reflection and discussion. For these reasons though, the content warnings abound. Make sure to scan the list ahead of time if you have any common triggers.

While the summary I read helped me appreciate the bigger picture of this novel more, I think it often gets lost in the slog with this one. I didn't need McBride to be heavier-handed, but a little more focus/less distraction would've made it more impactful in my opinion.

Content Warnings

maddamreads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

Definitely not what I initially expected going into the book. I expected a murder mystery and got an intricate weaving of lives of Black, Jewish, and immigrant communities. The build is slow, and I almost DNFed a lot. The intense world building starts to pay off towards the middle of the book. I learned a lot about Jewish and Black communities, culture, and music of the 1920s and 30s. It is obvious that this was created with immense care. That being said, it was a bit too slow for me and just interesting enough to keep me in. I did not connect with all of the characters, but some of them I loved. Overall middle of the road book for me. Should definitely be an AP high school required reading.

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betzine's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful inspiring fast-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

5.0

This one is a slow burn, but it’s an exquisitely crafted novel that comes together in a deeply moving, satisfying conclusion. James McBride has a gift for capturing America’s complex beauty— largely by depicting its profound ugliness with unabashed frankness. This is a novel that will stay with me forever.

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plip08's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

The good things about this book you really have to earn. The beginning 50% of this book is almost impossible to follow, you’ll get an entire chapter of history about a character in the middle of an important conversation. The goodness of the characters shines at the end of the book once everything seemingly comes together for a good ending. I do think that the way it was written, while very hard to follow, did a good job or portraying how black people had to go about life making decisions so carefully because white people would do them wrong constantly and it was never a fair game. I did love the characters and how many of them stood for goodness even when it was very hard. Overall I would have DNF if this wasn’t a book club book but I am glad to know the story ended like I hoped it would.

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jasper_a's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

hm.
this was a book club book.. if it weren't, i do believe i would have dropped it some 60 or so pages into the book.
objectively, the writing is very good; long-winded, winding, repetitive, sure but good.
there were many characters, many voices, many dialects and accents and languages (which is a hard sell imo, and were it not for the lovely narrator, Dominic Hoffman, i would have really struggled to get through it).
personally, i didn't enjoy how cyclical the vignettes were. events/incidents were referenced or recounted from multiple character's POVs, which to me were less insightful and more droning. i kept wanting the story to progress but the author wanted to hammer home how everyone felt about everything.
and honestly i would have given the book a passing grade if it weren't for the abrupt ending. i didn't hate how things were resolved but w/r/t the author's cadence, i feel that the ending was rushed out the door lest it miss its train.
it might be a short book club meeting tomorrow.

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misssleepy's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book was recommend to me by my friend Heidi at work. I ended up recommending this book for the 20-something book club at the mercantile. I had heard so many great things and the book really lived up to the hype for me. I would recommend this book to really anybody. I think we can all find something to enjoy about or take away from this story.

McBride did a beautiful job weaving the lives of the many characters together into a really beautiful story. The ending was poetic justice for one of my least favorite character, Doc Roberts. There were times that the book made me laugh and there were times of profound sadness. I have an appreciation for how the author handled very emotional moments. I also have a deep appreciation for how the community portrayed in the book was so diverse and the difference between them built a stronger community rather than divided it.

I think my favorite thing about this book is that each character was important and I could imagine them all so vividly in my mind. McBride did such an incredible job immersing me as the reader in the town of Chicken Hill and its community. I felt connected with everybody throughout the book.

There were times that I struggled with keeping all the various backstories straight for the cast of characters (which lead to some inadvertent google spoilers). That lead to a few points in the book where I had to go back and re-read to get myself back on track.

One of the most fascinating aspects of this book for me was examining the intersection of Black and Jewish Americans in the 1930s. I don’t think prior to reading this story that I have ever spent much time thinking of how those two disenfranchised groups might have interacted. McBride did a really good job of exploring the way one group may have viewed the other with the ultimate through line of the physical community prevailing.

I am really looking forward to the book club discussion and might revisit this review after talking it over with others.

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