Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

14 reviews

nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition

slow-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? Yes

3.5

TH&EGS starts off very slow, like a steam train beginning to move down the tracks, until it reaches a fast clip, coupling rods slamming and horn blowing, until it eases into something peaceful and lingering and hisses to a stop.
this book is about characters: larger than life, representing ideals or the worst of us, somehow co-existing. the second half of the book’s momentum belongs with the plot, but its purpose is to share the human condition. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Racism, Antisemitism, Police brutality, and Sexual assault

r0b3rta's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Bullying, and Fire/Fire injury

clarkg's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Ableism, Child death, Death, and Excrement

Moderate: Classism, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infertility, Death of parent, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Xenophobia

Minor: Slavery, Infidelity, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

lexcellent's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Racism, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Violence, Death, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Vomit, Confinement, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Gaslighting, Rape, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Pedophilia

mselvis's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

Nothing happens in this story for 2/3 of book.  Extreamly boring.  I hated how I felt reading this book.  I did not want to be on Chicken Hill or meet any of the charaters. The amount of repetition in this book, made it unreadable.  How many POV must be explored for the same events?  I get how eastern and western european jews do not get along, how blacks and jews tolerated each other, but mistrusted each other.  You still have to have a story.  The skeleton in well was mentioned on first pages, but not again for over 300 pages.  I would not recommend this to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Murder

betzine's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Violence, Infertility, Murder, Antisemitism, Excrement, Ableism, Misogyny, Medical content, Racism, Sexual harassment, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

amandalachelle's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Grief, Classism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Excrement, Hate crime, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Racism, Murder, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, and Religious bigotry

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense

• 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? No

4.0

I really enjoy James McBride's writing. I think this might be the fourth or fifth of his books that I've read. He has a way of taking topics of gravity and storytelling them with light and humor and poignancy. I feel like I can sleep better tonight for having read this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Death of parent, Torture, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Violence, Bullying, Death, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, and Sexual violence

lmayfieldx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

“it was a future they couldn’t quite see, where the richness of all they had brought to the great land of promise would one day be zapped into nothing, the glorious tapestry of their history boiled down to a series of ten second tv commercials, empty holidays, and sports games filled with the patriotic fluff of red, white, and blue, the celebrants cheering the accompanying dazzle without any idea of the horrible struggles and proud pasts of their forebears who had made their lives so easy”

tw: racism, bigotry, child abuse, sa, death, past trauma

🤎 sense of community

🤎 deaf representation

🤎 disabled representation

🤎 found family

🤎 small town

🤎 mystery

🤎 past & current trauma

chicken hill is a town made up of many different people. clear barriers divide the people of chicken town. in 1972, a body is found under a well in pottstown, pennsylvania. nobody knows who it is or what happened to them. as we continue to learn about the groups of people in chicken town, we learn the true story of what happened. 

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this book started off kinda slow & honestly even at 40% in the book, i never would’ve guessed that this book was going to be a 5 star. i started this book weeks ago and finished the last 60%, yes you read that correctly SIXTY PERCENT, in one night 

the beginning of the book is a bit slow. it focuses mostly on getting to know all of the characters (there are a lot) & developing their individual stories, which all intertwine in some way 

later in the story, it makes sense why the first part is so heavily character focused. their stories start to blend & you see the bigger picture begin to unfold, so i’m very grateful that the book was written this way 

dodo, nate, and chona are my favorite characters. dodo never saw being deaf as a disadvantage & continued living his life like normal. nate was extremely misunderstood.  regardless of the different treatment that he received, he continued to stand up for what was right & care for people. chona was a force to be reckoned with. although she was disabled, she exhibited incredible strength, kindness, and selflessness 

i enjoyed this book so much. i definitely plan to check out some of james mcbride’s other books

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Antisemitism, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Death of parent

purplepenning's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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

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

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Death of parent, and Infertility