Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

118 reviews

aggie2010's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Death, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Excrement, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Mental illness, and Murder

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

taytastic's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

A beautifully written book. It made me smile, it made me sad. It’s everything that people have promised you it would be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Pedophilia, Rape, Death, Ableism, Racism, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

coleeflower's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape

oproy's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

It took a while to get into it. However, the character development and the way everything coalesced in the end was beautiful. It’s a hard story to read and although I personally felt like I couldn’t see myself in any of the characters, it was so well-written that I felt I was living on the Hill with these families.  It also felt both subtle and yet direct with it’s purpose, unlike some other books I’ve read with similar themes which seem to want to hit you over the head with the ideas of racism and prosperity. 

Overall, the first 2/3 is character development followed by 1/3 of a drive by story. It is well-written and

the the ending is satisfying

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Rape, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Infertility

shottel's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

This book deserves the positive acclaim it’s received. It could fit in with the Great Novels that I was forced to read in high school, and I say that completely as a positive thing. Its depiction of overlapping cultural communities as conflicting and misunderstanding but ultimately looking out for and genuinely caring for each other is as hopeful as it is realistic. In the end, the villains aren’t the people with deep biases. If that were the case, there would be no one to root for in this book. Instead, the villains are the people who refuse to care about people who aren’t like them, and our protagonists are people who don’t let their misconceptions about other groups of people get in the way of doing the right thing. It’s a wonderfully positive message.

The writing style is immaculate as well, with perfect balance and flow and a dry sense of sarcasm. The presentation choices (font, spacing, etc.) present this book like great work of literature, like a fancy looking Bible, and it manages to earn these dressings. The plot is well-paced, with just the right amount of twists and turns. I couldn’t suggest a single phrasing or word choice or paragraph restructuring that I feel would be better. 

The sole reason this is not a 5/5 review is that for all its excellence in depicting numerous different ethnic groups and people of different ages and abilities, the identity of the author as a straight man comes through. It’s the sole mark against the book’s virtual universality, an impressive feat given it’s situated very firmly in interwar-period Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, the repeated references to women’s breasts and buttocks and the greater priority men have in the story, among other things, was hard for me to miss.

Nevertheless, this book is still very close to a must-read. If you can manage the lengthy list of heavy topics the book covers (it pulls absolutely no punches with regards to the difficulties of life) and you think you even might possibly be interested in the setting and style, it’s worth your time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Death, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, Mental illness, and Racism

Moderate: Excrement, Rape, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Hate crime

Minor: Colonisation, Medical content, Classism, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Slavery

dianebrownlee's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.0

This book was definitely not my cup of tea. The writing was beautiful but that's where the positive notes end for me. 
Anyone who has lived in a small town where everyone is way to into everyone else's business will get PTSD from this book. The multiple storylines (many completely unnecessary) and following multiple characters and their back stories gave me whiplash. 
It is 380 pages of a town gossip telling you about their cousin's old coworker's landlord's sister's neighbour's aunt's problems.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Antisemitism, Racism, Rape, and Racial slurs

sofivelaz's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I had to read this book slow. It was devastating to read at times and really made me sad but in a way that was forcing me to confront a lot of historical problems the US has. I didn’t love how many chapters started with a side character expose or an off shoot story but once I understood the connections it made it all worth it. The ending was hard to read but also felt like retribution was served. Ended up being more masterful than I expected and was a satisfying read 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Racism

sonjaelisee's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Racism, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Ableism, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death, Violence, Excrement, and Murder

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