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

James McBride is phenomenal at his use of irony and describing people. He creates a colorful cast of characters that are loveable, fearless, and completely human. He shows us the good, the bad, and the ugly very well and keeps us intrigued by their character development. This book was relatively slow at times, so portions were difficult to get through, but the last third of the book was great and so well-written. This book is very dark and portrays a clear and concise image of how America was like for minority groups in the 1930s.

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ferranda's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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stalfos's review against another edition

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3.75

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ewillreadit's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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burnourhistory's review

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slow-paced

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

3.5

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natesalsbury's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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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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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oproy's review against another edition

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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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