Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

13 reviews

r0b3rta's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

clarkg's review against another edition

Go to review page

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".

Content Warnings

lexcellent's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

mselvis's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

betzine's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

amandalachelle's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

fkshg8465's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

lmayfieldx's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

—

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

Content Warnings

purplepenning's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

smolone13's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Once again, another B&N book of the year that I didn’t think I was truly going to like, but I was honestly intrigued when two of my managers told me how great the book was, not only about the book but how fluid the author’s writing was from previous works that they’ve read. So with that note, I picked it up. In a short-term answer: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride is a historical murder mystery but also a literary fiction. It follows a Jewish couple, Moshe and Chona, who run the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store in a primarily black community.

The story starts in the present in 1972 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania where police come in after a hurricane and discover bones at the bottom of a well. With the discovery they begin asking many of the old locals if they know of anything and can identify the body. However, most of the locals discard the police. Afterward, the book takes place in the 1930s with Moshe and Chona being the primary focus, however, the author does jump between characters, their backstories, and why they act the way they do to begin with. I know many don’t like that kind of writing because if you aren’t paying close attention, or listening closely if you are following an audiobook, it can be quite confusing. But this book was an honest win for me.

Moshe is a theater owner in the community and even though he is supposed to be the main character of the book, the spotlight is kind of taken away from him. He is a nice man but he also has his concerns, especially when Chona wants him to cater to the black community more and more when his primary audience is Jewish people and the other white people of the community. However, he very much loves his wife and listens to all of her demands without question.

Chona was an absolute doll to me. I loved her from the start and I could see why many of the characters in the book also loved her. She had charm to her. Even though she had polio she was a very headstrong lady who didn’t let anyone push her around. Seriously. Not a single person, including her husband. This was also during a time when white men ruled everything with a hard thumb and she just did not care. Chona loved the black community and even though Moshe wanted to move with the other Jewish people, Chona told him no, and he basically just kept it there. Chona pressed Moshe to serve the community, to allow them to work for him and herself at the grocery store, and even went out of her way to write letters about the Doc of the community running the KKK and other negative reviews. Chona definitely wasn’t afraid to speak her opinion or to let others know if she was upset about something.

The two other characters that are somewhat important, but can also be considered minor characters are Addie and Nate. Addie and Nate work for both Moshe and Chona. Addie mostly works with Chona in the grocery store while Nate works closely with Moshe. They are consistently helping both of them as best they can, especially Chona. After Chona becomes heavily ill Addie doesn’t leave her side for a second while Moshe tries his best to focus on the theater, however, for the majority of his time he allows Nate to try to keep the theater in production while he comforts his wife and allows Addie to run the grocery store. It isn’t until after Chona is getting better that both Addie and Nate take in their Nephew Dodo who just lost his mother and his hearing from a serious accident.

After Dodo’s mother passed away the state is searching for him to send him to Pennhurst, basically an insane asylum, however, they refuse to let him go there. So they ask Moshe if they can hide Dodo. Moshe is reluctant because he doesn’t want to deal with the legality of it all, however, Chona says otherwise. WIth that, Moshe allows Nate to bring Dodo with him into the theater. At first, it worked out fine. Dodo is allowed to help with the theater and is able to hide in the basement. That is until Chona finds out. When she hears that Moshe is hiding the child in the theater’s basement she makes Moshe bring Dodo to the grocery store where he primarily stays. Both Chona and Dodo end up forming a pretty strong connection, considering she can’t have children she absolutely adores the children that come into the store and loves Dodo. Chona allows him to play, but he always wants to help Chona so she allows it. They exchange marbles for snacks and she is always allowing him to play with the neighbor’s children to hide from the state when they appear. However, on one unfateful day, the doctor walks into the store and changes everything. Doc and Chona end up in a heated argument which causes Chona to have a seizure. At first, Dodo wasn’t going to show himself because he knew that he would end up getting in trouble, especially with Doc, however, when Doc starts to undress and sexually assaults Chona. That is when Dodo reveals himself and throws Doc off of Chona and actually begins to beat on Doc. Addie manages to show up and stops the altercation and begins dressing Chona back up. When everyone starts showing up Chona is having another seizure again when the Doc shows up with the local cops who chase Dodo and arrest him. Afterwards, Dodo is sent to Pennhurst while Chona is sent to the hospital.

It is found out that Chona has had a brain tumor the entire time, and her first set of illness was because of the tumor. However, the seizures are mostly from having strokes. Everyone stays by Chona’s side and when she passes Moshe takes it very hard. However, he wants to help Addie and Nate get Dodo back. Just about the entire town ends up setting up a plan to get Dodo out of Pennhurst. For good reason as well. Nate and Addie end up finding out that there is a man there who favors molesting young boys that he favors. The people quickly set up a plan to go underground and get Dodo out of Pennhurst. While Dodo is Pennhurst he meets a sweet boy named Monkey Pants and builds a lasting connection with him. Although he struggles to understand what Monkey Pants is saying, he knows that he adores having his company and he quickly learns how to communicate with him, but in matters that might have been too late. Son of Man does discover who Dodo is and quickly has a fascination with him which terrifies Dodo. However, Monkey Pants is there and constantly takes Son of Man’s attention off of Dodo. When Dodo is getting molested by Son of Man it becomes the last time that Monkey Pants is alive. Monkey Pants ends up having a seizure that alerts everyone in the ward and passes away touching fingers with Dodo. Nate ends up breaking into Pennhurst himself and kills Son of Man. Afterwards saving Dodo from Pennhurst and heads towards South Carolina where they live the rest of their days.

As for back in the town, a few of the locals end up getting hired to do an illegal job of hooking up the water from a sketchy politician and dairy owner to the rest of the town. After hooking up the water they end up leaving it open to find materials to create another man-hole cover. Doc ends up at the wrong place at the wrong time and gets clocked by a gang member whose intention was to kill the sketchy politician. Doc ends up landing in the old well, in the water, and the locals that came back with the materials saw his body and knew exactly who it was and covered the well anyway. Not a single person was notified that Doc was missing, not even his wife and children.

This book was a huge thrill. Toward the end, I kept closing the book and reopening it. I was drawn into reading this book and was enraptured by it. I ended up crying by the end of it. After Dodo went through all that trauma and managed to have a sweet life in South Carolina and became a Love himself was warming. Dodo honestly deserved the best after everything he went through. I would absolutely recommend this book. The entire story, from beginning to end was a 4.5/5 for me. I heavily recommend it, however, I am not sure if I would ever push myself to re-read this book. It was crushing, heartwarming, thrilling and just overall a well-thought-out novel.

Content Warnings

More...