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A review by bhnmt61
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
5.0
This is a long, complicated, beautifully told story of the intertwined lives of a group of Jewish immigrants and black people living on Chicken Hill outside Pottstown, Pennsylvania. It’s a meandering, heart-rending story about the every day lives of people you come to love and care about. It also sometimes seems to take one step forward for every two steps back into someone’s back story. Is there maybe a little too much meandering? I thought so. I also thought that the 20-page soliloquy by a character we don’t even meet until 2/3 of the way through was a slog.
But even with those negatives, this is still an amazing book. It’s not as good as Deacon King Kong, which might be my favorite book of the last ten years, but it’s still better than ninety percent of what I’ve read recently. It’s like sitting and listening to a storyteller spin a bunch of old yarns that take a long time to come together. Maybe the meandering is the point. It’s a good book.
But even with those negatives, this is still an amazing book. It’s not as good as Deacon King Kong, which might be my favorite book of the last ten years, but it’s still better than ninety percent of what I’ve read recently. It’s like sitting and listening to a storyteller spin a bunch of old yarns that take a long time to come together. Maybe the meandering is the point. It’s a good book.