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annreadsabook 's review for:
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
by James McBride
challenging
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
James McBride’s highly anticipated upcoming release, THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE, is a treat for lovers of historical fiction! I really enjoyed this one.
Centering the experiences of Black American and Jewish immigrants in a Pennsylvanian town, McBride explores the complexity of pursuing the American dream, the similar and disparate struggles of two seemingly different racial/ethnic groups, and the contours of whiteness. As the Black and Jewish residents of Chicken Hill band together to protect a young deaf Black boy from forced institutionalization, they are forced to reckon with the ways in which white Christian “America” seeks to divide and harm both of our communities.
I loved this exploration of mutual support between (non-Jewish) Black Americans and (non-Black) Jewish immigrants—this is an aspect of U.S. history about which I don’t see a lot of mainstream discourse, but is so important. McBride examines the ways in Black and Jewish people in the U.S. have similarly struggled to understand their place in this society. Something that I also found fascinating, and that I think about often, is the similarity of experiences between Black Americans descended from enslaved people and U.S. immigrants—in many ways, Black Americans occupy fraught spaces in which we are not quite considered “American” in a country that at its founding didn’t even consider us fully human. I also appreciated the reference to Pennhurst, a real place that inflicted real, devastating, lasting harm on disabled people.
This novel provides an engaging sense of place, and I loved returning to Chicken Hill and its often eccentric characters every time I opened the book. Definitely put this book on your list if you love fiction that examines often overlooked parts of history!
Thanks so much to Riverhead Books for the gifted ARC!
Centering the experiences of Black American and Jewish immigrants in a Pennsylvanian town, McBride explores the complexity of pursuing the American dream, the similar and disparate struggles of two seemingly different racial/ethnic groups, and the contours of whiteness. As the Black and Jewish residents of Chicken Hill band together to protect a young deaf Black boy from forced institutionalization, they are forced to reckon with the ways in which white Christian “America” seeks to divide and harm both of our communities.
I loved this exploration of mutual support between (non-Jewish) Black Americans and (non-Black) Jewish immigrants—this is an aspect of U.S. history about which I don’t see a lot of mainstream discourse, but is so important. McBride examines the ways in Black and Jewish people in the U.S. have similarly struggled to understand their place in this society. Something that I also found fascinating, and that I think about often, is the similarity of experiences between Black Americans descended from enslaved people and U.S. immigrants—in many ways, Black Americans occupy fraught spaces in which we are not quite considered “American” in a country that at its founding didn’t even consider us fully human. I also appreciated the reference to Pennhurst, a real place that inflicted real, devastating, lasting harm on disabled people.
This novel provides an engaging sense of place, and I loved returning to Chicken Hill and its often eccentric characters every time I opened the book. Definitely put this book on your list if you love fiction that examines often overlooked parts of history!
Thanks so much to Riverhead Books for the gifted ARC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism
Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape