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A review by twellz
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
3.0
3.5 Stars:
“Light is only possible through dialogue between cultures, not through rejection of one or the other.”
The prologue (incase I forget): In the neighborhood of Chicken Hill, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in June 1972, police found a skeleton, wearing a gold chain with a mezuzah, at the bottom of a well, next to a lot that had been torn down a day earlier to make way for a new neighborhood. They visited the home of the only Jew left on Chicken Hill, on account of the mezuzah; his home stood on the site that almost half a century earlier had been the local synagogue. Because of this, he was deemed a suspect, though he would never face charges. He skipped town almost immediately, and days later the neighborhood was reduced to rubble by a devastating hurricane.
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store jumps from this prologue to 1925 Chicken Hill, a poor area in Pottstown, Pennsylvania inhabited by Jews & Negroes, both good & evil. The “good” Jews are Chona (owner of the store; wife of Moshe & loved by all), & her husband Moshe (a theater entrepreneur). The “good” Negroes are Nate (hard-working man with a mysterious past) & his wife Addie… who take in Dodo (their smart but deaf orphaned nephew) who the State wants to cart off to a mental institution. The BAD: Mostly Doc Roberts & “The Son of Man”.
This is a well written book with a good story BUT the beginning chapters were rough. Dozens of characters all have their own stories & you can easily lose your way if you don’t have the time to read large pieces of it at once (it took me 3-months to read it). There are so many minor characters that clutter the story, confusing plot fragments & digressions. I actually think I would’ve rated it higher had I not fallen asleep many nights reading it.
When you finally reach the end of this story, it all fits together in a very compelling tale. On the surface, the message seems to be that if you are not Male, White, Anglo Saxon Protestant like the original founders of the United States Constitution life is hard, BUT it is really a book about community & how we can all make life better for one another if we just get along & work together. To get to those points of action & character development though, you have to weed through a lot of boring, redundant, confusion.
Still, I’d recommend this book.
“Light is only possible through dialogue between cultures, not through rejection of one or the other.”
The prologue (incase I forget): In the neighborhood of Chicken Hill, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in June 1972, police found a skeleton, wearing a gold chain with a mezuzah, at the bottom of a well, next to a lot that had been torn down a day earlier to make way for a new neighborhood. They visited the home of the only Jew left on Chicken Hill, on account of the mezuzah; his home stood on the site that almost half a century earlier had been the local synagogue. Because of this, he was deemed a suspect, though he would never face charges. He skipped town almost immediately, and days later the neighborhood was reduced to rubble by a devastating hurricane.
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store jumps from this prologue to 1925 Chicken Hill, a poor area in Pottstown, Pennsylvania inhabited by Jews & Negroes, both good & evil. The “good” Jews are Chona (owner of the store; wife of Moshe & loved by all), & her husband Moshe (a theater entrepreneur). The “good” Negroes are Nate (hard-working man with a mysterious past) & his wife Addie… who take in Dodo (their smart but deaf orphaned nephew) who the State wants to cart off to a mental institution. The BAD: Mostly Doc Roberts & “The Son of Man”.
This is a well written book with a good story BUT the beginning chapters were rough. Dozens of characters all have their own stories & you can easily lose your way if you don’t have the time to read large pieces of it at once (it took me 3-months to read it). There are so many minor characters that clutter the story, confusing plot fragments & digressions. I actually think I would’ve rated it higher had I not fallen asleep many nights reading it.
When you finally reach the end of this story, it all fits together in a very compelling tale. On the surface, the message seems to be that if you are not Male, White, Anglo Saxon Protestant like the original founders of the United States Constitution life is hard, BUT it is really a book about community & how we can all make life better for one another if we just get along & work together. To get to those points of action & character development though, you have to weed through a lot of boring, redundant, confusion.
Still, I’d recommend this book.