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A review by misssleepy
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book was recommend to me by my friend Heidi at work. I ended up recommending this book for the 20-something book club at the mercantile. I had heard so many great things and the book really lived up to the hype for me. I would recommend this book to really anybody. I think we can all find something to enjoy about or take away from this story.
McBride did a beautiful job weaving the lives of the many characters together into a really beautiful story. The ending was poetic justice for one of my least favorite character, Doc Roberts. There were times that the book made me laugh and there were times of profound sadness. I have an appreciation for how the author handled very emotional moments. I also have a deep appreciation for how the community portrayed in the book was so diverse and the difference between them built a stronger community rather than divided it.
I think my favorite thing about this book is that each character was important and I could imagine them all so vividly in my mind. McBride did such an incredible job immersing me as the reader in the town of Chicken Hill and its community. I felt connected with everybody throughout the book.
There were times that I struggled with keeping all the various backstories straight for the cast of characters (which lead to some inadvertent google spoilers). That lead to a few points in the book where I had to go back and re-read to get myself back on track.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this book for me was examining the intersection of Black and Jewish Americans in the 1930s. I don’t think prior to reading this story that I have ever spent much time thinking of how those two disenfranchised groups might have interacted. McBride did a really good job of exploring the way one group may have viewed the other with the ultimate through line of the physical community prevailing.
I am really looking forward to the book club discussion and might revisit this review after talking it over with others.
McBride did a beautiful job weaving the lives of the many characters together into a really beautiful story. The ending was poetic justice for one of my least favorite character, Doc Roberts. There were times that the book made me laugh and there were times of profound sadness. I have an appreciation for how the author handled very emotional moments. I also have a deep appreciation for how the community portrayed in the book was so diverse and the difference between them built a stronger community rather than divided it.
I think my favorite thing about this book is that each character was important and I could imagine them all so vividly in my mind. McBride did such an incredible job immersing me as the reader in the town of Chicken Hill and its community. I felt connected with everybody throughout the book.
There were times that I struggled with keeping all the various backstories straight for the cast of characters (which lead to some inadvertent google spoilers). That lead to a few points in the book where I had to go back and re-read to get myself back on track.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this book for me was examining the intersection of Black and Jewish Americans in the 1930s. I don’t think prior to reading this story that I have ever spent much time thinking of how those two disenfranchised groups might have interacted. McBride did a really good job of exploring the way one group may have viewed the other with the ultimate through line of the physical community prevailing.
I am really looking forward to the book club discussion and might revisit this review after talking it over with others.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Rape