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A review by tiredfangirl
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
When I started this book, it was feeling like a solid three star read. It was digestible, if definitely written in the literary fiction style.
The first read flag was the amount it explained. As a Jewish person, it’s written with a very familiar storytelling style; however, the amount of explanation made it clear very quickly that this book wasn’t really written for Jews.
Then it used sexual assault as a plot device. And I was ready to let it go as something that is frustrating but unfortunately par for the course in literary fiction. And then it did it AGAIN.
And then it resolved the initial mystery in a way so irrelevant to 90% of the rest of the book that I would have DNFed if I wasn’t 30 pages from the end already.
If this had stayed a series of vignettes about people dealing with oppression in different ways and navigating the similarities/differences in the way they are marginalized, I would have been so on board. Honestly, it was only when it decided to have a plot that I started to hate it.
The first read flag was the amount it explained. As a Jewish person, it’s written with a very familiar storytelling style; however, the amount of explanation made it clear very quickly that this book wasn’t really written for Jews.
Then it used sexual assault as a plot device. And I was ready to let it go as something that is frustrating but unfortunately par for the course in literary fiction. And then it did it AGAIN.
And then it resolved the initial mystery in a way so irrelevant to 90% of the rest of the book that I would have DNFed if I wasn’t 30 pages from the end already.
If this had stayed a series of vignettes about people dealing with oppression in different ways and navigating the similarities/differences in the way they are marginalized, I would have been so on board. Honestly, it was only when it decided to have a plot that I started to hate it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Medical trauma