Status
Checked out
Due 2024-05-26
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Riverhead Books (2023), 400 pages
Description
"In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe's theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe. As these characters' stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town's white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community--heaven and earth--that sustain us."--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member browner56
In the 1930s, the residents of Chicken Hill, an impoverished, mixed-race neighborhood in the small Pennsylvania city of Pottstown, are doing their level best to get by. The common denominator connecting the largely Black and Jewish population of the district is that they are all dirt-poor and
While that description summarizes the essential nature of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, it does not come close to conveying the myriad joys and surprises that this novel has in store for the reader. As he has done in much of his previous work—most notably, Deacon King Kong and The Good Lord Bird--author James McBride once again explores the theme of a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-generational neighborhood coalescing for both a greater purpose as well as for its daily survival. McBride is a gifted story-teller and the mystery underlying this particular tale—which involves the discovery many years later of a long-hidden skeleton and the attempt to rescue Dodo, a disabled child who has been wrongly placed in a detention facility masquerading as a school—is developed with equal amounts of humor and insight into just what it is that drives human behavior.
This was a very satisfying book to read, which is hardly surprising coming from one the very best novelists that we have working today. The compassion that the author has for all his characters—the protagonists, anyway—is affective and compelling, making it very easy for the reader to care about them as well. Still, this was far from a perfect novel; it was probably about 50-75 pages longer than it needed to be to set up the dramatic tension in the story and the resolution, much of which occurs in a rather terse epilogue, was disappointingly abrupt by contrast. Nevertheless, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is another big-hearted, entertaining effort from a consistently talented writer and a pleasure to recommend without reservation.
Show More
subject to unending insults and indignities from the entitled (and largely racist) White population who run the town. But that shared experience is more than enough to turn the denizens of Chicken Hill into a tightknit, if somewhat fractious, community who watch out for one another and act as an extended family. Chona and Moshe Ludlow, who run the local grocery store of the book’s title more as a charity than as a business, serve as the group’s heart and soul, with plenty of help from their neighbors Nate and Adele Timblin.While that description summarizes the essential nature of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, it does not come close to conveying the myriad joys and surprises that this novel has in store for the reader. As he has done in much of his previous work—most notably, Deacon King Kong and The Good Lord Bird--author James McBride once again explores the theme of a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-generational neighborhood coalescing for both a greater purpose as well as for its daily survival. McBride is a gifted story-teller and the mystery underlying this particular tale—which involves the discovery many years later of a long-hidden skeleton and the attempt to rescue Dodo, a disabled child who has been wrongly placed in a detention facility masquerading as a school—is developed with equal amounts of humor and insight into just what it is that drives human behavior.
This was a very satisfying book to read, which is hardly surprising coming from one the very best novelists that we have working today. The compassion that the author has for all his characters—the protagonists, anyway—is affective and compelling, making it very easy for the reader to care about them as well. Still, this was far from a perfect novel; it was probably about 50-75 pages longer than it needed to be to set up the dramatic tension in the story and the resolution, much of which occurs in a rather terse epilogue, was disappointingly abrupt by contrast. Nevertheless, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is another big-hearted, entertaining effort from a consistently talented writer and a pleasure to recommend without reservation.
Show Less
LibraryThing member DrApple
This is a beautifully written story about events surrounding Chicken Hill and the lives or Black and Jewish people in a world that considers them both second-class citizens.
LibraryThing member ccayne
I tried once and put it down and when I went back, I couldn't put it down. The storytelling and character development are masterful. It is montage of family drama, historical fiction, adventure, redemption, corruption, justice and life lived large. In its own way, it is a "feel good" story and I
Show More
loved it. Show Less
LibraryThing member froxgirl
Writing so many fascinating characters and having too little time to tell all their stories is a hallmark of the fine author James McBride. This one is an unexpected tribute to the formerly common alliance between Black people and Jewish people, with a story set on Chicken Hill, an impoverished
Show More
neighborhood of Pottstown, PA in the 1930s. Moshe, who marries Chona, the daughter of the beatifically named corner store, the only one that serves "colored people" and kosher Jews, also owns a music hall downtown and brings in klezmer bands and Black jazz bands, shocking the racist and Jew-haters white residents. Moishe's helper Nate is a lowlander from the Gullah Geechee homeland in South Carolina, and he and his wife Addie adopt the orphan boy Dodo, who is pursued by authorities who want to put him into a horrific mental hospital because he's become deaf in an accident. Shona is a communist sympathizer and a hero to the Chicken Hill residents, to whom she extends endless store credit; to their kids, who pay her in marbles; and especially to Dodo, whom she loves like a son. Chona is admired greatly by Doc Roberts, whom she rejected in high school, and he grows up to refuse to treat Black people and to march at the head of the town's annual KKK parade. He also ensures that Dodo is captured, after molesting Chona when she is having a seizure in the store. The people of Chicken Hill join together to rescue Dodo, which involves recruiting Paper, the lovely oracle and know-it-all woman, and Miggy, a low country priestess from neighboring Hemlock Row, an area avoided by Chicken Hill residents due to their reputations for performing spells and enchantments. There are about fifteen main characters, but McBride just cannot tell us in one novel all we want to know about them, and there's a seemingly hurried epilogue. I hope he will return to Chicken Hill and to Hemlock Row in another novel, so we'll know what happened to Freddy, Paper, Berniece, Moshe, Isaac, Rusty, Big Soap and his mom, and Malachi. Show Less
LibraryThing member dinahmine
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is a lovely novel. The language and writing style is beautiful, as are the character descriptions. I particularly enjoyed the exploration of community, and how the relationships on Chicken Hill were contrasted by the strife within other communities. McBride did a
Show More
wonderful job of tying each storyline together at the end. I look forward to reading more of his novels. Show Less
LibraryThing member sblock
Absolutely superb storytelling and McBride's research into the history of African American and Jewish residents of this Pennsylvania town was prodigious.
LibraryThing member Cariola
McBride sets his latest novel in 1925-36 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania--more specifically, in Chicken Hill, a neighborhood of predominantly Jewish and African American families. The two groups generally get along well, but both are subject to the prejudice of the powerful white residents. Much of the
McBride spins his story around other conflicts and a series of memorable characters. The only doctor in town, a white man and member of the KKK who is disdained by the larger community, spends years trying seeking revenge on those he believes haven't shown him the proper deference, and the town council secretly diverts the city water away from the Jewish and African-American neighborhoods, leaving them with a dilapidated and potentially harmful water system--at the same higher price.
While there are a lot of events that evoke sadness and anger throughout the novel, its strength and hope is in the way the neighbors help one another. And McBride adds just enough humor to and love to balance out the bitterness. I've admired all of his novels, and this one is no exception.
Show More
story revolves around Moishe Ludlow, an entrepreneur who opened a successful music theater, and his wife Chona, owner of the Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. The couple is childless, but Chona takes under her wing a young black boy named Dodo, nephew of her one-time friend and still next door neighbor, Berniece. Dodo was rendered deaf following a kitchen accident in which a stove blew up, and people are unsure if he can talk (he just doesn't choose to talk much) or if his mental capacity has been affected, but Chona, seeing his potential, draws him out. One of the major conflicts is that the state keeps sending men to take Dodo to a "special school" (which everyone understand is a mental institution). Although Berniece and Chona have been estranged for years, they make a pact to protect the boy from the state agents.McBride spins his story around other conflicts and a series of memorable characters. The only doctor in town, a white man and member of the KKK who is disdained by the larger community, spends years trying seeking revenge on those he believes haven't shown him the proper deference, and the town council secretly diverts the city water away from the Jewish and African-American neighborhoods, leaving them with a dilapidated and potentially harmful water system--at the same higher price.
While there are a lot of events that evoke sadness and anger throughout the novel, its strength and hope is in the way the neighbors help one another. And McBride adds just enough humor to and love to balance out the bitterness. I've admired all of his novels, and this one is no exception.
Show Less
LibraryThing member HandelmanLibraryTINR
Not the usual Jewish book for our library but an important one! In this bestselling novel, McBride, exposes long-held secrets from a dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side, sharing ambitions and sorrows. They support one another and struggle to
Show More
survive at the margins of damaging bigotry, hypocrisy, and deceit. When the past is revealed, McBride shows that it is love and community – heaven and earth- that ultimately sustains us. Show Less
LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is the kind of book to lose yourself in. Written by a storyteller at the top of his game, James McBride's account of the neglected community of Chicken Hill during the 1930s, when it was where immigrants and Jewish people landed before moving into one of
Show More
Pottstown's more acceptable neighborhoods, and where Black Americans always lived. The story begins and ends with a body in a well, yet this isn't a mystery novel, but an expansive book about the many people who called Chicken Hill home. If you're looking for a tightly-constructed plot, this isn't the book for you; this one ranges here and there, while remaining centered on the small grocery store at the center of the community, run by a small Jewish woman who refuses to be quiet and whose compassion is legendary. For all this, McBride's story never forgets the harshness of the world in which these characters live. It's wonderfully told and while it seems to wander off into side stories, they all work together to make this book something remarkable. Show Less
LibraryThing member msf59
This sprawling novel begins with a skeleton found in a well and then flashes back several decades, to the town of Pottstown PA, where the reader slowly discovers the origin of this mysterious body. The story is mostly set in Chicken Hill, a neighborhood that is mostly populated with black and
Show More
Jewish residents and much of it revolves around the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. It is owned and operated by a very kind Jewish woman and her equally kind, theater-operating husband. There are many dark secrets on Chicken Hill, along with rampant racism. McBride manages to coax a wonderful, complex tale out of this place and time, proving his absolute mastery at story-telling and plotting. Show Less
LibraryThing member sleahey
Opening with the discovery of a body in 1972, the novel quickly goes back in time to the 1930's in a Pennsylvania neighborhood inhabited by African-Americans and immigrant Jews. The main characters are Moshe, owner of an integrated theater, and his wife Chona, who insists on keeping their
Show More
unprofitable grocery store open. Their employees and friends Nate and Addie ask them to take in a disabled missing boy who is being chased down by officials who want to place him in an institute for the insane. The prejudices and wrong-headedness provoked in this situation are all too relevant today. The descriptions of the Pennhurst Hospital, based on its factual history, are all too horrific. The resolution is most satisfying, and circles back to the mystery of the body found decades later. Show Less
LibraryThing member Hccpsk
In the 1930s in the rundown part of Pottstown, PA that the locals call Chicken Hill, Jews and Negros live together in an uneasy community that James McBride chronicles in his latest novel, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. A lot of characters and a lot of different stories inhabit this sad,
Show More
funny, and kind of crazy book, but at the heart of it lies Chona Ludlow who runs the store with an open heart and her husband Moshe who runs the local theater. There is a central plot but it takes a long time to get there, so just enjoy the ride, the incredible writing, and all of the amazing people McBride brings to life. Show Less
LibraryThing member novelcommentary
Finished The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by William McBride.
This was a fun book to read, not necessarily in the plot line of racism, murder, and underhanded business dealings, but in the language used by the author to convey this history of Pottstown, PA, where in the 1930's, the Jewish and the
Lines:
Chona :
now, at age seventeen, had developed into quite a package. Despite her foot and limp, she was a quiet beauty, with a gorgeous nose and sweet lips, ample breasts, a sizable derriere that poked against the drab, loose-fitting woolen skirt, and eyes that shone with gaiety and mirth.
“That woman,” his cousin Isaac once grumbled, “is a real Bulgarian. Whenever they feel like working, they sit and wait till the feeling passes. They can’t pour a glass of water without making a party of it.”
There was a silent pool in Nate Timblin, a stirring that did not invite foolishness, a quiet that covered a kind of tempest.
“Light is only possible through dialogue between cultures, not through rejection of one or the other.”
Paper—whose smooth dark chocolate brown skin, perky breasts, slim buttocks, and wild cornrowed hair was appended by her running mouth that could keep neither secret nor food, for she ate like a horse but never gained an ounce—was a laundress who held court inside the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store every Saturday.
Everybody knew Bernice had the kind of face that would make a man wire home for money.
Chona had smelled not a hot dog but the future, a future in which devices that fit in one’s pocket and went zip, zap, and zilch delivered a danger far more seductive and powerful than any hot dog, a device that children of the future would clamor for and become addicted to, a device that fed them their oppression disguised as free thought.
This was a fun book to read, not necessarily in the plot line of racism, murder, and underhanded business dealings, but in the language used by the author to convey this history of Pottstown, PA, where in the 1930's, the Jewish and the
Show More
Blacks, both scorned by the wealthier white community, forged a symbiotic relationship in order to survive. McBride slowly developed the crucial events by introducing multiple community characters to further the storyline. And characters they were : Moshe, Chona, Nate, Dodo, Fatty and Big Soap, Rusty, Miggy, Paper, Snooks, Doc and Monkey Pants. Through the portraits of this varied group, McBride also presents a microcosm of America. Himself a son of an interracial marriage, McBride pays homage to the Polish immigrant grandmother he never knew, creating a story of a woman beloved by her community. After beginning with the Hurricane Agnes destruction of Pottstown in 1972, the narrative then flashes back 47 years to the vision that Moshe Ludlow had of Moses and decides to bring together this misfit community through the bookings of big band and swing orchestras to his auditorium. I recommend going back to this first chapter after finishing the book. Highly recommend this and other works of this creative voice.Lines:
Chona :
now, at age seventeen, had developed into quite a package. Despite her foot and limp, she was a quiet beauty, with a gorgeous nose and sweet lips, ample breasts, a sizable derriere that poked against the drab, loose-fitting woolen skirt, and eyes that shone with gaiety and mirth.
“That woman,” his cousin Isaac once grumbled, “is a real Bulgarian. Whenever they feel like working, they sit and wait till the feeling passes. They can’t pour a glass of water without making a party of it.”
There was a silent pool in Nate Timblin, a stirring that did not invite foolishness, a quiet that covered a kind of tempest.
“Light is only possible through dialogue between cultures, not through rejection of one or the other.”
Paper—whose smooth dark chocolate brown skin, perky breasts, slim buttocks, and wild cornrowed hair was appended by her running mouth that could keep neither secret nor food, for she ate like a horse but never gained an ounce—was a laundress who held court inside the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store every Saturday.
Everybody knew Bernice had the kind of face that would make a man wire home for money.
Chona had smelled not a hot dog but the future, a future in which devices that fit in one’s pocket and went zip, zap, and zilch delivered a danger far more seductive and powerful than any hot dog, a device that children of the future would clamor for and become addicted to, a device that fed them their oppression disguised as free thought.
Show Less
LibraryThing member suesbooks
This book was very well researched and very well written. It displayed more optimism than I feel regarding people caring for each other and getting along. The stories portrayed of a variety of immigrants to this country were both heartwarming and sad. Most of the action, or lack of it, occurred in
Show More
a low income area of Pennsylvania inhabited by a variety immigrants. Many longed for what they remembered of their previous lives, but also knew that the living conditions in this country were worth their sacrifices. Many dispensed with the rituals they observbed previously, and those who did not had real faith in G-d. It is such a worry that this faith will not prevent fascism. Show Less
LibraryThing member shazjhb
Excellent book. I enjoy his rambling style with multiple characters and events that seem to make sense in the end. Some of the issues related to Jewish customs were a bit off.
LibraryThing member Gingersnap000
James McBride writes with such realism that his words can bring the reader to tears Similar to his novel, Deacon Jones, the reader feels for.all his characters. You root for them.
This book follows a cast of characters who attempt to save a young deaf boy from a State Institution and in
This book follows a cast of characters who attempt to save a young deaf boy from a State Institution and in
Show More
the.meanwhile solves a mystery of who.is the skeleton found some forty years later. Show Less
LibraryThing member bereanna
I like that it was set in Pottstown and that other PA towns are mentioned. I like that its main characters were Jewish and Black and one disabled woman and that the antagonists were white with a few KLU Klux Klan members. I will read another of McBride’s books , but I hope to follow it better as
Show More
I was lost Siri g some of the events or conversations. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookwyrmm
There were a lot of characters, and the narrator's sonorous voice lulled me so much, that I had trouble remembering who was who and what the connections were, so that hindered my enjoyment.
LibraryThing member kayanelson
James McBride knows how to write a good story. There are a lot of characters and their back stories in this book but they all ended up being pertinent to the story. Similar to Deacon King Kong, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store depicts how immigrant life in the 1900s sometimes required various
Show More
ethnic groups and races coexisting together. Chona, a Jewess, is kind to everyone no matter their race or ethnic background. The people in Chicken Hill love her and band together to help her. She takes in Dodo, a black deaf boy, to keep him from being institutionalized. At this point is when all the back stories are used to “ get things done.” Show Less
LibraryThing member nivramkoorb
This was an excellent book and displayed McBride's great skill of creating interesting characters and a good story. It suffered from too many characters and that I was comparing it to the previous books by McBride that were slightly superior. The story revolves around Pottstown Pa about 30 miles
Show More
from Philly during the late 1930's. It starts in 1972 with the discovery of human bones in a construction site and then flashes back to how they got there. Chicken Hill in Pottstown is occupied by Negros(the 1930's terminology) and European immigrants with the main focus on Jews. Mcbride's mother was Jewish and his father black so he had personal experience with the relationship between black and Jews at that time. As always McBride has colorful characters and gives great insight into historical eras such as the 1930's. This is a worthwhile read and a great introduction to a wonderful author. Check out his stuff. Show Less
LibraryThing member jscape2000
Vivid characters and a place that felt rich and deep with history as in the best of Faulkner or Welty. Worth revisiting.
LibraryThing member Carolesrandomlife
I really wanted to love this book, but it was just kind of okay for me. I decided to give it a try after seeing quite a few positive reviews and the fact that it has been named Barnes & Noble’s Book of the Year and Amazon’s Best Book of 2023. I saw the book described as a murder mystery and I
The story is very well-written. The bulk of the book is set in a small area of Pennsylvania called Chicken Hill during the 1930’s. This area is home to a quirky cast of Black and Jewish residents. Throughout this novel, we meet many characters and learn their backstory. It was interesting to see how interconnected this community was. I liked some characters more than others but I found something interesting in each of their stories.
I listened to the audiobook and thought that Dominic Hoffman did a fabulous job with this story. I believe that this is the first time that I have had a chance to listen to this narrator’s work and I was very impressed. He handled the vast cast of characters quite well which helped maintain my interest. I am certain that his performance is a big reason why I liked this book as much as I did, and I hate to admit that I am not sure that I would have finished without his narration.
This book is going to work a lot better for many readers than it did for me. I spent most of the book waiting for someone to die so we could explain the bones found at the very beginning. Unfortunatly, the author doesn’t circle back to those bones until the very end of the story and by then I didn’t care anymore.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Riverhead Books and Penguin Random House Audio
Show More
expected a murder mystery. It would be a stretch to call this book any kind of mystery so my expectations were a bit off.The story is very well-written. The bulk of the book is set in a small area of Pennsylvania called Chicken Hill during the 1930’s. This area is home to a quirky cast of Black and Jewish residents. Throughout this novel, we meet many characters and learn their backstory. It was interesting to see how interconnected this community was. I liked some characters more than others but I found something interesting in each of their stories.
I listened to the audiobook and thought that Dominic Hoffman did a fabulous job with this story. I believe that this is the first time that I have had a chance to listen to this narrator’s work and I was very impressed. He handled the vast cast of characters quite well which helped maintain my interest. I am certain that his performance is a big reason why I liked this book as much as I did, and I hate to admit that I am not sure that I would have finished without his narration.
This book is going to work a lot better for many readers than it did for me. I spent most of the book waiting for someone to die so we could explain the bones found at the very beginning. Unfortunatly, the author doesn’t circle back to those bones until the very end of the story and by then I didn’t care anymore.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Riverhead Books and Penguin Random House Audio
Show Less
LibraryThing member ffortsa
I was disappointed in this novel, as was my f2f reading group. There were too many characters we would have liked to know more about, too many threads left dangling, and a fairytale ending that we just couldn't believe. McBride's memoir [The Color of Water] was much better written and more coherent.
LibraryThing member flashflood42
Wonderful characters in complicated plot that comes together at the end and ties up all that seemed extraneous but actually wasn’t, exuberant dialogue with a range of voices Excellent narrator
LibraryThing member FormerEnglishTeacher
I read a lot of books, probably 60 to 70 a year, and “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” is hands down the best book I’ve read in 2023. Being a retired high school English teacher, I choose the fiction I read pretty carefully, caring perhaps more for the writing quality than the story.
Show More
McBride is one of the most talented writers alive today, and could hold his own with just about any writer from the past as well. In fact, I would say that I haven’t read a book this well written since Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes.” I had to read “Heaven and Earth” relatively fast (at least for me) because my wife and I checked the digital Kindle edition out of our local library. She read it in a day or two, and it sat for a couple of weeks in our “library” on our shared Kindles, almost forgotten. When I realized we had it, I immediately jumped at the chance to read it. Normally I don’t bother trying to get books this popular because inevitably, I get the “Several Months” message when I go to put a hold on it. In other words “Forget It.” I’m actually glad I had to read it fast because I think I enjoyed the story more because of that. James McBride is truly a gifted writer and we are better off for having his writing. Show Less
Awards
Kirkus Prize (Finalist — Fiction — 2023)
National Jewish Book Award (Winner — Fiction — 2023)
The Morning News Tournament of Books (Finalist — 2024)
Aspen Words Literary Prize (Longlist — 2024)
PEN/Faulkner Award (Longlist — 2024)
BookTube Prize (Octofinalist — Fiction — 2024)
Washington Post Best Books (Fiction — 2023)
Jewish Fiction Award (Winner — 2024)
Libby Book Award (Winner — Adult Fiction — 2023)
Sophie Brody Medal (Winner — 2024)
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Nominee — Fiction — 2024)
NPR: Books We Love (2023)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction — 2023)
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Historical Fiction — 2023)
Christian Science Monitor Best Book (Fiction — 2023)
Notable Books List (Fiction — 2024)
Time Magazine's Best Books of the Year (Fiction — 2023)
LibraryReads (Monthly Pick — August 2023)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection — 2023)
AudioFile's Best Audiobooks of the Year (Fiction — 2023)
New York Public Library Best Books: For Adults (Fiction — 2023)
RUSA CODES Listen List (Selection — 2024)
Original language
English
Original publication date
2023
Physical description
400 p.; 9.3 inches
ISBN
0593422945 / 9780593422946