The reviews for The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store seem to fall into two camps: those that thought there were too many characters to keep track of and gave up on it, or those that saw it through to the end and deemed it a five star read. This dichotomy put me off of reading it for a while because I knew that I would have to see it through to the end in order see why people loved it!
I understand completely both schools of thought on this book and I kind of land in the middle: I loved being immersed in the town of Chicken Hill and becoming familiar with all of the residents, who all absolutely leapt from the page. I thought that the way McBride elucidates racial tensions between the different groups of people, and WITHIN them, during the early 20th century was thoughtfully rendered.
Though some plot threads felt superfluous or overly long, I do love a novel that weaves them together into a satisfying conclusion, and it definitely made me want to seek out more of James McBride‘s work! I am thinking Deacon King Kong next…