Frankly, I don’t have a ton to say about this book other than that I broadly enjoyed it. The diverse cast of characters and McBride’s careful writing style paint a lovely and vivid picture of Chicken Hill and the surrounding area of Pottstown, PA in the mid-1930s. It is a fast-paced story by virtue of McBride’s writing structure, which takes on an almost stream-of-consciousness-like storytelling, really keeping the story moving along.

There are lovable characters in Chona, Moshe, Dodo, Nate, and Alice, alongside some less likable or downright deplorable characters such as Doc Roberts, Son of Man, and, frankly, Fatty for me (I thought he was kind of thick-headed and annoying, honestly).

The story flows through so many perspectives that it can be hard to keep up, and in some parts is nearly impossible to see how the whole story comes together. This leads me to my main and probably only true critique of the book: I just didn’t like the ending, which brought down the rest of the book, in my opinion. Given the numerous POVs and storylines, for the ending to be

Spoiler

Doc being accidentally killed by a gangster to whom Gus owes money

just didn’t fit the story for me; it kind of felt like an 11th-hour out, and there was so much that McBride left hanging. We basically hear nothing on the Moshe side, and we barely get any resolution on what happens with Nate and Dodo considering how much of the book focuses on their respective storylines.

I really enjoyed McBride’s writing and would be curious to read more from him; however, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store had a lot of the elements of a great story, with just a mediocre overall execution.