Book Club: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
• Thursday, March 14: 5:30 pm
• Upstairs
“James McBride’s Latest Is a Murder Mystery Inside a Great American Novel
“The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” opens with the discovery of a skeleton in a well, and then flashes back to explore its connection to a town’s Black, Jewish and immigrant history.
“McBride knows that the best storytellers take their time and get lost in the details, that tangents can turn into gold in the right author’s grip. This is a novel in which even the smallest points echo into larger consequences elsewhere. A puff of smoke Moshe sees in the distance while on a walk is later revealed to be the accident that deafened Dodo and set him on the path toward the Ludlows’ protection. Gossip from a side character’s mother turns out to divulge one of the story’s most damning secrets. These links make it a pleasure to be caught in the web of McBride’s narration, showcasing how he can pick up a character from any far-reaching corner of his imagination and imbue them with their own peculiar life, all while still moving the novel forward in unexpected ways.” — Danez Smith for The New York Times
Book Club Copies
For this and all Book Clubs: Stop by or call the library to see if we have available one of the copies we have reserved for those who would like to join our Book Club discussion. You can also request a hold via search.midhudsonlibraries.org.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/06/books/review/the-heaven-and-earth-grocery-store-james-mcbride.html