By James McBride
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store will stick with me for a long time. This book transported me to a place that I have never been and introduced me to cultures I have never known. I learned that it is hard trying to find success in an American secular culture while still being expected to first cater to your religious community. It is awful living your life in a way that you are fearful of interacting with the government. Popularly accepted institutional racism sucks and should be routed out immediately. Segregated neighborhoods rob everyone from potentially great friendships and collaborations. It also fosters fear and distrust in otherwise good people.
I know I don’t fully understand these really hard topics. My white privilege will still be on full display everywhere I go. I have a lot of work to do.
This book also was remarkably aware of what I was thinking and then answered my question. I thought, why don’t they just pay some money and have their water line connected legally? Then the next line would be, “Why don’t we just pay money, money fixes most problems.” I thought, why don’t they confront the doctor about what he did? Then the character would say exactly why he is not confronting the doctor. I could go on and on with examples.
I wonder if McBride had someone read a draft and record all their questions and what they were thinking while reading each part. Then he went in and wrote the answers at exactly the right spots. If not, he has got an excellent intuitive connection with his reader. Or, at least me.
What did you learn from this book? Is your initial reaction to The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store different from mine? How would you have gotten city water to the Synagogue? How would you have gotten Dodo out of the asylum? Let me know in the comments.
If you liked this book, check out Still Life by Louis Penny. It also dives deeply into its characters backgrounds and solves a mystery along the way.