Book Review: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
A story with an unravelling mystery but a touching theme of what it means to accept everyone no matter our differences, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store gives readers a beautiful sense of how humanity and kindness can influence every person that you meet. Read my full review of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride below.
Book Information
Following the story of how the body of a man ended up at the bottom of a well, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store jumps back in time to tell you the mystery of how one man met his end.
Moshe, a Jewish theatre owner, wants only for his business to be successful. However, when he meets the love of his life, Chona, who suggests he should open his business to more than just the Jewish community, his theatre transforms forever.
Chona sees people for who they are, not what they look like. When she hears about Dodo, a deaf boy who is being tracked down by the state, she immediately offers him help. What follows are events that will change everyone in Chicken Hill—for better or for worse.
Review | Heidi Dischler
This book is not what I expected it to be. When you read the description for the book, it talks about a murder mystery. So when I started reading, I wasn’t really ready for a story that follows several different characters and themes that don’t necessarily align with the mystery genre. However, I did really enjoy the story once I got over the assumption that this was going to be like a normal murder mystery.
With the plot of this book, you seriously better be paying attention because it follows so many different threads that it’ll leave your head spinning if you miss even a page. Moshe and Chona’s story was my favorite mainly because of Chona. Moshe and Chona were the main focus of the story for a majority of the story until they took Dodo in. Chona is basically a Mother Teresa type character who helps anyone and everyone no matter what biases other people may have. She is the character that everyone loves—that changes the minds of many when they think of judging another person—but she is also the person who doesn’t get what she deserves. She deserved so much better, but her character type is often the one to face hardship to move the story forward (my least favorite plot device by the way). After that, you really get into the main story and not so much exposition. I think this was around halfway through the story, but I could be wrong. Anyway, it started out super slow for me.
Spoilers Ahead.
Alright, so Doc Roberts? Obviously the bad guy. I hated what he did to Chona (especially after a seizure, no less)—what kind of “doctor” does that??? Because of one horrible man, Dodo is sent to the state penitentiary and literally sexually assaulted. I know this probably happened to many children and people sent to places like this at that time, but I seriously wished that we could’ve just been lied to. I will never understand how people can be so cruel to another human being. All I can think of is that this person has (or had) a mother who loved them, a beginning that was so innocent and pure, a life that didn’t have to be tainted by ugliness and evil. It breaks my heart, which is why Chona was my favorite character. She cared for literally everyone. So, yeah, another example of how the kindest character has to die to move the plot forward. I hate it. Make the good person live for once please authors 🥲.
Overall, this book felt like it was marketed a little weirdly considering that the first thing you read about it is that it’s a murder mystery. However, if you love novels about finding the humanity and kindness in the world, you’ll enjoy this story and its characters. Three and a half stars rounded to four for Goodreads and Amazon. The only reason it wasn’t a solid four stars is because of my assumptions going into this novel.
Source: Audiobook from Libby Public Library
(P.S. You can read this book for free by signing up for a free trial of Audible, which gives you two free audiobooks of your choice!)
