The first chapter opens with a framing story set in 1972, it's clear most of what is relayed cannot be fully understood until completing the main story, taking place between 1925 and 1936. In this framing chapter, names and events are raised and dropped, with little connection between them and just as little characterization of each separately. The clearest reference is to Hurricane Agnes, an historical event which plays a major part in the story to come, effectively providing closure and poetic justice of a sort. Though written as a clear invitation to revisit once the main story is known, my staccato reading sessions meant I'd forgotten all of this by the time I came to the last page, and only re-read by chance, when preparing this review. It serves as a nice epilogue, one more satisfying than had it been placed at the end as literal-minded editors may well have appealed for McBride to do. Instead, McBride appends an Acknowledgment, further enlightening the reader on certain points such as Pennhurst, and a summer camp mentioned in the framing story.

Part One builds up the community, and ends with a violent assault on one character while another seemingly dies after jumping from a roof. Part Two introduces many new characters, along with a familiar one, now institutionalized at Pennhurst State School. Part Three ends the tale, offering a form of justice. But it is only for the reader, the community is wholly unaware of it, let alone the characters most deserving, a deliberate authorial choice, historically accurate if farfetched. And for one character, seemingly there is very little justice at all -- "long gone from this country" but seemingly wholly unaccountable.

Much is historical in the story, Pottstown PA is a borough of Philadelphia and Agnes remains the most destructive cyclonic event in state history, there are cameos from recognisable musicians and theatrical performers. Overall though it is more historical novel than novelized history, a community portrait and depiction of the trauma and cruelty visited upon American immigrants by the domineering White classes. Chicken Hill and Hemlock Row stand in for many such historical places:

The name “Chicken Hill” was a pejorative name applied to this minority community because it seemed that everybody in the area was raising chickens to supplement their income. The small working class enclave of Chicken Hill is typical of many such neighborhoods throughout the United States. These communities arose, functioned, and disappeared for all kinds of local reasons but their legacies persist in the fabric of the communities that followed.

https://aaslh.org/chicken-hill-a-community-lost-to-time/ ( )

Representation: Black characters, character with a physical disability
Trigger warnings: Racism, racist slurs, white supremacy, hurricane, death of people, physical assault and injury, blood, grief and loss depiction, near-death experience from a fall, hospitalisation of a child
Score: Five out of ten.

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride was disappointing.

It starts with two workers set in 1972 finding a skeleton at the bottom of a well, then cuts to the early 1920s. There, Moshe, a Jewish American, lives in Chicken Hill, Pottstown, Pennsylvania in America, a community of other immigrant Jewish and Black Americans.

The pacing is slow, lasting 380 pages. There are too many side plots and characters to keep track of, making it feel like character soup. Focusing on only one character would resolve that issue. It was difficult to relate to them, anyway. Increasing character depth and development would've helped. The writing style is accessible, excludes purple prose and contains basic descriptions. However, the racial slurs were too much to handle since they appeared every few pages.

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is a literary fiction pieces because it revolves around themes of racism. Yet, the story is sometimes disjointed, especially with the cuts from the 1920s to 1935 to 1936 and back to 1972. It's like McBride forgot what the plot was. However, making transitions smoother can help.

At least there is the 3rd omniscient POV, which helped me distinguish between the different characters, such as Dodo, Chona and Paper. The conclusion wasn't engaging either.

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I really cared about the charactes in this story and cheered and weeped for all of them. Historical fiction touches on race, religion, and disability. ( )

Moshe Ludlow, a Jewish theater owner, and his wife Chona live above the titular Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, a business that she runs. It is located in Pottstown, Pennsylvania in a Black and immigrant Jewish neighborhood called Chicken Hill, a run down area cut off from most of the services found in White portions of the city. Set during the Depression, times are hard and jobs are few. While Moshe’s theater business is profitable, the grocery store is not. It caters mostly to the Black community, and Chona, who has a strong attachment to them, often sells on credit and then does not seek payment. The story centers around a deaf Black orphan twelve year old boy who goes by the name of Dodo. He lives with his uncle Nate, who is an employee of Moshe’s. When the state decides the boy should be institutionalized, Chona offers to hide the boy in her own home to prevent him from being seized by the authorities.

The strength of this novel is in its subplots which address racism, disability, resiliency, and the interconnectedness of a poverty stricken community. It features a diverse set of characters that include Black, White, and Jewish, as well as the established and the newly arrived. Ultimately, it’s an uplifting story of good intentions finding a way to outfox the establishment. I did find the White villains presented here to be one dimensional –– at best, caricature racists. Fortunately, the fully developed character sketches of the citizens of Chicken Hill more than make up for this. It is their humor and optimism that makes James McBride’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store such a pleasure to read. ( )

Chicken Hill is a neighborhood on the outskirts of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and in 1925 is home to immigrant Jews and Blacks, many fresh from the South. Although dilapidated, the neighborhood is close-knit with much of the social life revolving around Moshe and Chona Ludlow. Moshe runs the local theatre, catering to both Jews and Blacks with a mixture of shows ranging from klezmer to jazz. Chona runs the Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, inherited from her father, and the heart of Chicken Hill. Nate Timblin works for Moshe and his wife Addie takes care of things when Chona is ill. When their deaf nephew is orphaned, Nate and Addie take him in. But the state wants to send him to a "special" school, and Chona helps hide the boy. This triggers a series of events that both tries and strengthens the ties that bind the neighborhood together.

I had loved McBride's memoir, The Color of Water, and was eager to try some of his fiction. This novel is similarly well-written and also depicts relationships between Jews and Blacks. The characters are interesting, although at first I was a bit confused as to who the main characters were going to be. I listened to much of the book on audio, and Dominic Hoffman does an excellent job narrating it. ( )