The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store

My kind of book.....I like this a lot.  I will put some of the reviews and etc in later.

Tonight I am listening to a part that speaks to me a bit because it makes fun of me.  Moshe Ludlow is the

main character of the book.  He owns at least one theatre/dance hall?/place that hosts dances/events...

I just read about sometimes he hosts events that are attended by Colonial Dames...etc...and the men in their top hats...and the couples dance ....very staid...very boring....well let me just say that it is the opposite of events that happen when his Black clientele or his Jewish clientele have an event....Do we who are the ones who attend Gypsy wish to be those who attend the Negro or Jewish events?  Could I do that?  I like when books make me think!  The descriptions of the events attended by the Jewish and the Black are just plain fun.  But there is no doubt in my mind that I would be more comfortable attending the Colonial Dames event.  

 Here is a review that I liked.  It is from a reader:  I want to put this in your hands and promise you a magnificent reading experience. It starts off in a shaggy dog kind of way, with an ensemble of characters, several who possess whimsical names like Fatty, Big Soap, Monkey Pants, Dodo. And their names fit flawlessly to their nature. The story starts with a 1972 prologue—a human skeleton is found in an old abandoned well, and then the body of the story begins in 1936 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, a place called Chicken Hill, where Jews, immigrants, and Black folks lived side by side, sometimes in harmony, other times in discord, but here’s the thing—the goodness of people, the kindness of their hearts—that is what ultimately rises to the top.

For the story to unfold, there has to be some sinister aspects, too—aren’t we still fighting the fight of ignorance, bigotry, corruption, meanness? But, in the McBride world, well, we also follow the long stretch of yarn as it wends around this way and that, through streets and backyards, dirt roads, onto hills and a shul and a church, through tunnels and a dance hall. And The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store.

I don’t need to rehash the plot, but there are a few fun facts about this book worth mentioning in a review. Such as, there are an abundance of characters introduced early on, and then again later on, before the plot actually launches. That’s the shaggy part. We don’t get to the plot too quickly—instead, Mcbride takes his time, builds the characters. They are already leaping off the pages by the time the plot rolls in.

There are subplots, too, but in the end, they all weave their chords and come together. McBride may slow your roll at first, but it’s a winning bonanza of breadth and depth, from the smallest detail to the broadest design. Scenes that seem initially inconsequential become key notes later on.

Early on, we meet the arresting Jewess, Chona. Chona is an unforgettable female protagonist—I’m keeping her in my journal of best. female. characters. ever. She is handicapped with a limp—but her limp doesn’t stop her strength of purpose, her fierce dignity, her bounteous benevolence, her gentle grace, and her consummate integrity. You will fall in love with her, just like Moshe, the theater and dance hall owner, did. Moshe and Chona dared to welcome change and inclusivity to their part of the world.

So I didn't add much as I read the middle part. However I want to add something tonight.  I believe it likely that Chona is dead.  Need to read a few more pages to know that for sure.  But the author speaks about devices in Chapter 18 which is labelled The Hot Dog.  

I finished the book late January.  There were a few rough places.  And the fact of whose body was in the well was a mystery until the very end of the book.  But by the time the book got to the end, there were enough people who deserved to be at the bottom of the well that you knew for sure it would be one of them.