The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store byJames McBride

James McBride’s newest novel, “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store,” is filled with warmth, kindness and even humor. This story illustrates how communities can be empowered and enriched when they accept each other’s differences. In the 1920s and 30s, Chicken Hill was a poor neighborhood in Pottstown, Pennsylvania comprised of African-American residents and immigrant Jews. McBride’s brilliant writing captures both communities’ voices, dialects, phrases, and idioms. Though McBride calls out the prejudice and discrimination directed at Blacks, Jews, and other immigrants, the novel still feels joyful and inspiring.

The primary characters are Moshe and Chona Ludlow, a Jewish couple who own the Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, and their Black employees, Nate and Addie Timblin. Chona’s commitment to improving her corner of the world is strong. Chona Ludlow does not charge her predominantly Black customers when they cannot afford to pay. In the beginning chapters, we learn the background of many characters. At first, these profiles seem unrelated, but eventually, their lives link together and connections become clear. Several characters, including Chona, have a disability. Yet they are not shunned, In fact, when the State seeks to institutionalize a Black and deaf boy named Dodo, the Jewish and Black neighbors join together to save him.

McBride, a National Book Award winner, is deft when describing persistent and systemic bigotry. In this novel, he directs his attention to the corrupt white Christian political and business leaders of Pottstown, PA. The town’s caste system is not hidden. A sign at the Pottstown ice-skating rink had said, “No Jews, No Dogs and No Ni*****.”

“The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” illustrates the power of community when people from different backgrounds acknowledge their differences and unite to oppose injustice. McBride’s understands the limits of human beings, but this story offers a vision of hope. In the words of Chona Ludlow, we can all "tikkun olam” - improve the world. 4.5/5