The Color of Water introduced me to James McBride. His personal story was compelling, but it was his writing that drew me in. He's the bard, the old man in the rocking chair, the driver telling a story over a long road trip. You like his voice and his style. You never want the tale to end.
I reserved Deacon King Kong on the library app right after I finished his autobiography, picked it up that weekend, and lost a Sunday in its pages.
The man knows about mothers. His women embody strength and smarts and the kindest of hearts, brooking no nonsense from the men in their lives. He knew he was in trouble when she called him by his name. Negro or Jew or Italian - when those mamas speak, their boys listen.
His characters are flawed in a flawed system, stuck in between what was and what will be. That's a theme around which The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store twists and turns in 1936 small town Pennsylvania, touching on race and class and ethnicity, friendship and secrets and love.... always there is love.
There's love for the land the immigrants left behind, a Germany the Jews could no longer safely call home, Hungary and Romania and Lithuania increasingly more hostile. There's love for the promise of America; although their lives are wretched, it is possible to survive and, perhaps, to thrive.
The storytelling is magnificent, teasing you and reassuring you and always you feel that you are in safe hands.
This should be the next thing you read.
I attempted this book back last November. Here is what I wrote on Instagram when I posted it:
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful story. The writing is superb. The characters will break your heart. And that’s only the first half of the book. It is intense reading and some of the subject matter can be hard to handle if you have a soft heart.
I never finished the book before it was due back at the library.
Oh no! You must read to the end and your soft heart will be soothed, albeit after traversing some rough terrain. There is always light at the end of the tunnel.
ReplyDeletea/b