The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

by James McBride

For me, the book was seriously overhyped. I went into it expecting a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant story, but instead, I found myself constantly pulled out of the narrative. Rather than letting the themes and moral questions emerge naturally through the story, the author seemed determined to spell everything out for the reader, as if I wasn’t trusted to interpret the meaning on my own. I struggled to stay engaged with the unfocused pacing, and patiently waded through the book for a deeper payoff that never came.