Book: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
Basic Information:
Author: James McBride
Edition: Kindle
Publisher: Riverhead Books
ISBN: 9780593422946 (ISBN10: 0593422945)
Start Date: January 14, 2024
Read Date: January 22, 2024
380 pages
Genre: Fiction, OSHER
Language Warning: Medium
Rated Overall: 3½ out of 5
Religion: Christianity, Jewish
Religious Quality: None
Christianity-Teaching Quality: None
Fiction-Tells a good story: 4 out of 5
Fiction-Character development: 4 out of 5
Synopsis:
Whose skeleton was found in the well? That is the beginning and ending of this story. In between it talks about a community found on Chicken Hill in the town of Pottstown. While this used to be a Jewish enclave, it was now a predominantly Black community with some Jewish folks still on the Hill.
A Jewish couple own a money losing store which has become a community focal point. They also own theaters which host both Jewish and Black music. A deaf and dumb Black boy comes into their lives through one of the husband’s workers. The State has an interest in putting the boy into a sanitarium.
The wife is attacked, suffers a stroke and dies and the Black boy is taken away. From here the story gets convoluted until the boy is rescued and the story of the skeleton is revealed.
Cast of Characters:
- Moshe Ludlow-Dance hall owner. Husband of Chona. Romanian Jew
- Chona-owns and runs the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. Name means “God gives grace.”
- Malachi-dancer, friend of Moshe and migrant. Hasidic devout Jew. Tries hand at being a baker. Leaves Pottstown and ends up in Europe. Then back in Pottstown.
- Nate Timblin-maintenance man and friend for Moshe. Recognized leader on Chicken Hill
- Addie Timblin-Nate’s wife. Worked with Chona in the store.
- Dodo-deaf and dumb boy of 12. When he was young, a stove exploded. His mother died shortly afterwards. Nate’s nephew.
- Earl Roberts-Doc Roberts. racist, from an old Pottstown family. Doctor which Blacks would not see.
- Son of Man-Lowgod who worked in a sanitarium. Massive black man
- Issac-Moshe’s rich cousin
- Karl Feldman-new rabbi for the Chicken Hill shul
- Rusty-a Black fix it man
- Rev Ed Spriggs-Black minister for Chicken Hill. Nicknamed Snoops
- Fatty Davis-runs a jook joint. Also junk collector. All around go to person. Brother to Bernice
- Irv Skrupskelis-talented shoe maker, twin to Marvin. Lithuanian Jews. Pretty much somebody you wanted to stay out of the way of.
- Marvin Skrupskelis-Same as Irv.
- Norman Skrupskelis-Father to Irv and Marvin. Excellent shoemaker
- Patty Millison-aka Newspaper, aka Paper. She always had the news about what was going on around Chicken Hill. Very good at the laundry.
- Enzo Carissimi-Big Soap. 6’6”, Italian. Friend of Fatty
- Bernice Davis-sister to Fatty. Next door neighbor to Chona and Moshe. Did not speak much to either Fatty or Chona-they went to school together.
- Carl Boydkins-Doc Roberts cousin. Person from the State. Used to be Chona’s classmate.
- Monkey Pants-a boy with cerebral palsy at Pennhurst sanatorium
- Gus Plitzka-owner of a dairy and a well. Mayor of Pottstown
- Miggy Fludd-used to work with Paper. Did laundry and told fortunes. And now works at Pennhurst
- Bullis-the egg man
- Recommendation: Osher
- When: January 11, 2023
- Date Became Aware of Book:
- Why do I want to read this book: OSHER Book
Thoughts:
When I look at a book like this, I am think of it in a couple of ways. First, is the story good and is the telling of it good? Second, what is the author trying to tell us and is it congruent with the story?
It is the later is what I want to deal with here. First, the nature of the story has Jews and Blacks living side by side. While at times there seems to be some aloofness, there is not real friction. Chona may be the real reason why there is not friction. She both works at making sure she treats all as humans. She also has a natural acceptance of all, except for maybe clueless or arrogant goys.
Both the Jews and the Blacks have a distinct feelings of the injustices thrust upon them by the Whites of the community. Things like neither is too welcome outside of their neighborhood, except to perform some service. During an annual Memorial Day parade which is almost all White, the Jews are expected to get everything ready, but not really to participate and all for free.
One of the key statements in the book is [Nate] lived in a nation with statutes and decrees that consigned him as an equal but not equal, his life bound by a set of rules and regulations in matters of equality that largely did not apply to him. … He was a man without a country living in a world of ghosts, for having no country meant no involvement and not caring for a thing beyond your own heart and head, and ghosts and spirits were the only thing certain in a world where your existence was invisible. In many ways, this book shows that. The Blacks felt this much more than the Jews, but the Jews also knew this as well.
Part I: Gone
1. The Hurricane
A skeleton has been found in a well with only a few clues about whose it is: threads from an old jacket, a belt buckle and a mezuzah which had World’s Greatest Dancer inscribed on it. A strange thing to have since they generally are on door posts.
Malachi notes that Jewish life is portable, Interesting phrase. Christians are also meant to be not of this world. I think we get those roots from the Jews. The police say he is a suspect and will question him.
1972 and Hurricane Agnes has come through town destroying everything, including the skeleton and the well.
Takes place in Pottstown in a section called Chicken Hill. At one time, it was a Jewish enclave, but many of them left and now are replaced by Blacks.
2. A Bad Sign
1925-Moshe owns the All-American Dance Hall and Theater.
Snow storm is about to close a popular act. Nate settles Katz in to play and all is right. Talks about how everything got screwed up and it almost did not come off.
Moshe then was moping around, wondering how he was going to pay off the debts. He settled into the only Jewish store on Chicken Hill, Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. It was owned by a Jew by the name of Yakov Flohr-he is also the rabbi for Chicken Hill. Had a daughter who had been crippled by polio named Chona. Moshe falls in love with her.
They were married within a week.
The dance was a success and he was able to pay all of his debts.
He met Malachi-but did not get his name. Moshe considered him the world’s greatest dancer. But he says he did not come to dance, he wants a wife. As they were parting, there was a loud pop and black smoke. Malachi says this is a sign of bad times.
3. Twelve
Describes Chona as somebody who was joyful being around. Isaac said of her that They can’t pour a glass of water without making a party of it. This sounds like a wonderful person to be around.
Moshe booked a colored band and opened the hall to colored people. It was a hit. Moshe noticed how joyful Chick Webb was.
Moshe started having dreams of Moses. They came in twelves. Moshe prospered. Other theater owners were jealous. He dealt with the issues which were put up and even bought the theater he was renting. He bought a second theater and then Heaven and Earth. Chona said she would run it rather than have it demolished.
Other Jews had moved off the Hill, but Moshe and Chona wanted to stay. Chona’s years of stirring butter, sorting vegetables, and reading in the back room of the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store had given her time to consider. Consider what? But it is true, busy work will free up the mind and get you thinking.
Chona was active trying to correct wrongs. She wrote letters, evening protesting the KKK marches. To the Whites, this is how she is known.
1935
Moshe wanted to move to where the Americans were, the other Jews. Chona said he could move, she was not going to move. Also aren’t the Blacks Americans? Isn’t their money good enough? He points out that they are doing well and can afford to move. She says that the reason why they are doing well is that they are there to serve, like the Talmud says to.
Because Moshe upset Chona so much, he gave her the Shulchan Aruch, which spelled out the seven requirements of Jewish life: wisdom, meekness, fear of God, love of truth, love of people, possession of a good name, and dislike of money. Moshe tolerated Chona’s obstinate because he knew her heart, and it was a priceless heart. This is about as high of praise as you can have.
1936-Chona gets sick. They would not see Doc Roberts, instead went to doctors in Reading and beyond. No diagnosis or remedy. She got worse. The Blacks helped out by bringing goodwill, soup and company. Is this repayment or is this following Chona’s example?
Addie helped Chona in the store.
Sorrow charged his [Moshe’s] mind at those moments, electrified his memory. … It has been twelve years since they fell in love. He read the Word now to keep her alive, and in doing so, a part of him came alive as well. This is the true reading of the Word when it brings you alive. Not a dead book written by dead people. How to keep the words alive and living? Probably by making them part of a life.
Moshe was sure she would live, even if his cousin thought she was dying.
4. Dodo
Dodo is missing. Nate searched for him by the creek. Nate is Dodo’s uncle.
Nate lived in a nation with statutes and decrees that consigned him as an equal but not equal, his life bound by a set of rules and regulations in matters of equality that largely did not apply to him. … He was a man without a country living in a world of ghosts, for having no country meant no involvement and not caring for a thing beyond your own heart and head, and ghosts and spirits were the only thing certain in a world where your existence was invisible. I think this is the purpose of McBride’s book.
The reason why he was running away was because with his mother dead, the State wanted to put Dodo into a sanitarium.
5. The Stranger
Malachi, the dancer, comes back into Moshe’s life as a baker.
Addie is taking care of Moshe, including bossing him around.
Malachi says that he has a wife now. Says that bad times are ending.
6. Challah
Chona’s fever broke.
Malachi has bought a bakery. He gives Moshe loaves of challah-a ceremonial type of bread. Malachi was a pretty bad baker.
Malachi had a lightness and boundless enthusiasm about worldly matters. He seemed to bring light and air and goodness to everything he touched. These are good qualities and they supersede his qualities as a baker. In many ways, Malachi is the male counterpart to Chona in Moshe’s life. Except Malachi moves in and out of Moshe’s life while Chona is steady there.
Malachi turns into the best friend of Moshe. Moshe felt the bond and gave Malachi a mezuzah which could be worn around the neck. But this pendant could be worn around the neck, and it bore a special inscription on the back that read “Home of the Greatest Dancer in the World.” Malachi was touched but had Moshe give it to Chona.
Malachi notes he is not a rabbi, but a follower of the Talmud. He notes that the Jewish way is to comfort rather than sorrow, joy instead of pain.
Malachi notes it is not magic bread nor doctors which made Chona well, rather the fullness of the earth. He cites Psalm 24.
Malachi notes that Blacks have an advantage in America. Why? Because they know who they are.
“We are integrating into a burning house,” Interesting statement. What is McBride meaning by this?
Malachi asks Moshe to sell the bakery and then was gone-for three years.
7. A New Problem
A couple of new immigrants were found to be buyers of the bakery. Moshe thought about Malachi and his ways and came to the conclusion: The old ways simply didn’t fit in America.
Dodo came up. With his mother dead, Nate and Addie were taking care of him. The state wanted to send him away. Nate asks if Dodo can stay at the theater until the State goes away. Moshe wants to ask Chona, but knows what she will say. Chona’s answer: bring him to their place and he can stay with them. They cannot have children.
8. Paper
The special school which Dodo was to be taken to was the horrific Pennhurst sanatorium. To the Blacks, being sent there was just another injustice which they had to endure.
Big Soap and Fatty friends. They lost their job at the factory because they did not do what they were paid to do. Fatty said to go ahead and take a punch which knocked out a tooth of Fatty.
A Black man came into the store and looked around. Paper id’d him as being from the State. He was looking for Dodo.
9. The Robin and the Sparrow
Talked about the building of their temple and the mismanagement of it.
what a man does to live often has nothing to do with how he lives.
Talks about the relationship between Chona, Bernice and Fatty which stretched back to their school days. For Chona, the day Bernice Davis closed off the world was the beginning of her own adulthood,
Being a Jewish girl, her mother wanted to marry Chona off. But she had other ideas. She could not stand the fellow Jews who would help their fellow European Jews with everythings, Sending everything but love.
With Dodo around, she now had a child. But there was a problem, it was obvious Dodo was not hers. How could Dodo blend in when the State showed up?
Since Doda had come to live with them, he had become a living embodiment of l’chaim, a toast to life.
Chona asked Bernice to allow Dodo to become one of her children when the State comes to check in. Bernice understood and agreed. But that was the extent of the relationship.
10. The Skrup Shoe
Talks about the background of Doc Roberts and Carl Boydkins.
McBride makes comments about Christians keeping their promises. He also notes that even if a promise is kept, it may not last forever. He was, after all, a good Christian.
In this case the Boydkins were promised that the factory would be clean. It was until it wasn’t. So the Boydkins family was forced to sell their 147 acres bordering the creek for pennies on the dollar to keep America free. It had to be done.
Doc Roberts had a club foot. No shoe would fit him. Until he went to Norman Skrupskelis who worked magic with shoe leather. The Skrupskelis’ did not respect anybody which Roberts found annoying and irritating. Chona’s shoes came from here as well. They had lockers close by. Roberts got infatuated with her. She did not want to be around him.
He married a farm girl and became dissatisfied. He’d seen his youth vanish, his town crumble, the blood of its proud white fathers diluted by invaders:...
McBride talked about Mennonites and their horse and buggy. Does he mean Amish? Amish are closely related theologically to Mennonites, but not quite the same thing. Is McBride painting these folks all with the same general brush? I would think McBride would be someone who is sensitive to differences. But that is said without knowledge of him.
Doc Roberts is annoyed that Moshe is Chona’s husband, another Jew who owned not one but two theaters. Where was America in all this? Yesterday Trump made a similar comment when he was leaving a courtroom: It’s not America.
Doc Roberts joined the Knights of Pottstown meeting actually turned out to be the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. It was a group which was like him.
Chona had visited him once professionally. But did not come back.
Boydkins approached Roberts about examining Dodo. He agrees to go to the store to examine Dodo.
11. Gone
Doc Roberts comes into the store. Chona is fearful for Dodo. Dodo reads the fear and remains hidden but able to observe. Roberts does not go to Chicken Hill without purpose. He was hated on the Hill.
Roberts and Chona argued and Chona fainted. Roberts took this opportunity to molest Chona. Dodo tackled Roberts, driving him out of the store. Addie came in and took care of Chona, but Roberts returned with two policemen.
The police chased and caught Dodo.
Part II: Gotten
12. Monkey Pants
Dodo awakens to find that he is in a cast, unable to move at Pennhurst sanatorium, the C-1 ward. He had only a vague memory because of being injected with drugs. C-1 was the place for low functioning males. Monkey Pants was beside him in another crib.
Describes how Monkey Pants and DoDo tried to communicate.
13. Cowboy
Moshe goes to Ringing Rock Ice Rink-there really is a park where the rocks ring in Pottstown. It is a place where he can reflect. He’d offer a Birkhot Hashachar, a morning prayer. He was writing to Malachi, but not sure what to write. Nothing seemed uplifting.
Moshe is thinking about leaving the theater business-things are getting difficult. There was a conflict between the different bands. Only when he talked about how he flubbed up, concerned about Chona did one band relent.
Malachi and Moshe go through a silly gift exchange.
Moshe wants to talk with Addie and Nate about Dodo. Nate says it is in God's hands. But if Moshe could have seen Nate’s eyes, he would have been concerned.
14. Differing Weights and Measures
Fatty’s jook place while going full blast was facing trouble. Nate was inside and being too quiet.
There is a shaggy dog story about Fatty’s time in Philadelphia getting his tooth repaired.
How to get Nate out of his place without him busting it up? That was Fatty’s dilemma. Fatty had inside knowledge about Nate. Fatty had served time and found out that Nate also served time, but under a different name, Nate Love. You did not want to mess with Nate Love. The one thing which Nate said was Differing Weights and Measures. The Lord knows them both.
15. The Worm
Big Soap’s mother hears rumors of what happened at the store. The rumors are pretty jumbled and highly inaccurate. She confronts Big Soap and tells him not to get involved. Fatty is forced to recount what happened at the store-he did not know, but he was able to recount several things. She ends the conversation with God is watching them.
During all of this, Fatty is concerned on several counts. First Paper would be spreading the fact that an Italian woman was up on the hill talking with Fatty. Second, this might bring the police and cause them to examine his jook joint.
16. The Visit
Chona was in a Reading hospital. Isaac had paid for her stay. The staff was not used to Jews and Blacks being there. Addie says that Chona is trying to pray in her coma.
Nate and Addie talk. Nate says to keep quiet about what she saw Roberts do. As they talk a little bit of Nate’s background slips out-prison time and a different name.
Addie thinks that Spriggs is the one who gave Dodo away.
17. The Bullfrog
1936.
A member of the temple wanted a new woman’s bath built after a bullfrog was found in the old one. This leads to a discussion of where does the water comes from which goes into the bath. It was discovered there is not enough water flowing in. The water comes from an illegal tap into a well. Fatty Davis’ father did the original connection. Chona had offended Plitzka’s father. The son was now mayor. He owns the well which they tapped into. The water level is dropping and now the connection sometimes is below the water line.
The N word is used.
18. The Hot Dog
Barukh She’amar-a prayer sung in transition. Chona’s father used to sing it and said that “You can never go wrong when you express your love to the master of the world,” She smelled a hot dog.
Moshe was sleeping by her. Chona was thinking that He was a true Jew, a man of ideas and wit who understood the meaning of celebration and music and that the blend of those things meant life itself.
Moshe tells everyone to leave, which they do. A large group stands outside the door. There was nothing to do but talk, which at times like these is all that’s left. What did they talk about? The water situation. Isaac thought of Feldman Weak Jews were a waste of time.
While they were discussing the well, Chona died. McBride says is that Chona did not smell a hot dog, but the future. She sensed a device that children of the future would clamor for and become addicted to, a device that fed them their oppression disguised as free thought. I think this is a jump, a conclusion not warranted in the book.
Part III: The Last Love
19. The Lowgods
Fatty takes Paper to a place in Pottstown called Hemlock Row. Fatty is not comfortable outside of his own area. It is an area which the Lowgods family is prominent in. This is another Black area. The difference is those on Chicken Hill were trying to make something of themselves while the Hemlock Row wanted no part of what was going on outside of their area.
Fatty thinks about his life and loyalty. Bernice, his sister had shown loyalty to Chona by letting Dodo hide. Fatty had felt that he should look out only for himself.
Paper is there to see a friend of hers, Miggy, about getting Dodo out of the sanitarium. Miggy is into a fortune telling business. She says that “I’m an oracle. I’m a messenger. God’s word. She says that what she gives them most is hope.
There is a person by the name of Bullis who Miggy singles out and tells him that Paper has something for him to do when she is ready. It is about Nate. Miggy tells Paper why there is so many of them working at Pennhurst. They understand what most people in this land don’t: that you can’t restore what you ain’t never had.
Lowgod means in our language? Little parent.
Miggy knows what Paper wants and how he will get out. Bullis will get the people inside, it is up to them to deal with getting Dodo out. She also alludes to the Son of Man as being one of them, but now he is twisted and no longer is welcome on the Row.
20. The Antes House
John Antes. John Antes was a missionary, composer and maker of instruments, maybe the first violin in America. American history is not meant to be pretty. It is plain. It is simple. It is strong and truthful. Full of blood. And guts. And war.
Memorial day and Mayor Plitzka needed to make an appearance and march in the parade with a toe which was infected. Plitzka needed Roberts to do something with it. The two hated each other. They have a conversation which makes Roberts nervous about his part in Chona’s death. Then the conversation turns to water and Chicken Hill. Plitzka is nervous about this.
Plitzka had bought a dairy. He ended up $1,400 short. He borrowed money. He did not realize it was from a mobster.
21. The Marble
Talks about life in Pennhurst for Dodo. Monkey Pants and Dodo learned how to talk through their fingers. Monkey Pants had a blue marble which reminded Dodo of Chona. Dodo also has his first experience with the Son of Man.
22. Without a Song
Moshe was closing the store. Too full of memories. Moshe felt no anger toward them[Nate and Addie], for the boy had brought his wife joy, and he would have told them that at moment had his heart had the strength.
Moshe had heard what Addie saw when Chona was attacked. He had also heard what Roberts said. He was inclined to believe Addie. But he thought that it was a dead end to go to the police. Both the Jews and Blacks would not be believed. That kind of bearing was a window into a troubled heart, he knew, one forged by past troubles and unjust treatment.
Moshe was not a touchy person. Both Addie and Nate were reluctant to give him comfort-both wanted to.
Chona did not play by the American rules. To her, the world was not a china closet where you admire this and don’t touch that. Rather, she saw it as a place where every act of living was a chance for tikkun olam, to improve the world. She was all soul-small in body, great in spirit.
His grief was debilitating. the absence of her meant a thousand tomorrows empty of whatever promise they had once held.
And then Isaac brought Malachi there.
Isaac tries to talk with Nate and Addie. Isaac wants to know what happens. They do not say even when offered money. He then offers to help get Dodo out through a lawyer. Isaac notes that this is a land of laws. Nate says this is a land of white folks laws.
23. Bernice’s Bible
Bernice came to see Fatty-a rarity. They rehash old gripes before Bernice gets to the point.
Fatty thinks it was the Reverend who told the State about Dodo, maybe indirectly.
I think that Isaac must have talked with Bernice about the well as that was the reason for the visit by Bernice. She transferred the money to Fatty to fix the well.
Fatty at one point says What do we owe each other on this Hill, Bernice? This is the essence of community. What do we owe each other? Or even a better way to put it, how are we to help each other? As a Christian, how can we lift each other up?
24. Duck Boy
There is a group gathering to free Dodo. Miggy describes Pennhurst and then says But on the inside, well . . . that’s where the devil does his work. She describes it as an evil place. She also describes the Son of Man person. Then says it is possible that Nate has a purpose in all of this. Miggy draws a map of the way into/out of Pennhurst on the pie.
Miggy also goes on and talks about deliveries to Pennhurst. She then says that the Son of Man knows who Nate is.
there’s man’s understanding and there’s women’s understanding. There is white folks’ understanding and Negroes’ understanding. And then there is just plain wisdom.
25. The Deal
Marvin meets with Isaac. Marvin wants Isaac to arrange for some Jewish railroad men to be on a train when Dodo gets out of Pennhurst. Isaac can arrange that.
There is a paragraph about principle.
26. The Job
Fatty and Big Soap will work on the well. Rusty will join them. Complication: Paper wants Fatty to help Nate move equipment tonight so that Nate can break out Dodo.
27. The Finger
Dodo’s caste had come off and he had joined the other patients, but was not able to stand up very long. The desperate loneliness of the place didn’t just chafe him, it began to destroy him. There was a pecking order where the most able ran everything and got the most.
He started feeling guilt about some minor stuff he had done and how he let Chona down. Monkey Pants played a game with Dodo about who can hold each other’s finger the longest. Dodo’s guilt seemed to melt away.
Son of Man looked like he was going to rape Dodo until Monkey Pants had a violent seizure and everyone came running. Monkey Pants was gone.
28. The Last Love
Nate gets a ride to Hemlock Row. He did some work for a friend there. He was a wanted man on Hemlock Row for previous stuff he had done. So he ended up doing things differently than how it was set up with Miggy.
Bullis was still making his egg run, but something was a matter. Bullis confronts the Son of Man. Son of Man beats him. Then Nate emerges from the cart and kills the Son of Man.
A bit more on Nate’s history including that his father had some to Pennsylvania expecting freedom from racism and found that justice and freedom had as little currency in the new land as it had in the old. … The difference was that the white man in the South spoke his hatred in clear, clean, concise terms, whereas the white man in the new country hid his hatred behind stories of wisdom and bravado, with false smiles of sincerity and stories of Jesus Christ and other nonsense that he tossed about like confetti in the Pottstown parade. Nate had been abandoned. He ended up living on the street. He killed a rapist and was sent to prison.
29. Waiting for the Future
Everything looks bad this year for the parade. The Jewish people had not taken care of things for free like they usually do. Roberts and Plitzka both are not in the proper uniforms. Plitzka gets accosted by one of the mob men while waiting for the parade. Here there was a mix up where Roberts got the wrong colored coat.
Fatty and Big Soap worked on connecting the temple’s pipes to city water from the well water. But the cover to the well was broken.
The mob’s hit man thought he had broken Plitzka jaw. But because of the red coat mix up, he got Roberts. Roberts fell into the open well. Fatty did not see Roberts in the well when they cemented over it. Said about Roberts: And sadly, neither was the man. For his wife did not love him. His children did not miss him. The town did not erect a statue in his honor. One of the saddest statement in the book.
And here is where McBride goes off and talks about what Roberts believed-the racist thoughts about Blacks and Jews. He notes that it was the rich men who benefited from these thoughts. They got richer and no one else did.
Epilogue
Talks about how the Jewish connection with the railroad men had Nate and Dodo on the trail to Philadelphia then to Charsleton. Nate was sure he would never see Addie again.He did not deserve what she had to give. But fortitude and love’s reason have many a season, and one day she would return to him.
But in Dodo’s future, there is Uncle Nate and Aunt Addie. When Dodo died on June 22, 1972, the day Hurricane Agnes struck Pennsylvania. Dodo was known as Nate Love II.
Camp Chona is a made up camp. But there are Jewish camp’s which seem like it is a tradition such as Camp Tawonga.
The Call Out Acknowledgments
McBride worked at a Summer Camp for those with disabilities. This book was written as an ode to that time and its director.
Evaluation:
An old skeleton in a well starts this story off and ends it. Between the two chapters are the stories of a Jewish and Black neighborhood in Pennsylvania in the 1930’s. McBride takes a Jewish couple who own a grocery story in what used to be a Jewish neighborhood which is now turning more Black. It shows their relationships and in some ways how it is possible to get along when you have a couple different cultures.
But the main point of the story is how the communities which are oppressed by the more powerful White community works in that kind of system. How the issues they face bind them together,
not in ways do they all live together way, but in cooperation.
McBride’s story at times reminds me of a shaggy dog story. It just lumbers on. But you know that he is going in a direction and you want to continue on to see where he takes you. He puts in a few places about what these people faced, not necessarily conquering, but adapting and overcoming.
If you have a couple of evenings, it is worth the time to read McBride’s story. And a closing hint: read McBride’s acknowledgments first to understand where he is coming from and why he wrote the book the way he did.
Notes from my book group:
OSHER Notes:
Themes:
Hopelessness and hopefulness
Community
Disable
Regret
Water
Some felt the ending was contrived and the author took a short cut. Another person felt that the want of water tied everything in.
But it was a good book. Paint the picture while developing the characters.
Children of immigrants seem to bridge the gaps of cultures.
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Why the title of Heaven and Earth Grocery Store?
Who is Malachi? Does he represent something for McBride?
Malachi starts off the book by saying Jewish life is portable. What does he mean by that? How did a Jewish life become portable?
Chona notes that they, the Jews, are there to serve. How is Chona an example? Does Moshe serve? How?
Malachi notes that Blacks have a natural advantage in this world, they know who they are. What does McBride/Malachi mean by this?
Also McBride says that We are integrating into a burning house. What does he mean by this?
what a man does to live often has nothing to do with how he lives. Discuss this statement. Is this true?
At one time, a person’s word meant that it would not be broken. McBride traces how over time, the person who gave his word to the Boydkins kept it, but each succeeding owner did not. How good is a person’s word? How long should it be kept? Is a written contract better? Did a written document save the Native American lands?
Doc Roberts thought it was not right that Moshe was becoming affluent. He did not think it was American. What did Roberts think America was? Are there current examples of this thinking?
Nate says that Differing Weights and Measures. The Lord knows them both. Even Moshe has a similar thoughts about why he could not go to the authorities over the attack on Chona: That kind of bearing was a window into a troubled heart, he knew, one forged by past troubles and unjust treatment. This is one of the themes of the book. How does Nate see the world he lives in? Does he feel any hope? How has he learned to live in that book? Is there a feeling of injustice or a need to break the system?
Fatty asks his sister, What do we owe each other on this Hill? How does community play out in this story? What do we owe each other?
One of the things which is an underlying current in this book is regret. Chona when she was dying felt that she should have spent more time with Moshe than her books. Fatty saw how loyal Bernice was with Chona. How does this idea of regret shape the book?
Another thread is the place of disability in the story. Both Chona and Dodo are disabled, along with many of the performers at Moshe’s theater. How does disability shape this story?
McBride uses the N word. Why? When is an author allowed to use the N word?
How do you want your life to change because you read this book?
Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
Is this just a good story or does McBride want us to understand something else?
Did the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?
Which character was the most convincing? Least?
Which character did you identify with?
Which one did you dislike?
Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
In what context was religion talked about in this book?
Was there anybody you would consider religious?
How did they show it?
Was the book overtly religious?
How did it affect the book's story?
Why do you think the author wrote this book?
What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
What “takeaways” did you have from this book?
Describe the culture talked about in the book.
How is the culture described in this book different from where we live?
What economic or political situations are described?
Does the author examine economics and politics, family traditions, the arts, religious beliefs, language or food?
How did this book affect your view of the world?
Of how God is viewed?
What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
What was memorable?
Reading Groups General Fiction Guide
Reader’s Guide from Penguin Books
New Words:
- Mezuzah: a piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah, which Jewish followers of Rabbinical Judaism affix to the doorposts of their homes.
- klezmer : refers to musical instruments in ancient times. It became colloquially attached to Jewish folk musicians sometime in the Middle Ages.
- Haskalah : a city in which the rising middle class Jews and intellectual elites not only lived among, but were exposed to previous age of enlightenment thinkers
- Hasidic : idea is to live a hallowed life, in which even the most mundane action is sanctified. Hasidim live in tightly-knit communities (known as "courts") that are spiritually centered around a dynastic leader known as a rebbe, who combines political and religious authority.
- Fusgeyer: a movement of Romanian Jews who emigrated in an organized manner from Romania from 1900 to 1920. Their name refers to the fact that they were often too poor to even purchase a train ticket to a port city.
- Goyim: a term used by Jewish people for a non-Jewish person.
- Challah: a special bread of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, usually braided and typically eaten on ceremonial occasions such as Shabbat and major Jewish holidays (other than Passover). Ritually acceptable challah is made of dough from which a small portion has been set aside as an offering. Challah may also refer to the dough offering. The word is biblical in origin, meaning "loaf". Similar braided breads such as kalach and vánočka are found across Central and Eastern Europe.
- jook joint: the African American vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African Americans
- Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law)
Good Quotes:
- First Line: There was an old Jew who live at the site of the old synagogue up on Chicken Hill in the town of Pottstown, PA and when Pennsylvania State Troopers found a skeleton at the bottom of an old well off Hayes Street , the old Jew was the first place they went to.
- Last Line: “Thank you, Monkey Pants.
- Part I: Gone
- 1. The Hurricane
- 2. A Bad Sign
- 3. Twelve
- 4. Dodo
- 5. The Stranger
- 6. Challah
- 7. A New Problem
- 8. Paper
- 9. The Robin and the Sparrow
- 10. The Skrup Shoe
- 11. Gone
- Part II: Gotten
- 12. Monkey Pants
- 13. Cowboy
- 14. Differing Weights and Measures
- 15. The Worm
- 16. The Visit
- 17. The Bullfrog
- 18. The Hot Dog
- Part III: The Last Love
- 19. The Lowgods
- 20. The Antes House
- 21. The Marble
- 22. Without a Song
- 23. Bernice’s Bible
- 24. Duck Boy
- 25. The Deal
- 26. The Job
- 27. The Finger
- 28. The Last Love
- 29. Waiting for the Future
- Epilogue
- The Call Out Acknowledgments
References:
- Publisher's Web Site for Book
- Author's Web Site
- Wikipedia-Book
- Wikipedia-Author
- Amazon-Book
- Amazon-Author
- Barnes and Noble
- GoodReads-Book
- GoodReads-Author
- New York Times Review
- The Guardian’s Review
- NPR Review
- Kirkus Review
- YouTube - Interview
- YouTube - Politics and Prose
- Pottstown Mercury article: Opinion: Unique memories of the real Chicken Hill
- See the Jewish Community Library for a list of related links
- Marmalade and Mustard Seed blog
- National Catholic Reporter review
- Time Magazine review
- Three Village Historical Society page on Chicken Hill
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