Sue's Bookshelf

September 2024

By Sue Littauer

According to the “The New York Times,” when James McBride is asked what he does for a living, he says he’s a saxophone player. He’s also the author of eight books, the latest of which, “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store,” sold over a million copies since its release last summer. (In comparison, most authors are lucky to sell 10,000 books.) The book was selected as the 2023 Book of the Year by both Barnes & Noble and Amazon. With so much hype, it quickly became the first on my list to read.

The book centers around the Jewish and Black residents of Pottstown, Pennsylvania living in a segregated neighborhood known as Chicken Hill in the 1920s and 1930s. They face everyday indignities common to racial, religious, and ethnic minorities of the time, including no indoor plumbing, inadequate municipal services, and being subject to an annual KKK march through their streets. Those with physical and mental deficiencies are also subject to harassment and ridicule. Rather than concentrating on the poor quality of life for his characters, James McBride focuses on the power of cooperation and collaboration found among the residents of Chicken Hill. One of the most moving and emotional sections of the book describes the joint efforts of the local Black and Jewish residents to liberate a hearing-impaired Black teenager who is captured and placed in a state-run institute for the feeble-minded. The success of this endeavor exemplifies the power of their intertwined community.

I started the book and was immediately overwhelmed by the many characters introduced by the author in a setting to which I had no frame of reference. I decided to put it aside until the time was closer to when I needed to have it read for both of my book clubs. I looked up the comments made by online readers and the reactions seemed split – between those who gave up reading it and those who praised the book. When I had to read it, I was determined to plow through and I was glad I did. I absolutely loved the characters, Chona, Moshe, Nate, Addie, Dodo, Monkey Pants, abhorred Doc Roberts, and Son of Man. I can definitely see why the book has been awarded top prizes and now has even been awarded the 2024 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.

According to “Hadassah Magazine,” “In his 1995 memoir, ‘The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to his White Mother,’ McBride writes movingly of his own Black and Jewish heritage. In his latest work, he again pays tribute — to those like Chona who move heaven and earth to make things a little bit better for the next generation.”

For more insight into author James McBride, I highly recommend an article by Elizabeth A. Harris, published in “The New York Times” on March 23, 2024.

The next Center for Jewish Book Club meeting will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 10:30 a.m. in the Center for Jewish Education’s Levine-Sklut Judaic Library at Shalom Park. The book we will discuss is “Family Family” by Laurie Frankel, who will join us on Zoom. For more information, please contact sueb.littauer@jewishcharlotte.org.