In “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride, It is no secret that Chicken Hill is a place of struggle, and in 1930, Jews and African Americans had to depend on each other to survive. The book follows two central characters: Moshe, an immigrant Jew who owned two theaters, and his wife who he loved more than life itself; Miss Chona. Miss Chona is the owner of the Heaven and Earth grocery store, which lost more than it gained as a result of her giving the people of Chicken Hill whatever they needed on a loan-to-buy basis. Miss Chona, a Jewish American, is the binding of the community, holding together the odd variety of people who reside there, and tough as nails. When she falls extremely ill, the town steps up to help her. Not long after, a deaf boy named Dodo appears on Moshe and Chona’s doorstep, needing protection from the state government which was looking to send him away to Waverly Hills Institution for the Disabled- the cruelest sanitarium in the country. When Dodo is found and sent away, Miss Chona falls into despair, as she loved Dodo like a son. The town vows to get him out of the terrible situation.
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is an exceptional example of building community across cultures. Here is this small neighborhood in Pottstown, Pennsylvania that is so diverse and different. Even so, they share economic hardships and social mistreatment that bind them together. The people in the neighborhood aren’t perfect: they all have very different pasts and prejudices, but there’s no other book that has such a powerful sense of social unity. McBride shows the reader the truth about America. He does not try to hide the ugly parts (like Waverly Hills and yearly KKK marches), instead, he uses these sore spots to show how they can build people up and band them together. There is nothing that unites people more than hardship, and Chicken Hill has had plenty of that. Seeing so many people working together to save a little boy fills the reader with joy. We see characters who previously hated each other fighting for one another- brotherhood forged right in front of us. There is such a sense of pride while watching these quirky characters learn to accept each other. Love, inclusivity and acceptance intermingled with greed, corruption and prejudice to create a story that is incredibly moving.
It is very difficult to orchestrate a book that induces such conflicting emotions, yet McBride has done exactly this. He has created a story so compelling, so worthy of appreciation- that it cannot be overlooked. The hardship that the characters experience in the novel is unbearable, and the pride they share in their successes is addicting. There is truly nothing like it.
