The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

I really wanted to like this book but unfortunately it felt like a chore to finish. The story itself is good and I love how the author was able to paint such a clear picture of the disparity in privilege between races and between physically impaired and not individuals during this time. I also love the way the author wrote about each person and their layers of challenge even for those who seemingly had all the privilege. It showed the complexity of human nature and experience, and gave insight and understanding to individuals that otherwise could have simply been labeled as “bad” people. This was really wonderfully done.

With that being said, the HUGE drawback in the experience of this book is the shear number of characters, subplots and jumping around that made it incredibly challenging to keep everything straight. I can see the importance of introducing so many different characters with different backgrounds as a window into perspective, it just unfortunately also comes with the drawback of a more challenging read. I was constantly looking up the characters online and trying to keep them straight (many online resources noted over 100 characters throughout the book). I even found myself reading chapter summaries online to make sure I didn't miss anything while trying to keep up with all of the intermingling subplots.

All in all the story and its beautifully written perspectives was great, I personally just didn't find it enjoyable to keep up with.