Get the most thought-provoking The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store book club questions here. This award-winning, bestselling, fan-favorite character-driven novel is a popular choice that’s ripe for discussion.
You’ll foster meaningful discussion and get free printable book club questions to use as a book club resource at your in-person book club. Let’s get literary!
Quick Summary of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store With Themes
- Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction
- Setting: 1930s Pottstown (Chicken Hill), Pennsylvania, and Pennhurst State School and Hospital
- Publication Date: August 8, 2023
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James Mc Bride (author of Deacon King Kong) is one of the top books of the 21st century. It was an instant New York Times bestseller, a New York Times notable book, Barnes & Noble’s Book of the Year, and a best book of the year by NPR/Fresh Air, Washington Post, The New Yorker, and Time Magazine. It was also named one of Barack Obama’s favorite book and was one of my favorite novels set in Philadelphia.
In the suburban Philadelphia neighborhood of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, called Chicken Hill, in 1926, immigrant Jews and Blacks lived peacefully.
Then, a young, deaf, and orphaned boy named Dodo is institutionalized at a local asylum. His Jewish Chicken Hill neighbors, including Moshe and Chona Ludlow, and extended African American family members plan to rescue him.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store ends with the killing of Doc Roberts in a case of mistaken identity. After being struck in the face, he falls into an open well.
Nate helps Dodo escape from Pennhurst and they move to South Carolina. Addie later joins them. Dodo changes his name to Nate Love II and lives a long and happy life. But he never forgets Monkey Pants.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store‘s themes are ripe for discussion in this love-affirming feel good novel, from race to religion, disability, diversity, intersectionality, resilience, injustice, and the meaning of family and community.
This novel both breaks your heart and makes it swell. It’s not just a five-star read — it’s easily one of the best books I’ve read (ever), and it makes for an excellent book club selection.
READING TIPS
- This book works best in print or digital format because it contains 100+ characters to follow.
- Track the 100+ characters in The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store easily with my printable study guide. It’s not as hard as it sounds!
- This is a heavy book. A good book club idea would be to focus on disability rights, including volunteer work. Exploring the history of Pennhurst is another good learning opportunity for groups.
Watch JamesMcBride discuss this book with CBS Mornings on Youtube:
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store Book Club Questions
Warning: There are some plot spoilers in these The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store discussion questions.
Why did the author choose the title The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store?
Why did the author call the store The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store?
Why did the author call the theater the All-American Dance Hall and Theater?
What role does the All-American Dance Hall and Theater play in the plot and the novel’s themes?
Why do you think the author named the parts and chapters?
Did any of the parts or chapter names stand out to you?
As the novel progressed, who did you think was the “skeleton” referred to in the first sentence?
Discuss the significance of the hurricane described in the first chapter.
Why is Chona sometimes called Chona and other times called Miss Chona?
Chona is described as a quote “artery to freedom.” (page 31 of the hardcover edition) Why was Chona so beloved by the community?
Describe Chicken Hill.
How was Chicken Hill unique?
How did Chicken Hill change?
Why did white people leave Chicken Hill?
Compare and contrast local businesses to big businesses in the novel.
Compare Chicken Hill to the big city nearby, Philadelphia, as portrayed in the novel.
Compare and contrast Chicken Hill to Hemlock Row.
Compare and contrast the North (of the United States) to the South, as portrayed in the novel.
How did you navigate reading about such a large number of characters?
Did you like the detailed character portraits woven throughout the novel?
What was the significance of the detailed character portraits woven throughout the novel?
The characters’ birth countries and/or ancestral homelands are often named. Why?
Discuss the significance of the characters’ nicknames.
Several famous names are mentioned in the novel. Why?
As the novel progresses, the reader learns of new connections the characters have to each other and the plot. What is the significance?
Why did Chona have a soft spot for Dodo?
Discuss Chona’s and Bernice’s friendship.
Did you know of Pennhurst or any place like it?
Discuss how and why Dodo was “institutionalized” at Pennhurst.
Do you think there was a reason why Dodo was placed in ward C-1 (“the worst” per page 302 of the hardcover edition)?
Would Dodo likely have had similar or different experiences today due to his accident and orphan status?
Both Chona and Doc Roberts had polio. What is the significance of this?
Why did Doc Roberts attempt rape?
Discuss Moshe’s and Malachi’s friendship.
Compare and contrast Moshe and his brother, Isaac.
Discuss gossip and communication in Chicken Hill.
Discuss communication between Dodo and Monkey Pants at Pennhurst.
Discuss Dodo’s and Monkey Pants’s friendship.
What is the significance of the name “Son of Man”?
Is there a reason both Chona and Monkey Pants had seizures?
Is there significance in the author’s choices regarding which characters died and how they died?
How do the members of the Chicken Hill community treat their differences?
Discuss race as a theme in the novel.
Discuss religion as a theme in the novel.
Discuss disability as a theme in the novel.
What does water symbolize?
Why did the author utilize American holidays and parades in the plot?
Did this book teach you anything new about different people, times, and places?
How did the ending make you feel?
Discuss this passage: “The collective history of this sad troupe moving down the hospital corridor would become tiny blots in an American future that would one day scramble their proud histories like eggs, scattering them among the population while feeding mental junk to the populace in devices that would become as common and small as the hot dog that the dying woman thought she smelled; for in death, Chona had smelled not a hot dog but the future, a future in which devices that fit in one’s pocket and went zip, zap, and zilch delivered a danger far more seductive and powerful than any hot dog, 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.” (page 225 of the hardcover edition)
Printable PDF Reading Guide of the Discussion Questions
FREE BONUS
Subscribe to The Literary Lifestyle’s email newsletter. You’ll get an exclusive, printable PDF book club guide of book club discussion questions for any book.
Book Club Ideas For Food And Beyond
- Food: Eat challah, which Malachi, the baker, made in the novel, or Jewish comfort food like matzo ball soup. Deli style sandwiches would also be a nod to the grocery store.
- Do: Visit a penitentiary, local theater, or a local grocery store. Volunteer at a food pantry.
Book Club Books to Read Next
If you loved these The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store book club questions, discuss these books at your next meeting:
- Demon Copperhead Book Club Questions
- James Book Club Questions
- A Man Called Ove Book Club Questions
- A Gentleman in Moscow Book Club Questions
remember, it’s a good day to read a book. – jules
What happened after Nate stabbed son of man. Did son of man die?
I loved the audiobook of Heaven & Earth and plan to read the book one day. Question: Who is the person in the intro to the story?
Do you mean Malachi? Or the dead body? (I don’t want to give that away publicly since it’s a spoiler.) I just loaned my book out so I’m not sure what you’re referring to at the moment.