by James McBride
4.8 · 4 reviewsIn 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well.
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighbourhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. As these characters' stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town's white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community-heaven and earth-that sustain us.
4 reviews
You think you're reading a warm community portrait and then the last section lands. I put it down and sat quietly for a while.
Takes a hundred pages to get everyone straight in your head. After that it's wonderful. The theatre subplot pays off beautifully.
It's a novel about how communities protect their most vulnerable, and the humour is what makes the anger bearable. Moshe and Chona are unforgettable.
Chicken Hill in the 1920s and 30s, Jewish and Black neighbours holding each other up, and a skeleton at the bottom of a well tying it all together. The whole community is alive on the page. Extraordinary book.