James McBride's is a Renaissance man. His novel, The GOOD LORD BIRD won the 2013 National Book Award for fiction. His best selling memoir The COLOR of WATER describing his upbringing as a son of an African American and white Jewish mother received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award as did his novel, Deacon King Kong. He's a talented saxophonist and composer. In 2016, Pres. Obama awarded McBride the National Humanities Medal. McBride's creative talents and spellbinding story telling are superlative. His flair for interweaving comical and colorful characters within convoluted plots is frankly, beyond compare. Keeping the storylines for the many, multifaceted characters who appear within ("Heaven and Earth") pose a challenging venture. The diligent reader is rewarded along a twisting journey of the melting pot brewing ini America while the winds of WWII are stirring. Moshe is a Jew who fled Europe for America as a teen with his cousin Issac for its promises of freedom and opportunities. He settles in a small town outside Pittsburg, home to impoverished Jewish immigrants alongside a poverty stricken community of blacks residents who've recently migrated from the deep south. Parallels are cleverly drawn of shared dreams, struggles, assimilation and contentions of racism and anti-semitism wrought from the more settled, affluent white society. There's mistrust and ill-will between the different races and religions. Within these tribal groups there are construct hierarchies. And within all societal groups, there are individuals both good and evil. It's hard pressed to find such a spellbinding cornucopia of individuals all scraping to survive while relishing what they have. At the center of this chaotic world McBride so cunningly crafts is a love story between benevolent Moshe and his kindhearted wife Chona. Chona refuses to sell their floundering grocery store or move as most of the Jews already have to a more upscale location. The neighborhood has evolved into a predominantly black community. Moshe's reliable right hand man is Nate and Nate's wife Addie, works for Chona in their store. A bond of respect and trust is forged between the couples. Moshe and Addie agree to shelter Nate and Addies' deaf nephew to save him from being taken away and institutionalized. A terrifying ordeal involving Dodo's capture spins into a heartbreaking sage and harrowing rescue tale. The parade of unconventional individuals makes this novel unique and unforgettable. At its core, McBride finds inspiration in acceptance. Yet, there remains a cynical but understandable syntax. As McBride states towards the end "in all that American mythology of hope, freedom, equality, and justice. The problem was always, and would always be, the niggers and the poor-and the foolish white people who felt sorry for them."
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