Blurb

Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction
 
Winner of the Gotham Book Prize

One of Barack Obama’s “Favorite Books of the Year”

Oprah’s Book Club Pick

New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

Named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly and TIME Magazine

A Washington Post Notable Novel

From the author of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, and the bestselling modern classic The Color of Water, comes one of the most celebrated novels of the year.

In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project’s drug dealer at point-blank range.

The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride’s funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird. In Deacon King Kong, McBride brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the African-American and Latinx residents who witnessed it, the white neighbors, the local cops assigned to investigate, the members of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat was deacon, the neighborhood’s Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself.

As the story deepens, it becomes clear that the lives of the characters—caught in the tumultuous swirl of 1960s New York—overlap in unexpected ways. When the truth does emerge, McBride shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in hope and compassion.

Bringing to these pages both his masterly storytelling skills and his abiding faith in humanity, James McBride has written a novel every bit as involving as The Good Lord Bird and as emotionally honest as The Color of Water. Told with insight and wit, Deacon King Kong demonstrates that love and faith live in all of us.

Review

I’m pretty sure this one made its way onto my list thank to BJ Barham. My list is long enough now I struggle to keep track, but…pretty sure. He’s getting the cred at least.

Deacon King Kong is one of my favorite books of the last few years. It reads like a Cormac McCarthy character book with Elmore Leonard writing the conversations. Somewhat unbelievable situations, but with completely believable characters. Fun dialogue and a just enough mystery to it to drive the story along. What was the motive on the shooting? What will the blow back be? What about the cheese?

This was my first McBride book. I don’t read reviews until I have written mine. Looking up the blurb above, it sounds like I have some more McBride books to add to my list.

Highly recommend. Now excuse me while I go eat some cheese and give this 5 stars out of 5.