Great characters who really tell the stories of many different kinds of communities and how their interiority and willingness to reach out to other groups to survive interact. Also incredible suspense, many parts that were highly comedic!

Went with the audio for this, Dominic Hoffman did a fine job.

I read this one for a book club. It was not my pick, and most definitely not something I would have picked up on my own. And while that is the reason why I’m in the book club, I’m just not really sure how to rate it because of that.

This read like there was no editorial say to tell the author that the story did not need 555 supporting characters. There’s actually so many characters, and so many seeming endless backstories, that I genuinely do not remember any character names other than DoDo.

The novel is about Chicken Hill and it’s residents. They are primarily Jewish and black, which is mostly what the story is about, however literally every single character gets a name and a backstory. For me it drowned out everything else, and I didn’t think there was any discernible through line for the entire novel. Not really sure about this one, but I don’t think I’d suggest it.

i'm not entirely sure where this book falls for me. at some points did it feel like a slow crawl to the finish line? yes. did i still tear up a bit at the epilogue? also yes.

i think the heart of this book is ironically something i've seen a lot of complaint about - there are so many stories involved. as soon as you think that you have a grasp on who said what and how they're connected to each other, someone else gets thrown into the mix. it can at a point feel like being handed a matted ball of yarn and told to make sense of it. but if you wait it out, take the time to work through the knots, you find a hearty thread that weaves itself into something quite lovely. a reinforcement that liberation and progression are never truly a singular story, can never fully touch reality in isolation.

there were a few points early on where i almost didn't take that time, mainly because of the way women are portrayed in the book. i seem to never put much thought into an author being a man until i have to read them describe a woman. the number of introductions of women that talk about their waist and tits is enough that you start to wonder if there really is a narrative purpose other than letting us know as readers that women can be both pious and hot. who knew!

this book takes place in a time where race and disability and gender are even less understood than they are currently, so there is choice language and tough scenes throughout - fair warning.

overall, i think this book is worth the read because of how it manages to tie things together. while there are some choices i still don't understand, i find my belief in community, my love for the neighbor emboldened.

I have two separate ratings for this book in my mind. In terms of craft, I would rate it 5 stars. In terms of how much I enjoyed it, I would give it 3 stars. 
A common complaint I see about this book is that there are too many characters that are introduced and never mentioned again, and it takes a while to get to the main plot. I don’t disagree, but I also think that’s part of what makes this book so special. The setting is a character itself, and the author expresses that through all these seemingly unrelated tangents. Personally I didn’t mind it, but it also didn’t keep me super engaged. Part of me wanted to really dive in and pick this book apart, but unfortunately I didn’t have the time or mental energy to spend on it. 
I guess my point is, I really admire McBride’s technical skill as a writer and his willingness to stray from the typical (western) narrative structure. But it wasn’t wholly engaging to me, and it contained some triggering content that I wasn’t fully prepared for (SA, CSA, and ableism/medical abuse, to name a few). Out of respect for the craft I will give this 4 stars even though I didn’t exactly “enjoy” it, because I don’t think it’s entirely meant to be “enjoyed.”