Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction Winner of the Gotham Book PrizeOne of Barack Obama’s “Favorite Books of the Year”Oprah’s Book Club PickNamed 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 National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird and the bestselling modern classic … 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.
more
Deacon King Kong is the first book I have ever read written by author James McBride, but just a page in I knew I was going to love it, and I did. The story starts in September 1969, when Sportcoat, an old drunken church deacon who lost his wife a few years ago but still sees and talks to her, living in one of the New York housing projects, decides one day for some unknown reason to shoot the project’s young drug dealer. At point-blank range and in front of plenty of witnesses.
The story just takes off from there. It is difficult to pull together a seemingly mostly unrelated cast of characters, events, background, history into a set of coherent, cohesive stories and then weave those threads into a cohesive novel, but James McBride has done it with what looks like ease. All the side trips to discuss supporting characters and their pasts are just long enough, just tantalizing enough to keep your interest, add to the big picture, and not get off track and become boring or distracting.
Deacon King Kong looks at Sportcoat, the witnesses to the shooting and those affected by it, as well as the time, the place, the culture, the society, the turmoil. It’s a satisfyingly close-up look at life in the projects, and life in general, about people who have made choices in life – or who have had life make choices for them. McBride is a masterful storyteller, creating vivid characters and scenarios and a tale that is both funny and moving.
Thanks to Penguin Random House for providing an advance copy of Deacon King Kong for my reading pleasure and honest review. All opinions are my own. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and James McBride has become one of my must-read authors.
While this book touches upon deeply serious topics, the story immerses us within joy, humor, and hope as McBride shows us a community that takes care of one another because that is the way to survival and ultimately love and joy.
I thought it was amazing. I don’t thinwk i will ever forget Deacon King Kong and his friends.
Some of the most fun and lyrical prose I’ve ever read! McBride’s brilliant Deacon King Kong is an alcoholic 73 year old deacon from the 1960s housing projects of NY. He knows he grew up poor as dirt and will die poor as dirt. Kind-hearted but unstable, the deacon has had enough with the crack that is run through his neighborhood by the teens and the Italian mob, especially a 19 year old baseball prodigy who has turned to drugs. On the opening page of the book, he shoots the boy in the ear. The rest of the novel, we learn why and how. The people of the Cause Houses are all beaten, lonely, and poor. Because of that, they chose to be joyful and laugh. McBride brilliantly makes the reader want to laugh and cry at the same time from some of the ridiculous situations the characters face. Always approaching with empathy, McBride gives us full and complicated characters with unique motivations, each of whom we feel for.
Perhaps the best thing about the novel is the dialogue. Each character expresses themselves with wit, charm, idiosyncrasies, and idioms. It is a joy to read and experience. McBride is a master wordsmith. Absolutely loved this unique work!
DEACON KING KONG by James McBride has different stories that at first don’t appear connected but are. There are also three lovely romances.
The story revolves around drug dealers, the Italian mob, the police, and the Black and Latino communities trapped between them. In September of 1969, Sportcoat, a cantankerous old church deacon, shoots the project’s drug dealer at point-blank range.
As the story unravels, there is a biracial love story between a white policeman and the Black wife of the minister. Another love story between the Italian mobster and an Irish bagel maker, and the last is between Sportcoat and his dead wife, Hettie.
The stories seamlessly weave together, creating a real page turner. My only problem with the book was there were so many characters I had a difficult time keeping track of them. Even so, I couldn’t put the book down, and each love story had a satisfying happily ever after.
The central character here is Sportcoat, an old alcoholic who lives in the Cause Houses, a project in New York. The narrative, however winds around him, a drug dealing former baseball prodigy, a smuggler called The Elephant, and a host of other characters in around the neighborhood and its church, The Five Ends. No spoiler, but Sportcoat shoots the drug dealer; chaos ensues. Like, literally, the story goes all over the place, but not entirely in a bad way.
I struggled to read this one, as in, I put it down for months and had to force myself to pick it back up. After some soul searching, I’ve come up with a few reasons. One, central to the course of events is all these ‘church people’ who do drugs, gossip, drink to excess, and lots of infidelity; not a knock on the writing, just a pet peeve of mine. Two, it’s a tragedy-fest for the most part; for example the titular character is an aged alcoholic, probably demented, grieving the death of his wife, and doing stuff he doesn’t recall doing the next minute. Three, I zone out and put it down in the middle bit, where all the various narratives were meandering a bit, as they needed to for the full effect; I have ADD.
So, the characters are lively and colorful and engaging. The setting is immersive, illustrative of a slice of Americana, and well rendered. I spent a lot of the book knowing where the mystery was leading, so not a surprise, but I’m not sure it was meant to be, as the whole thing was more of a character study of life in the projects than a thriller. You’ll also find this thread of frustrated, awkward love throughout. Though not as overtly explored for most of the book, there is the idea of redemption, especially redemption in Christ, woven into things. I was not a fan of the ending, but I’ll leave that to you; I just felt that some narrative arcs dwindled to nothing and others got tied up in too neat of a bow for the overall tone of the book.
This book had a wonderful story. It became tedious with too much description and dialog that I skipped over. More time on fewer characters and plot would help the reader have some type of consistent flow. At the beginning of each chapter, I had to think back to where this character and part of the story ended. Almost four hundred pages was not needed to tell this story.
Struggle and fulfillment in the heart of New York City
This is an action-packed book, filled with plot twists and fascinating characters. The plot has a Dickensian feel to it, and many of the characters seem a bit absurd at first, particularly the main character. However, as the story progresses, their painful life stories come into focus, and we cannot help but admire them. Above all, the book describes the failed promises of life in New York for its many transplants, such as African Americans who fled the South and other places, as well as the Italian community. This is a good book to read and re-read, as the author packs many important details and insights into every page.
I’d read and enjoyed “The Good Lord Bird” a few years ago, but recently a friend recommended McBride’s latest and wow – “GLB” was great, but this is a step up! Unexpectedly romantic, particularly the chapters where the improbably lovers meet up and recognize that they are perfect for each other that had me in tears. (“Good Lord Bird” is pretty great too – as is the current TV adaptation!)
Superlative story and endearing characters
James McBride is again up to his usual off-center hijinks served with language that’s music unto itself. Unforgettable!