Deacon King Kong
James McBride's novel spins out from a drunken church deacon shooting a drug dealer in a 1969 Brooklyn housing project.
James McBride’s novel opens in 1969 as Sportcoat, an aging, hard-drinking church deacon in a Brooklyn housing project, inexplicably shoots a young drug dealer in front of everyone. From that single act McBride spins a warm, teeming comedy of the project’s residents, cops, mobsters, and churchgoers, uncovering old secrets and unexpected grace. It is a big-hearted, funny portrait of a community holding together.
Recommended by 2 People
Lou Berney
This is a crime novel and a family novel and a novel about nothing less than everything American . The richness of the world McBride creates is magical.
Oprah Winfrey
Deacon King Kong reminds us that when we come together as a community in compassion and empathy, our love triumphs.
Book Club · June 2020
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