{"product_id":"deacon-king-kong-pb","title":"Deacon King Kong","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Heaven \u0026amp; Earth Grocery Store\u003c\/i\u003e, the National Book Award-winning \u003ci\u003eThe Good Lord Bird, \u003c\/i\u003eand the bestselling modern classic \u003ci\u003eThe Color of Water\u003c\/i\u003e, comes one of the most celebrated novels of the year.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Shouldn't we just get it over with and declare McBride this decade's Great American Novelist?...McBride has a way of inflating reality to comical sizes, the better for us to see every tiny mechanism that holds unjust systems in place.\" \u003c\/b\u003e--\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eIn 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of \u003ci\u003eDeacon King Kong\u003c\/i\u003e, James McBride's funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award-winning \u003ci\u003eThe Good Lord Bird\u003c\/i\u003e. In \u003ci\u003eDeacon King Kong\u003c\/i\u003e, 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJames McBride\u003c\/b\u003e is an accomplished musician and the author of the National Book Award \u003cb\u003e-\u003c\/b\u003ewinning novel \u003ci\u003eThe Good Lord Bird\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ethe bestselling American classic \u003ci\u003eThe Color of Water\u003c\/i\u003e, the novels \u003ci\u003eSong Yet Sung \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eMiracle at St. Anna\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ethe story collection \u003ci\u003eFive-Carat Soul\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eKill 'Em and Leave\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ea biography of James Brown. The recipient of a National Humanities Medal, McBride is also a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBringing 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 \u003ci\u003eThe Good Lord Bird\u003c\/i\u003e and as emotionally honest as \u003ci\u003eThe Color of Water\u003c\/i\u003e. Told with insight and wit, \u003ci\u003eDeacon King Kong\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates that love and faith live in all of us.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"James McBride","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46711353966877,"sku":"9780735216730","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0821\/9095\/8877\/files\/9780735216730.jpg?v=1705183300","url":"https:\/\/staging.anovelideaphilly.com\/products\/deacon-king-kong-pb","provider":"A Novel Idea on Passyunk","version":"1.0","type":"link"}