Book cover of Deacon King Kong

Book description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK
CHOSEN BY BARACK OBAMA AS A FAVOURITE READ
TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR, NEW YORK TIMES & WASHINGTON POST

'Brilliantly imagined, larger than life, a tragicomedic epic of intertwined lives.' JOYCE CAROL OATES

'Deeply felt, beautifully written and profoundly humane.'…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Deacon King Kong as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

James McBride has an enormous gift for evoking the goodness in characters whose lives are perceived to be beyond redemption. 

They inhabit the down and out realms of addiction, impoverishment, life on the streets, in housing projects rife with crime. And yet, he also reveals the faith and spirituality that binds them with love and humor, and provides them with the endurance for facing the ugliness and miracles in everyday life.

What I love most about Deacon King Kong is the surprising affection I feel for the characters that James McBride describes in hilariously creative ways, revealing the depths of…

An inventive police-procedural set into a close-knit inner-city community, the heart of this page-turner are the quirky endearing characters of all ages.

I hung on every moment as they grappled with survival as well as clinging to the ties that bind, and I was reminded of my own upbringing in NYC. Whatever race or ethnicity or sexual identity or sexual orientation, and whatever paths we walk, time passes as we face our mortality.

Some of the dialogue here will have you laughing aloud, and fascinated with people you might otherwise never meet. 

From Randy's list on aging friends and lovers.

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A coming-of-age love story between three best friends growing up in a small-town Wyoming neighborhood during the late 1960s, early 1970s.

If you are familiar with “The Wonder Years,” this is the wonder years out west. Smart-mouthed Maggie Moore is instantly smitten with the laid back, sometimes infuriating Bucky. Too…

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