Deacon King Kong (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel

James McBride

Mar 2020 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction
 
Winner of the Gotham Book Prize

One of Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of the Year"

Oprah's Book Club Pick

Named 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 Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, 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.

Ratings and reviews

DEACON KING KONG presents a fascinating and WILDLY different picture of people living in and around a city's housing project than the one we see portrayed in the media. Award-winning author James McBride uses one isolated event to reveal the web of individuals, interconnectedness and caring that lies beneath. It's September 1969 in Brooklyn, NY. A drunk man shoots a neighborhood drug dealer. And McBride leaps into exploring all the different ways locals are affected. All the while brilliantly weaving in some truly big themes: the complexities of drug culture, mafia exploitation, gender roles, importance of church community, how relationships change over time, and how we all come to understand ourselves better as we age. So, this is NOT a story about some hostile inner city environment: instead, it's a story of neighborhood where African-Americans, Latinx, and Caucasians live and/or work together. In fact, we see that more limited financial resources may even encourage people to pay closer attention to one another's lives, care more deeply about each other, and rely more on a commitment to faith. Like everyone else, they have big hopes and dreams for the future. And like everyone else, some are realized, some aren't. Along the way, you will meet some interesting and distinctive characters, including: Deacon Cuffy Jasper "Sportcoat" Lambkin - a beloved sports coach and lifelong alcoholic Deems Clemens - a once aspiring baseball player Thomas Elefante - a man running a variety businesses, both legit and non-legit Hettie - the shooter's dead wife Sgt. Potts - a demoted police officer, desperate to reach retirement. Bunch Moon - a ruthless drug lord All the relationships McBride explores feel honest. They are both deep and nuanced. And the story feels like reading a mystery where you don't fully understand everything that happened until the very end. No wonder this is a New York Times bestseller and Oprah Book Club pick. Highly recommended.

I wasn't sure about it for the first 100 pages, but then I really got hooked. Good story. Satisfying ending.

I know every character. This is an outstanding book that moves your soul.

About the author

James McBride is an accomplished musician and the author of the National Book Award–winning novel The Good Lord Bird, the bestselling American classic The Color of Water, the novels Song Yet Sung and Miracle at St. Anna, the story collection Five-Carat Soul, and Kill ’Em and Leave, a biography of James Brown. The recipient of a National Humanities Medal, McBride is also a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.