See all 2 imagesFollow the Author
James McBride
Follow
Deacon King Kong: Barack Obama Favourite Read & Oprah's Book Club Pick Paperback – 30 March 2021
by James McBride (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 14,836 ratings
See all formats and editions
Kindle
$13.99Read with Our Free App
Audiobook1 Credit
Hardcover
$32.92
7 New from $31.65
Paperback
$17.70
A New York Times bestseller about community, race and religion from the National Book Award winner, James McBride
? 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.' JOYCE CAROL OATES
'Deeply felt, beautifully written and profoundly humane.' JUNOT DIAZ
'The sheer volume of invention in Deacon King Kong commands awe.' NEW YORKER
'Among the greatest American storytellers of our time.' BOOKPAGE
The year is 1969. In a housing project in south Brooklyn, a shambling old church deacon called Sportcoat shoots - for no apparent reason - the local drug-dealer who used to be part of the church's baseball team. The repercussions of that moment draw in the whole community, from Sportcoat's best friend - Hot Sausage - to the local Italian mobsters, the police (corrupt and otherwise), and the stalwart ladies of the Five Ends Baptist Church.
DEACON KING KONG is a book about a community under threat, about the ways people pull together in an age when the old rules are being rewritten. It is very funny in places, and heartbreaking in others. From a prize-winning storyteller, this New York Times bestseller shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, and that the communities we build are fragile but vital.
______________________
From the winner of a National Book Award and author of the bestselling memoir,The Color of Water, and The Good Lord Bird, a TV series starring Ethan Hawke
'A hilarious, pitch-perfect comedy set in the Brooklyn projects of the late 1960s. This alone may qualify it as one of the year's best novels.' The Washington Post
What Goodreads readers are saying-
***** 'Deacon King Kong is one of those novels whose brilliance sneaks up on you. I haven't been this pleasantly surprised by a book in a while.'
***** 'I do believe I just finished one of my all time favorite books. I loved every minute spent with Sportcoat and his community. A good old fashioned yarn shot through with truth, spirit, and humor. I LOVED it!'
***** 'This book was a balm for my soul, a portrait of a black church community circa 1969 with sweet characters (well, most of them), interconnections that stretch back decades, and a plot with more than one mystery at its heart.'
***** '"Deacon" has the texture of folk lore and fable mixed with the unexpected rhythms of jazz and the noisy streets of late 1960s Brooklyn.'
***** 'The ending was one of those where you clutch your heart and want to hug the book (or your Kindle).'
Read less
Print length
384 pages
From the Publisher
Product description
Review
The sheer volume of invention in Deacon King Kong commands awe...And the sentences! The prose radiates a kind of chain-reaction energy. ― NEW YORKER
Deacon King Kong is full of heart, humor, and compassion...I say we give him another National Book Award for this one. It's that good. ― NPR
Deacon King Kong reaffirms James McBride's position among the greatest American storytellers of our time. ― BOOKPAGE
Hilarious...A rich and vivid multicultural history. ― TIME
Perhaps you wouldn't expect your next great read to be a sort of comic opera set in a Brooklyn housing project circa 1969 starring a drink-addled church deacon named Sportcoat, his best friend Hot Sausage and a melancholic amateur gardener with mafia ties known as the Elephant. Best put on your seat belt, because McBride (The Good Lord Bird, Five-Carat Soul) will take you on a fast, funny, farcical ride. ― WASHINGTON POST
McBride is operating in the realm of social allegory, a lineage that extends back through generations of writers: Ralph Ellison, Terry Southern, Darius James. Like them, he telegraphs his intentions through the use ― or better yet, the reinvention ― of history, which as Deacon King Kong progresses becomes a kind of floating opera, touching but not always overlapping with events as they occurred. ― LA TIMES
Deacon King Kong cements McBride as a master storyteller. ― SHELF AWARENESS
Dazzling, spiritually rich. ― OPRAH magazine
Peopled with wondrously quirky and charismatic individuals...both hilarious and affecting, the patter a treat, and in wise, drunk, old Sportcoat James McBride has given us a character for the ages. ― BIG ISSUE
Book Description
A New York Times bestseller about community, race and religion from the National Book Award winner, James McBride
4.5 out of 5 stars 14,836 ratings
Top reviews
Top reviews from Australia
Robyn G. Stephens
4.0 out of 5 stars It’s about being human.Reviewed in Australia ๐ฆ๐บ on 9 November 2020
Verified Purchase
Sharp, funny, a little hopeful and a little bleak. I enjoyed this little world and it’s wonderfully flawed people.
HelpfulReport abuse
Phil Gough
5.0 out of 5 stars WowReviewed in Australia ๐ฆ๐บ on 22 June 2021
Verified Purchase
What a great read It is one of those unusual can’t put it down books I’ll have to read more of James McBride
HelpfulReport abuse
Angela Bayley
4.0 out of 5 stars CleverReviewed in Australia ๐ฆ๐บ on 23 December 2020
Verified Purchase
Inventive and smart
HelpfulReport abuse
John Dixon
5.0 out of 5 stars OutstandingReviewed in Australia ๐ฆ๐บ on 28 February 2021
Verified Purchase
A beautiful nuanced story about love. Quite compelling. The prose is sheer delight. You will find yourself re-reading passages just to savour them for a second time.
HelpfulReport abuse
Gary Cassidy
5.0 out of 5 stars UpliftingReviewed in Australia ๐ฆ๐บ on 26 September 2020
Verified Purchase
A few books help you reflect on what is important in your life. This is one of those. Great book. Thank you James McBride.
HelpfulReport abuse
Bruce
2.0 out of 5 stars Deacon King Kong FailReviewed in Australia ๐ฆ๐บ on 23 August 2020
Verified Purchase
We are reading this book for our book club everyone agreed since it was recommended buy the Times and Oprah it was worth a read. I have had this book for over a month now and am struggling to get through it. The story started off well with the Deacon involved in a shooting but after half a dozen pages for me that was it. Nicknames for all the characters is confusing and the story line just jumps all over the place. I just wish they would get on with it.
I have struggled to get to nearly halfway through it but doubt I will finish it.
HelpfulReport abuse
Mr Paul W Rettke
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!Reviewed in Australia ๐ฆ๐บ on 10 January 2021
Verified Purchase
I've always enjoyed reading James McBride's books, but this one is outstanding. A truly great read.
One person found this helpful
HelpfulReport abuse
Megan S
3.0 out of 5 stars Slow startReviewed in Australia ๐ฆ๐บ on 14 September 2020
Verified Purchase
Struggling to get into it, I’m hoping it kicks up?!
HelpfulReport abuse
See all reviews
Top reviews from other countries
gerardpeter
5.0 out of 5 stars A Brooklyn NovelReviewed in the United Kingdom ๐ฌ๐ง on 6 December 2021
Verified Purchase
This novel was recommended by the New York Times. Once I got to know the characters, I became charmed by their stories. I was sad to reach the end but left with a warm fuzzy feeling.
It is set in Brooklyn in the housing projects where the author was born and brought up. The year is 1969, but Apollo 11 is a very long way off. It is cleverly referenced by the moonflowers growing in the empty lots of Red Hook. And cheese!
The story begins with a shooting, introducing us to the victim, Deems, and the shooter, an eccentric old man, nicknamed Deacon King Kong after his preferred illicit brew. This is only one of several plot lines played out by a wonderful cast of characters, managed beautifully by the author. James MacBride gives the best lines to the old people.
The Cause Houses are grim as heroin moves into an abandoned community. The Italians who came to work the docks are [almost] all gone, and the wharfs are used by smugglers. Heroin is coming in on the tide. Most of the characters bemoan the decline, but the little gospel church, Five Ends Baptist, stands strong and traditional values are held firm by the older female congregants. They have faith and the story offers hope.
There are similarities with Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda, also set in Red Hook, with a diverse cast and a great read.
Read less
One person found this helpfulReport abuse
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A Marvellous BookReviewed in the United Kingdom ๐ฌ๐ง on 17 November 2020
Verified Purchase
Poignant. Funny. Brilliant. My personal ‘Best Read’ for 2020. I have no idea of what life in a 1960’s housing project in Brooklyn was like but, after reading Deacon King Kong, I am persuaded that it was probably just as James McBride portrays it, so compelling are his characters, tales, events and locations. The book covers some important issues, including class, race, migration and organised crime, but it is never preachy, it always leaves the reader to make up their own mind and brings these topics to life through an amazing cast of utterly believable characters; misfits, salts of the earth, young and old, straight-men and villains, all choosing different paths to make their way through. I loved this book - it made me laugh, it made me cry and it makes me want to time-travel back to Brooklyn in the ‘60s so I can join in. A marvellous book - thank you Mr McBride.
4 people found this helpfulReport abuse
carole b
5.0 out of 5 stars The life and death of Deacon King KongReviewed in the United Kingdom ๐ฌ๐ง on 6 August 2020
Verified Purchase
I really recommend this book by James Mc Bride,its set in 1969 in an housing project in South Brooklyn,one day very unexpectedly Deacon,also known as old Sportcoat,a seventy one year old local man shoot a nineteen year old drug dealer,Deems Clemens. Every character in the book is kind of related by the fact they all lived locally ,its a rich tapestry of lives,from all ages,its harrowing at times and very moving also.
I really like the fact that Deacon's late wife ,Hettie is present during the all book.
The past like the start of the church and Elefante's dad story are as important as the present story line.
5 people found this helpfulReport abuse
AmyCW
4.0 out of 5 stars A cheerful novel full of unforgettable charactersReviewed in the United Kingdom ๐ฌ๐ง on 20 November 2022
Verified Purchase
This is a very visual story set in New York during the late 1960s. It's about a community made up of beautifully drawn and varied characters, who sometimes feel like caricatures of themselves. Given the author grew up in the same city around the same time, I wondered how much might be based on people he knew. The cultural melting pot of New York is evident with Blacks, Italians, Jews, Irish and people from many other countries and cultures living alongside each other. New York's wealthy skyline is forever present in the background contrasting with the poverty of the 'cause' housing projects where the action happens. Violence is also ever present as a back drop, with organised crime and the more recent rise of drug importation and dealing. However, the violence is sketched out and is never gratuitous, which felt refreshing. Big themes including race, crime, alcoholism, love and religious faith are touched on lightly, present in the story without becoming the focus of the story themselves. It's a very funny novel with lots of slapstick humour and some snort out loud dialogue. The relationships between friends and partners are beautifully observed, tender without being clichรฉd. Satisfyingly, the various plot lines are tied up neatly and - spoiler alert! - the "goodies" generally end up ok while the "baddies" get their comeuppance.
Report abuse
Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Sensational!Reviewed in the United Kingdom ๐ฌ๐ง on 6 July 2021
Verified Purchase
This is Damon Runyon among the black community of Brooklyn in the sixties. The characters are wonderfully drawn, the dialog pithy and perfect, and the mystery gripping. The charming love stories and the happy-ever-after conclusions left a huge smile on my face. A GEM of a book!
2 people found this helpfulReport abuse
See all reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment