I think with the right reader this one will be much loved, with its dynamic characters and story. I don’t think that reader was me, but it is highly praised, and it was perhaps just me not being in the mood.

An interesting look at a very specific period of history but overall, a deeply unforgettable tale. I know a lot of people have loved this one so maybe it is just not for me, but on the whole, I was really disappointed.

Deacon King Kong is a wonderful book, revolving around the alcoholic Deacon Cuffy Lambkin, aka Sportcoat, and how in an alcohol fuelled haze, he shoots the ear of the local drug dealer. His community pulls together and tries to protect him from the inevitable retribution. And so we are introduced to and learn about the different people who, in some way, touch Sportcoats life: from his blind son and dead wife (who, thanks to the alcohol he drinks, he speaks to regularly), to the women who run the church, to the police officers connected to the case, the drug ring, the local Italian crime boss and his elderly mother, and Sportcoats best friend, Hot Sausage.

They’re all such well-rounded, well-written, real characters, and it all played out in my head like a film (has this been optioned yet?!). I love it when a book does that.
They all seemed to be genuinely nice characters who are getting by as best they can in a culture where drugs are King and poor boys and men of colour are rarely given a chance in life.

Honestly, you should read it. Highly recommended.

Set in the late 60s in a New York housing project, the story begins when, seamingly for no reason aging soak and deacon at the nearby Five Ends Church, Sportscoat, shoots the local drug dealer.

As the aftermath of the shooting unfolds, so you meet the rich community that live and work within the projects; churchgoers, janitors, gangsters, police. The story paints a rich tapestry of connections, friendships and love brought about by occupying the same small area.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for an ARC of this book!

I've been a huge fan of James McBride ever since I read 'The Colour of Water', so I was extremely excited to receive this ARC. At the same time, I was a little wary, as my expectations were so high and I was afraid this book would fall short of my expectations.

I absolutely loved it! It did take me a while to finish, but I was easily captivated by the huge cast of characters he introduces; usually, I get distracted by too many characters, but each one was carefully crafted and so memorable that it was pretty easy to remember all their quirks and personalities. I loved the humorous element, but most of all I absolutely relished in McBride's beautiful compelling style. Would definitely recommend this!

A humorous novel set in 1960s New York in the Cause Houses housing project of Brooklyn.

The author follows the journey of 71-year-old Sportcoat, a church deacon and former coach of the Cause's youth baseball team. The opening scene sees Sportcoat shooting the project’s drug dealer, 19-year-old Deems Clemens. After a powerful start, it took a few chapters for me to fall into a rhythm. As the story deepens I was gripped by the array of diverse and entertaining characters whose life journeys intertwine. A neighbourhood of Italian mobsters, African-American’s and Latinx residents, who’s history together in Brooklyn spans decades. There were some fantastic character names - Hot Sausage, Soup, Dominic Lefleur the Haitian Sensation and Sister Bum-Bum (this one made me giggle), just to name a few! There was a great deal of sadness from life struggles in the cause houses but the author did an amazing job with the addition of fun and humour. The story was insightful with a tremendous amount of friendship, love and community spirit.

I thoroughly enjoyed Deacon King Kong and James McBride is an incredible storyteller. I will leave you with an excerpt showcasing the author's humorous and talented writing style: 


“’I’m seventy-one, Sister Paul. I’m a spring chicken compared to you. I don’t see no men doing backflips at the door over you. At least I ain’t got enough wrinkles in my face to hold ten days of rain”. She glared at him intently, her dark eyes like coals, and for a moment Sportcoat had the dreadful thought that the old nag might turn into a witch and throw a mojo at him, a horrible spell. Instead, she threw her head back and laughed, displaying a mouth full of gums and one sole yellow tooth, which stood out like a clump of butter on a plate. Her howls and cackles sounded like a bleating of a goat.’’

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for my gifted copy of the eBook in return for my honest review.

I felt like the pacing of this was really off for me. It felt slow and I didn’t really like the cast of characters. I just really missed the point somewhere down the line and the ending felt like it wasn’t right for what the book was Trying to say. I found myself skipping many parts along the way.

Slow start for me. For the first fifty pages I was absolutely at a loss to what the purpose of the book was as so much was going on. Extremely glad I stuck with it though because from then on it was incredible. Extremely humorous but also thought-provoking and at times heart-breaking. McBride does am excellent job of tying all the stories together, it has almost a 'hundred year old man who climbed out his window' feel.

Fantastic characterisation and excellent plot ensured that I was engrossed and captivated.

Only lost a star due to slow burn at the beginning

In 2015 President Obama awarded James McBride the National Humanities medal for ‘humanising the complexities of discussing race in America’ so this seems a very timely read for 2020.
In Deacon King Kong we meet the various residents of the Cause Housing Project in Brooklyn in 1969. This is a character led story, told from the perspective of different generations of duel-identity immigrants; American yet also black, Italian and Irish. Heritage bonds but also confines the communities both socially and by geography. The characters are richly drawn but there is also a compelling plot, with everything fitting together and McBride’s grand plan revealed as the story unfolds. At times laugh out loud slapstick, at others touching and insightful, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it. It would make an excellent film!

I found this to be a very well crafted story. The characters area all different and identifiable from the way that McBride writes their internal and external narrative. The story moves quickly yet clearly and it was very compelling.

What a wonderful story! James McBride is an incredible storyteller. This book is set in 1960's New York and it is full of engaging characters. The story is filled with humour & sadness. It did take me a while to engage in the story as it was a little slow in the beginning but it picked up pace around halfway through and kept me hooked until the very end. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Random House UK, Netgalley and the author for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A sensationally brilliant character and community driven historical fiction by James McBride, set in 1969 in the Causeway Housing Projects in South Brooklyn, New York. 71 year old old timer, Five Ends Baptist Church Deacon Cuffy Lambkin, aka Sportcoat, is drunk on his buddy Rufus Harley's special blend of hooch named King Kong. Sportcoat shoots the ear of 19 year old drug dealer, Deems Clemens, with an ancient gun, although he has no memory of doing this afterwards. The fallout from this act that includes a drug turf war, drives the heart of this vibrant, comic and colourful novel. Sportcoat has a 26 year old blind son, Pudgy Fingers, and lost his beloved wife, Hettie, when she walked into the river 2 years ago, since then he continues to see and converse with her, desperate for her to tell him where she kept the Church Christmas Collection, money that the poverty stricken people need back.

The community see Sportcoat as a dead man walking, although none of the 16 witnesses, including an undercover police officer, say a word to the police. Sportcoat is a well known and loved figure in the Projects, he is a gifted gardener, and continues to work, a handyman who can fix anything, afflicted with a lifetime of ill health, yet miraculously still alive. He ignores warnings and advice to leave and hide from everyone, including his best friend, Hot Sausage, who distributes the mystery cheese amongst those in need on a monthly basis. The community throw their weight behind trying to ensure Sportcoat's safety, one of their own, including the ladies that provide the backbone of the church, such as Sister Gee who makes a profound and surprising connection with Irish NYPD Sergeant Potts, married, soon to retire. The lonely Tom Elefante, a northern Italian smuggler with responsibilities for his criminal family business, lives with his elderly mother, wanting to get out of his life of crime and wishing for love, meets The Governor and falls for his daughter, Melissa, seeking a box hidden by his father of few words, Guido.

McBride's prose is lyrical, breathing life into his characters, capturing the beating pulse of the community and its history, with heart and poetry, painting larger than life pictures in the mind with his rich descriptions. There is a magic in the strong spirit, a soul music that flows within the community, the folklore, fertile tendrils of love, unity and hope woven through the narrative, mingling with the joy, laughter, and conversational banter with, of course, the heartbreak, racism, pain, death and misery of the time and place, where heroin is the new slavery, claiming children into its ruthless, unforgiving grasp, there is no American dream here, but there is the Venus of Wildendorf, and where man is in the palm of God's hand. Magnetic, hilarious and mesmerising storytelling from a gifted author. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Random House Transworld for an ARC.

I've had Deacon King Kong on my radar for some time now as feedback from readers and reviewers have been overwhelmingly positive and consistent. I obviously expected something of quality but I never imagined I'd love it THIS much!!

The story starts with "Sportcoat", a church deacon shooting a 19 year old drug dealer after the death of his wife. This obviously shakes the community and we follow the characters as the aftermath of such event ripples through their lives. Now, the story itself is worth reading the book for, but it's the writing that makes it an absolute force to be reckoned with. McBride's style is unmatched - his use of satire and wit is incredibly smart and effective. He's also able to tell a whole story in one sentence which makes this entire book a feast.

The beginning will take a little time to get into but the payoff is immense, please stick with it and trust the reviews!

5 stars.

Oh what an absolute treasure this book is! It took me a little while to get into, but once I did I just couldn’t put it down. This novel kicks off with “Sportcoat”, a 70 something Deacon of Five Ends Baptist Church, walking straight up to the local drug dealer and shooting him - but this is such a small part of the story and so much unravels from this one event that you can never guess what’s coming.
With the grittiness of The Wire, but with so much slapstick humour I couldn’t help but keep laughing very loudly, the real beauty of this novel is in the hilarious and soulful characters at its centre, and the wonderful sense of community and love that they share. I will now be finding everything McBride has ever done as this novel was just genius and an absolute must read!

An Oprah Winfrey pick and a book that is getting a lot of podcast chat ... I can see why people are bowled over by Deacon King Kong. A rich patchwork of characters within and on the periphery of a Project in 60s New York.

It took a little while for me to settle into the rhythm of Deacon King Kong but once I was in, I was hooked. The characters are incredible and the breadth of the stories in the foreground and background is something to behold. Mysteries, race, class, drugs wars, mobsters, tender relationships, family. It’s all here and more.

Thanks to Penguin Random House, Transworld and Netgalley for an advance copy in consideration of an honest review.

‘Deacon King Kong’ is one of those books that I wanted to like a lot more than I did. It has a great deal going for it, particularly a great sense of place and a broad cast of fascinating and entertaining characters, but somehow it failed to grip me in a meaningful way and I found myself rushing through it.
The book takes place in New York in 1969 and starts with the shooting of a teenage drug dealer by an alcoholic local man known as Sportcoat. He’s the Deacon King Kong of the title, active in the church but also hopelessly addicted to King Kong, a homemade liquor that he swigs throughout the book. McBride takes that dramatic opening and zooms out to explore it’s impacts on the community the assailant and victim live in. It’s a rundown Brooklyn neighbourhood populated with African Americans, Latinx, Italians and Jews living cheek by jowl and surviving despite their poverty.
What works brilliantly about the book is McBride’s depiction of the area. It lives and breathes on the page, full of life and colour. The characters are great too, and the book is populated with a diverse range of memorable people going about their lives. Some of the events are shocking, some are amusing, but they all feel real.
And yet somehow the book didn’t work for me. There is a plot running through it about a search for a mysterious hidden treasure. McBride uses it to pull the various characters together but it never really sucked me in. The book definitely has a lot to admire about it, but I couldn’t help feeling it could have been better. I ended up finding it a bit too similar to other things (Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’ being one) and that diminished its impact and grip on my attention.