The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (by James McBride)

I'm still working my way through the Tournament of Books shortlist, including this one by James McBride. There's something about McBride's writing that I find kind of... I don't know... twee? Artificial?Oprah's book club?

<a pause while I go to Goodreads and try to find someone who articulated this vague feeling on my behalf>

Okay here's one: "we are introduced to character after character after character who all have adorable folksy names and charming, convoluted, 'hilarious' backstories that involve star crossed romance, traumatic family histories, or hair brained schemes that resulted in the weird nickname they now have or the strange limp they're walking with and it just goes on and on and on until I thought I was gonna scream."

Yes, thank you Sara the librarian! It's too cutesy, and I felt the same way about Deacon King Kong, which I DNF after a couple hundred pages of folksy meandering.  I enjoyed McBride's memoir and I understand the appeal of the novel, but it's definitely not my favorite.