Imprint: Doubleday
Deacon King Kong
CHOSEN BY BARACK OBAMA AS A FAVOURITE READ OF 2020
The New York Times bestseller and Oprah's Book Club Pick about community, race and religion from the National Book Award winner, James McBride
CHOSEN BY BARACK OBAMA AS A FAVOURITE READ OF 2020THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICKTOP TEN BOOKS OF 2020, NEW YORK TIMES'Hilarious, pitch-perfect... one of the year's best novels.' The Washington PostFrom the winner of a National Book Award and author of the bestselling memoir,The Color of Water, and The Good Lord Bird, soon to be a TV series starring Ethan HawkeThe 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. ______________________'Deacon King Kong is deeply felt, beautifully written and profoundly humane; McBride's ability to inhabit his characters' foibled, all-too-human interiority helps transform a fine book into a great one' The New York Times Book ReviewWhat 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).'
James McBride is the author of the award-winning New York Times bestsellers, The Color of Water and The Good Lord Bird, which is currently being made into a television series starring Ethan Hawke. A former reporter for The Washington Post and People magazine, McBride holds a Masters degree in journalism from Columbia University and a B.A. from Oberlin College. In 2015 he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama.
Also by James McBride
The Champagne War
The Autumn of the Ace
Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition
1Q84: Books 1, 2 and 3
The Drover's Wife
Leah Purcell
The Longest Memory
Fred D'aguiar
The Prisoner's Wife
Maggie Brookes
Dragonfly In Amber
The Godmothers