If you liked
Books like Deacon King Kong
by James McBride
Deacon King Kong is James McBride's rollicking, big-hearted novel about a Brooklyn housing project thrown into chaos after an old church deacon shoots a drug dealer in the courtyard. Chaotic, funny and deeply humane. If you want more vivid, community-driven fiction, read on.
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What to read next
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Storeby James McBride
“The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride 2023 review. A 1972 skeleton found at the bottom of a Pottstown, Pennsylvania well sends the novel back to a 1930s neighborhood where Black, Jewish, and immigrant families lived alongside each other. The most important American novel of 2023.”
Harlem Shuffleby Colson Whitehead
“Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead 2021 review. A Harlem furniture-store owner navigates three crime arcs across 1959-1964. Whitehead's pivot from Pulitzer-winning literary fiction to a Harlem crime trilogy.”
The Nickel Boysby Colson Whitehead
“The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead 2019 review. Two boys at the segregated Nickel Academy reform school in 1960s Florida, based on the real Dozier School. Pulitzer Prize 2020 and the canonical contemporary American novel on institutional violence against Black children.”
Song of Solomonby Toni Morrison
“Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison 1977 review. Macon "Milkman" Dead III, born into a comfortable Black family in 1930s Michigan, travels south to discover his ancestral history. Morrison's third novel and one of her two unquestioned masterpieces alongside Beloved.”
Belovedby Toni Morrison
“Beloved by Toni Morrison 1987 review. Sethe, a former slave living in Reconstruction-era Ohio, is haunted by the daughter she killed to save from slavery. Pulitzer Prize 1988 and one of the canonical American novels of the late twentieth century.”
The Underground Railroadby Colson Whitehead
“The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead 2016 review. Cora, a slave on a Georgia plantation, escapes north via an actual underground railroad, a literalized version of the metaphor. Pulitzer Prize 2017 and the National Book Award winner that defined the contemporary Black literary moment.”
FAQ
Common questions about Deacon King Kong read-alikes
- I want more James McBride.
- The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is the natural pairing, another warm, teeming novel about a tight-knit multiethnic neighborhood protecting its own. Same big cast and the same balance of comedy and hard history.
- I want crime and community in mid-century New York.
- Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead follows a furniture salesman with one foot in the fence trade through early-1960s Harlem. It shares Deacon King Kong's blend of caper, comedy and social history.
- I want the mythic, literary side of Black American history.
- Song of Solomon and Beloved by Toni Morrison are the essential picks, lyrical and haunted where McBride is warm and loud. Both deepen the history his neighborhoods carry.
- I want the harder-hitting Pulitzer novels.
- The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead look unflinchingly at American racial violence. Heavier than McBride, but they sit on the same shelf.
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