Deacon King Kong | April 2022 Bookclub Selection

Sportcoat. Hot Sausage. Deems. Elefante.

No, these just aren’t the ramblings of an annoyed copy writer suffering from writers block, but the colorful names of a few of the colorful characters Mr. James McBride introduces us to in his book, Deacon King Kong. And with characters like these, how can you choose not to read this book?

Join the MahoganyBooks Bookclub featuring co-host Panama Jackson during the month of April as we read and discuss Deacon King Kong. We will meet to discuss this book at our Anacostia bookstore, located at 1231 Good Hope Rd, SE Washington, DC 20020 (inside of the Anacostia Arts Center) on May 6, 2022 at 6PM.


About the Book

From the author of the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird and the bestselling modern classic The Color of Water, comes one of the most celebrated novels of the year.

In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project’s drug dealer at point-blank range.The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride’s funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird. In Deacon King Kong, McBride brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the African-American and Latinx residents who witnessed it, the white neighbors, the local cops assigned to investigate, the members of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat was deacon, the neighborhood’s Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself.

As the story deepens, it becomes clear that the lives of the characters–caught in the tumultuous swirl of 1960s New York–overlap in unexpected ways. When the truth does emerge, McBride shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in hope and compassion.Bringing to these pages both his masterly storytelling skills and his abiding faith in humanity, James McBride has written a novel every bit as involving as The Good Lord Bird and as emotionally honest as The Color of Water. Told with insight and wit, Deacon King Kong demonstrates that love and faith live in all of us.

Discussion Day Info

We will meet to discuss the book at our Anacostia bookstore, located at 1231 Good Hope Rd, SE Washington, DC 20020 (inside of the Anacostia Arts Center) on April 1, 2022 at 6PM.

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