2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Deacon King Kong by James McBride.

Pages: 384 pages

Length: 1 month (August)

Participants: SarahKat, Dominique

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Hey Dominique. I'm actually a little over halfway through this because the audio became available while I was on a road trip. I am liking it so far but it's hard to keep everybody straight on audio (unfortunately that's the only version my library has). The many nicknames don't help.

SarahKat wrote: "Hey Dominique. I'm actually a little over halfway through this because the audio became available while I was on a road trip. I am liking it so far but it's hard to keep everybody straight on audio..."

L'm finishing a chunky book, will finish tonight. If inot too late I'll start tonight.

You're right about the nicknames! Nobody has a real name! (view spoiler)[ Chapter 2 - Dead man, That was a comical chapter. Everybody who was in contact with him just quit their jobs. The nurse who delivered him just went up and called him and idiot and just never delivered a baby, the pastor who became a singer after meeting him. Was a weird twist about his mom and his teeth (hide spoiler)]

I just finished chapter 20. I'm still confused as to who everybody is. I'm going to have to read a character sheet or synopsis when I'm done. But here are my thoughts anyway so far (half of this is just me trying to get my brain to understand this): (view spoiler)[Sportcoat shot Deems, but he's not dead. Deems is leader/part of the drug-sellers in the area, but Sportcoat isn't. Do we even know why he shot him yet? If not, I'm thinking it probably has something to do with Hettie's death. I find Earl trying to get at Sportcoat and failing quite funny. Especially when they flip the switch on that generator and end up electrocuting him.

Elefante is a mafia guy who is helping an Irishman get a thing that his dad had hidden a while ago. He wants to marry Irishman's daughter.

Ok. Then the part that really confused me was the dock shooting. I had to go back and read like a chapter summary on that. Haroldeen shot 3 dudes: Deems, Beanie, and Sausage. The cops thought Sausage was Sportcoat because of the umpire suit and the ID's. Sportcoat pulled Deems out of the water. And Beanie (other drug dude) died.

*sigh* I just really wish I read this with my eyes. It would be so much easier to figure out who is who. I do really like how everything is turning out to be connected though. It's sad that the community is so isolated too. Like cops come and check stuff out but there isn't any trust or respect on either side so nothing gets accomplished. They just have to or want to handle their issues on their own and it makes for a vicious circle of drugs, revenge, money, etc.. (hide spoiler)]

I hope to make it back here, but won't have much time for GR this month. Since I'm not sure, here's my review if you want to see why I ended up liking this so much even though for the first part I thought I wouldn't be able to finish it :)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

SarahKat wrote: "I just finished chapter 20. I'm still confused as to who everybody is. I'm going to have to read a character sheet or synopsis when I'm done. But here are my thoughts anyway so far (half of this is..."

(view spoiler)[I read this in December 2020, so am a bit rusty, but at the time I understood it. However, I read it with my eyes and I think that's why. I can't imagine this would be a good book to listen to (some are, of course.) (hide spoiler)]

I've been pretty busy lately and haven't had much time to read but I do hope to read this book this month and pop in to participate in the discussions as much as possible! It's been on my TBR for a while so this should be a good opportunity to finally read it.

I finished this last week and forgot to share my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks for sharing your review Karin! I definitely think I would have liked this more if I'd read it with my eyes, or wasn't so distracted while trying to listen to it.