Name: betty books's review of Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
Item: Harlem Shuffle
Rating: 4
Author: betty books

Colson Whitehead

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, a gloriously entertaining novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s. "Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked..." To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time. Cash is tight, especially with all those installment-plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace, Ray doesn't ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who doesn't ask questions, either. Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa—the "Waldorf of Harlem"—and volunteers Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they rarely do. Now Ray has a new clientele, one made up of shady cops, vicious local gangsters, two-bit pornographers, and other assorted Harlem lowlifes. Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he begins to see who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs? Harlem Shuffle's ingenious story plays out in a beautifully recreated New York City of the early 1960s. It's a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem. But mostly, it's a joy to read, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Colson Whitehead.

A Novel

Harlem Shuffle

From two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead, a gloriously entertaining novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s. "Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked..." To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time. Cash is tight, especially with all those installment-plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace, Ray doesn't ask where itcomes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who doesn't ask questions, either. Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa -- the "Waldorf of Harlem" -- and volunteers Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they rarely do. Now Ray has a new clientele, one made up of shady cops, vicious local gangsters, two-bit pornographers, and other assorted Harlem lowlifes. Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he begins to see who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs? Harlem Shuffle's ingenious story plays out in a beautifully recreated New York City of the early 1960s. It's a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem. But mostly, it's a joy to read, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Colson Whitehead.

Macy HB

Part of moving up in the world is realizing how much shit you used to eat.

Iris

betty books

Patrick Book

It’s nice to see Whitehead take on a “lighter” genre after he weighty recent novels. It doesn’t soar like ‘Underground Railroad’ or ‘the Nickel Boys,’ but it’s still enjoyable.

Kristen Claiborn

I struggled with this one, and then I struggled with whether or not to even post a review. I’ve long been an advocate for NOT posting bad reviews, simply because one person not liking a book doesn’t necessarily make it a bad book (except Church on a Death Ship, that one is a legitimately terrible book). We will all respond to a piece of literature based on our own lives and experiences. I’m clearly not panning Harlem Shuffle, but I’m being generous with three stars. I decided on three stars instead of two because of the number of people who really loved this book. I made the decision to give that third star because of the book’s popularity. 
	I absolutely hated how Whitehead seemed to drop the reader off mid-story, with little to no leading information. Characters and plot were introduced with out context, which made any “story” difficult to follow. Apparently, this book contains three loosely related stories about the same main character, but even that is hard to determine. So, as I read, I became increasingly frustrated, and found myself relieved the book was over. That was it, I was just happy to finally be done with it.

Cheri McElroy

A lighter read from Colson Whitehead. This is the story of Ray Carneyinthe 1950s and 1960s in Harlem. He wants to be completely legit, but cousin Freddy is convinced they can pull off a big heist.

This book shines in helping the reader see, feel, experience Harlem of the min 20th century. The second half was fun, but the first half was a struggle for me. It’s well-written, just not my usual genre. 

Thanks to #NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

Dee B. 

Colson Whitehead is at his best when following characters through a long span of their lives and Harlem Shuffle is a perfect example of his brilliance at work.

Harlem Shuffle is full of his brand of dry humour, witty and beautifully engaging to the point that you can't help but become absorbed by the lives of its characters. I know almost nothing about living in Harlem in the 60's and I know even less about heists and shakedowns, yet at the end of it, I wasn't left feeling confused or bored in the least. Instead, I enjoyed almost every aspect of it. However, I now finding myself unable to accurately review this book other than to say that it's slow and subtle narration may not be everyone's cup of tea, but so worth the time it takes.

Carney is one of those characters that you see trying to get by unscathed by the harrows of being poor in a city that requires you to constantly live beyond your means. As time goes by and you see him grappling with his moral compass, being pulled into the life he tried to leave behind - it's like a Carnival ride that you can't look away from.

Don't look away, because you just might miss the magic that Carney, and Whitehead, is ready to sprinkle on your life.

Roman

Fraser Simons

Exceptional, if a bit odd voice. I can see why this puts some people off. However, on audio, this really shines. The narrator is exceptional and just gets the cadence created here. It’s natural and fluid. I struggle to suggest another book with this kind of anchoring in time and place; certainly not with this kind of voice. It’s not as though Whitehead struggled with voice previously either, and this feels revelatory. My favourite part of it by far and away. 

It’s also true, I think, that people who criticize the plot have some standing here. In a book with a blurb and cover that sort of looks like genre fiction, the plot is a fairly fluid thing. It feels like a pretence for some of the most loved and spotlighted characters to be studied, and by proxy, make the areas they frequent, characters themselves. And so it’s hard for me to penalize it much as I genuinely was in awe in some of the descriptions and playfulness of the voice. You really do feel like you’re learning about the area. 

There are slight intrusions that other voices could never pull off. For instance, a character feels eyes on his back and turns around, encounters a woman reacting to him with suspicious disdain, and the voice says, quickly, “That why you don’t turn around.” It’s weird sometimes to examine who this story is for, kind of? But then the next interaction or description of nothing becomes an absolute gem your mind sinks it’s meat into and who cares? 

This feels like a reread to me. There’s a quality here that may not translate to the page for me, but then again, perhaps it will. Maybe there’s even more to chew on, especially now that I’ve got that voice in my head already.

Geoffrey Landward

I felt immersed in a world I will never get to experience. It was fun, tense, heartbreaking, and engaging. I loved it.

Caitlyn Baldwin

4.5 ⭐

I felt like this book really was half a dive into the duality of man amongst a rapidly changing culture and half appreciation piece for Harlem.

Sabrina Crispyn

Wow, I really did not enjoy this book. It was boring, confusing, and such a letdown because I loved the concept. 

Suz Corso

Did not finish, found this book extremely boring even though it was reviewed as one of the best books of the year.

Teri-Mae Swaim

The Time jumps were super odd and hard to follow. I felt this book was lack-luster. 

Devin Mainville

This is the first book I’ve read by Colson Whitehead, but from what I understand, it's a departure from her previous work. His last two novels tackled incredibly serious subject matters (slavery and the prison system) and they also both won the Pulitzer. So, how does one follow up that kind of success? With an ode to dime paperback crime novels, of course. 

Harlem Shuffle is broken into three sections which each outline a scheme Ray Carney - full time furniture salesman and part time fence - is pulled into with varying degrees of success. Whitehead masterfully layers in family drama, social commentary and highly entertaining heists. He also introduces a colorful cast of characters of both crooks and straight citizens - though, as this book points out - sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. 

I fully enjoyed Harlem Shuffle and I am excited to read more by Whitehead. 

Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for the #ARC.

Anika | @chaptersofmay

Harlem Shuffle is a thrilling love letter to a loud and lively neighbourhood in the early 60’s. Through his entrancing vocabulary and atmospheric scenes, Whitehead transports his readers to summer in Harlem.

This crime thriller dives into the worlds of crooks and corruption while exploring the themes of police brutality, citizenship, poverty, and systemic racism. It also makes regular reference to the Harlem riot of 1964, and the sense of unrest in New York after that time. As a result, there’s a nice balance of suspenseful crime elements and insightful social commentary.

You get a great sense of Whitehead’s sense of irony and humour as he laces a lawless heist, Carney’s double life and a portrait of an evolving city in this fun narrative. It’s clear the author is a true storyteller, and while it took me a few chapters to really feel drawn to this book, I’m so glad continued to the end. The richly illustrated backdrop and intriguing secondary characters really contribute to make this energetic and inherently funny read.

letterrausch

Colson Whiteheads neuer Roman “Harlem Shuffle” ist ein Ganovenstück aus dem New York der 60er Jahre, das ganz Vieles ist: fragwürdige Aufsteigergeschichte, eine Liebeserklärung an Harlem und ein Eintauchen in die (klein)kriminellen Strukturen einer amerikanischen Großstadt. Der Leser lernt Raymond Carver kennen, einen Geschäftsinhaber, der sich vom Verkauf von Radios fragwürdigen Ursprungs zu luxuriösen Sitzgruppen hochgearbeitet hat. Trotzdem ist das Geld anfangs immer knapp - seine Wohnung jedoch schäbig und seine Frau mit dem zweiten Kind schwanger. Was also tun?

Carver, der es eigentlich als ehrliche Haut schaffen will, hat trotzdem immer einen Fuß in der Tür zur New Yorker Unterwelt. Ob er als Zwischenhändler für gestohlene Diamanten agiert oder Ganoven sein Geschäft als Informationszentrum und zur Weitergabe von Nachrichten zur Verfügung stellt. Einerlei. Carver ist immer gleichzeitig legale Fassade und illegaler Nutznießer. Oft droht dieser Balanceakt, schiefzugehen. Doch Ray ist gewitzt und das Glück ist ihm hold.

“Harlem Shuffle” ist ein nahezu perfekter Roman. Whitehead kennt sein Sujet (man erfährt mehr über amerikanische Möbel als man je wissen wollte), hat das Harlem der 60er bis in den letzten Straßenzug recherchiert und schildert sein Personal so lebensecht und schillernd, dass man sich mittendrin wähnt in all diesen fehlgeleiteten Coups und Jobs.

Whitehead wäre nicht Whitehead, wenn “Harlem Shuffle” nicht auch ein Roman über (amerikanischen) Rassismus wäre. Schmiergelder wandern hin und her, Bürgerrechtsgruppen bilden sich, ein schwarzer Schüler wird von einem weißen Cop erschossen - und als Leser muss man leider konstatieren: Seit den 60er Jahren scheint sich in den USA nicht viel verändert zu haben. Und doch wirkt Whitehead nie pädagogisch oder belehrend. Ja, seine Geschichte transportiert auch eine Botschaft. Aber sie ist trotzdem in erster Linie das: eine gute Geschichte.

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD (Now a major Amazon Prime TV show) 'Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked...' To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably-priced furniture, making a life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger and bigger all the time. See, cash is tight, especially with all those instalment plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace at the furniture store, Ray doesn't see the need to ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweller downtown who also doesn't ask questions. Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa - the 'Waldorf of Harlem' - and volunteers Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they rarely do, after all. Now Ray has to cater to a new clientele, one made up of shady cops on the take, vicious minions of the local crime lord, and numerous other Harlem lowlifes. Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he starts to see the truth about who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs? Harlem Shuffle is driven by an ingeniously intricate plot that plays out in a beautifully recreated Harlem of the early 1960s. It's a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem.

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Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

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Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead