The last couple of years, Fall has been a particularly busy reading season for me due to the fact that a lot of my favorite authors (or famed authors whose works I’ve been wanting to read but hadn’t gotten around to yet) release new books around this time and I end up scrambling in a harried attempt to get to each and every single one of those books — a feat that is 10 times more difficult with a full-time job and family obligations that oftentimes leave me with little time for myself. Yes, I know this is a self-inflicted bookworm problem (sorry / not sorry?) and I am by no means trying to elicit sympathy, it’s just that when I opened up my book tracking app today and saw that I this was only the fourth book I’ve finished out of a (wildly unrealistic) goal of 13 for this month (yes, you read that right — 13 books for the month of September), I felt the need to vent, if merely to just get it off my chest. Whew! Ok, back to the matter at hand…

The aforementioned 4th book (out of 13) that I just finished is Colson Whitehead’s newest release Harlem Shuffle. Whitehead is one of those famous authors whose works I’ve had on my TBR like forever, but for some reason or another, I haven’t been able to get around to reading those works. So when I was offered an ARC of Whitehead’s latest work, I of course jumped at the opportunity (even knowing his newest book would be markedly different from his previous ones). Going into this, I was excited to finally get the chance to “see what the hype was about” when it comes to this award-winning author. With that said though, while I did enjoy this one quite a bit and found it to be an excellent read in many aspects — the vivid, lyrical writing, the realistic and fleshed out characters, the wonderfully rendered atmosphere of 1950s / 1960s Harlem, witty and fun dialogue, the timeliness of the social commentary, etc. — what made this a 4 star read instead of 5 star is the fact that I wasn’t able to engage with the story as much as I thought I would, despite my best efforts. This is more a reflection of my own tastes rather than any issue with the book itself — namely that I’m not much of a reader of heist and gangster stories and while this wasn’t the entire focus of the story, I found it more difficult to connect with the story and therefore it was a much slower read for me. Regardless though, this was still a worthwhile read and one that I learned a lot from, especially with the historical fiction aspect and the masterful, atmospheric way that Whitehead captured the various nuances of Harlem and New York during that particular time period.

Though I wasn’t much engaged with the story, I did like most of the characters — even the main character Ray Carney with his sardonic wit as he struggles to keep the two sides of his life separate from each other. Overall, this was a solid 4 star read, a book that I highly recommend! I read an interview with the author last week where he mentioned that he is working on a sequel to this book that would follow Ray Carney into the 1970s era, which I definitely look forward to reading. In the meantime, I need to get with the program and go pickup Underground Railroad as well as The Nickel Boys and other books from Whitehead’s backlist. So many books, so little time!!

Received ARC from DoubleDay Books via NetGalley.

The tension between success, extended family commitments and community expectations is masterfully depicted in this novel about a furniture retailer and his side hustle.as a fence for stolen goods.

This is my first Colson Whitehead book, so I had pretty high expectations. The way the action is broken up is confusing; I found it hard to follow the plot amidst the various side anecdotes and flashbacks. Overall, though, I found it pulpy and fairly entertaining with a compelling cast of characters--it's also a great reminder of how enticing the promise of cash can be, even when it's only possible to obtain it via a convoluted heist.

⭐️⭐️💫

🛋 It’s Harlem in the 60s and Ray and his family are just trying to get by when his cousin continues to pull him into crime.

👍🏼The setting of this story was great and I enjoyed the characters. The writing was also very well done.

👎🏼Despite the beautiful writing, great setting and characters this story never took off for me. It was very slow and I kept waiting for this dramatic crime caper a la oceans 11 to happen and it never did.

❎I really wanted to love this book, but it just didn’t deliver to my expectations based on his previous books and the book description. The pacing seemed way too slow and it didn’t feel like anything really happened. If you like more expository writing you may enjoy this book because the setting descriptions really are great.

I have read Nickel Boys and Underground Railroad and this latest by Colson Whitehead did not disappoint. He is an amazing writer. I can’t wait for his next book. Highly recommended!

The writing is excellent and the descriptions of Harlem are vivid. There are so many characters, though, that it was hard to keep everyone straight. Or care. I couldn't relate to any of the characters or their experiences - it was all light-years away from anything I've ever experienced. I did have some sympathy for Ray who seemed to really want to go straight and have a normal family life - but his past and circumstances kept tugging him in another direction.

This book is described as crime fiction, but the crime is more contextual than a driver of the plot. Don’t expect a thriller. It’s about a man straddling two sides of business, a respected furniture store with some illegal activities mixed in, while trying to support his family in 1950-60s Harlem.

I have mixed feelings on this one. I didn’t find the plot as riveting as expected without the emotional punch. Some of the backstories were a touch drawn out and repetitive.

However, Harlem Shuffle absolutely holds true to Whitehead’s great writing style. He creates such interesting characters and I was particularly invested in the family drama layer to the story.

There’s SO much more to Harlem Shuffle than crime. If you want traditional crime fiction with a clear mystery to solve and a lot of action, this isn’t it. If you want an atmospheric story about loyalty, morality, and corruption, then you’ll probably love it.

Thank you NetGalley and Doubleday for the advanced copy! Colson Whitehead does it again! Harlem Shuffle read with a vibrant energy of the city and its people. This novel is set in 1960s New York at the height of the civil rights movement. It deals with under the table hustling, crooks and a corrupt society as Ray tries to keep his family afloat with his furniture business and running his cousin's loot through his own store. Ray has a constant internal struggle as he walks the line of helping the law and breaking the law, and it catches up to him.

Thank you for the opportunity to review “Harlem Shuffle,” the latest offering by Colson Whitehead. I am not at all surprised to have found this book engaging, well written, and compelling. Definitely in my top 10 for 2021.

I DNF'd at 40%. To me it is more of a collection of stories, not one cohesive story. Too many characters and back stories. I finally got to know the characters in part 1 and then part 2 has a whole new cast and have to get to know them again. Just not my style of writing.

Another winner from Colson Whitehead. His love letter to Harlem and heists is a great adventure. He transports you back to the height of Harlem’s golden years. Ray Carney is a complex man and likes to think of himself as a family man. It is his family that gets him wrapped into a heist. Being a middle man isn’t so easy.

I would love to see this as a movie. It would be brilliant.

I made it 30% in and was trying to remain intrigued. Harlem Shuffle is giving me a bit of Deacon King Kong vibes. Same slow pace, community feeling, and cast of characters. I expected Whitehead’s signature serious and exacting writing and this is perhaps not that. Unfortunately I’m slogging through it and think it’s not for me right now. I’m just disinterested in the characters and feel disconnected.

Harlem Shuffle is a novel of culture, racism, stereotyping, politics, privilege, exploitation and so much more . Set in 1961 and 1964 Harlem, New York this novel is the story of Carney and his struggles to come up in his life for himself and his growing family despite his crooked background. This he tries to achieve by both legal and illegal means. He gets involved in one such scheme which goes awry and the whole novel revolves around that story and the characters involved.
Harlem Shuffle is a slow burner crime novel. Be prepared though for lot of characters and their back stories. A little tough to keep all the characters in your head and read their present. Its completely a novel out of my comfort zone and I did enjoy it. Harlem and the New York of those times completely comes alive in this novel.

I really wanted to love this book. I mean, it’s Colson Whitehead! The writing was spectacular, as are all his books. However, I could not connect with the story. I didn’t like any of the characters and I just didn’t have any interest in the story he was telling.

Please don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad book. It’s just not a book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

So I had never actually heard of Colson Whitehead prior to starting this book. Full disclosure, I did not finish. I just could not get engaged with the story. However, Whitehead's writing is descriptive, colorful, and imaginative. I could picture each scene very well based on the writing.

Not having read any of Whitehead's previous novels, I wasn't sure what to expect, other than a good read. TBQH, I'm still not sure what to expect, and I finished this days ago. The writing was wonderful, the story was gritty and somewhat violent, and yet there was such a depth of feeling and love. This is not the usual type of book I would gravitate towards, and I don't know exactly what I read here, but it was good, and it was worth it, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience it.

My thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the ARC. My review is based on honest opinion and has been in no way influenced by either company.

The book sounded promising. Set in Harlem in the 1960s, Ray Carney is the central character straddling being a decent family man on one hand and a loyal cousin on the other. The latter is what leads up down a crooked path, despite his misgivings and is the fulcrum of the book…or maybe Harlem is? The storyline of Ray getting embroiled in a burglary that cousin Freddie is involved in is set against the historical backdrop of 1960s Harlem. Along the way we’re introduced to a cast of characters so vast it was difficult to keep track. Some are directly related to the plot, many others not, but introduced to provide perspective and background of Harlem during that time in history. Overall it felt like the story drifted precariously in the wind and the author didn’t provide much incentive to be vested in any of characters. I felt the plot played second fiddle to the glorious ode to Harlem, which may have been the author’s intent. One can totally feel the author’s love and affection for Harlem - warts and all. In that regard the book gives the reader great historical insight into what Harlem was like in the 1960s. I wish the plot and background complemented each other better - that would have made for a much smoother read. Overall, still an okay read; others may enjoy it more than I did. Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Colson Whitehead could write about the nail polish drying on my fingers and I'd give it five stars. Beautiful writing, engaging plot (if slower-moving than his other novels) and interesting, nuanced characters.

At first, Harlem Shuffle seems like a departure from Colson Whitehead's most recent two novels, The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, which were both overtly about race in America. Harlem Shuffle begins with the story of Ray Carney, a man who was born and raised in Harlem, left behind by his mother's death at age 9, and forgotten more often than not by his father, a small-time criminal. Initially, it seems that the story is just about Carney, but as you progress through the novel, you see all of the same conversations from The Underground Railroad, and the Nickel Boys, hidden underneath the capers and family drama.
At the open, we find Carney running a small furniture store, a graduate of Queens College, father of one with another on the way, married to a beautiful, smart wife. Carney is trying to be bigger than his origins.

The events of the novel really set off when Carney's cousin Freddie, who is more like a brother than a cousin, brings Carney's name into a heist that's being planned. Carney, who occasionally sells stolen TVs and radios that his cousin brings his way, is suddenly playing a much bigger role in the underground. Freddie's decision to suggest Carney as a fence in the caper is the moment that Carney's trajectory is really set. Each decision he makes going forward is downstream of that event.

While the story moves through periods of Carney's life, jumping from 1959 to 1961 to 1964, the effects of Freddie's momentary lapse of judgement always appear. The dynamic between Carney and Freddie, from boyhood to manhood is seen in the refrain "I didn't mean to get you in trouble," which Freddie utters every time his fortune entwines with his cousin's for the worse. Whitehead really makes you consider though, if the blame for Carney's situation really lies with Freddie. Given every opportunity to turn away from the more criminal of his enterprises, Carney still usually takes that path, in spite of his constant turmoil of wanting to give his wife and children the security and comfort that he never had.

Whitehead paints a vivid picture of the Harlem of the fifties and sixties, through the lens, not just of Carney, but also his wife Elizabeth, born to a light-skinned, respected family, who chooses to forgo the more upright path her parents saw for her, instead working for a travel agency that caters to African Americans looking to ensure their safety while traveling, and also activist groups like the Freedom Riders, CORE, etc. We also see Harlem through Carney's Aunt Millie, mother of Freddie, a hardworking nurse at Harlem Hospital, whose husband leaves for large stretches of time to stay with his second family in Miami. Carney's in-laws openly disdain their son-in-law, who they see as a the son of a petty criminal, beneath their daughter and not fit to be the father to their grandchildren. The in-laws project old-time values onto an ever changing Harlem. When Carney is invited to interview for a coveted spot in a fraternal organization that his father-in-law belongs to, it is understood that he is there as a diversity pick, to show how they are opening their doors to darker skinned men who are not judges or doctors. The Harlem of Carney's time is less Duke Ellington and more Muhammad Ali. Even the police officer that Carney works with says of the men who work for him that "two of [them] are college types, look like Jewish civil rights agitators, and the other two are young Negroes who walk around with copies of The Fire Next Time in their back pockets. You hear old-timers grumbling about the number of Negro cops, but who else is going to go inside? Some fat, red-faced Mick who hasn't done a day's work in years?" Carney's father's childhood haunts are either completely boarded up or have been supplanted, making room for nicer, shinier businesses.

The city's changes shape Carney's life. Near the end of the novel, Carney spends the night at his store, watching for looters during the '64 riots after a police officer kills a 14-year-old boy. Carney's father was killed by the police also. Whitehead doesn't have Carney reflect on that when the riots begin, leaving you to consider if Carney's father's death at the hands of the police being accepted as just more of the same was meant to contrast with the communal outrage only a couple of decades later of a young black child at the hands of police. Everywhere Carney goes, the scourge of drugs has laid its hands on the city. The final events of the book pull Carney into the web of the drug crisis as well as the power struggle of old Harlem and shiny, new Manhattan-adjacent Harlem. Carney walks downtown to the spot where he used to have TVs and radios repaired by an old mom-and-pop electronics shop, long ago turned into a fancy TV store, only to see the entire block's been razed to make room for the World Trade Center site. This is where we leave Carney, the shifting tides of his world, the smallness gone, and Carney left to manage in the same way of the generations before him, faced with social turmoil and upheaval.

This was a romping, goodtime of a book, managing to be contemplative and visceral, gritty and heartbreaking, all at the same time.

*****
It's an absolute blast to read @colsonwhitehead's Harlem Shuffle (out today!). A smart, funny and vivid crime story that goes down easy, while never forgetting the complexity of its roots. A sequel is already in the works and I can't wait.