Cover Image: Harlem Shuffle

Harlem Shuffle

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Different from Whitehead’ s other novels but still a tour de force like the others. A crime sorry set in Harlem about a con man with a soul. Loved everything about this book.

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Another excellent novel from Colson Whitehead. I loved his take on a crime novel as much as I loved getting to see his humor and gift for characterization. Whitehead uses the genre to explore moral ambiguity and social issues and daily life alike. Most of all, this is the best, most accurate depiction of New York City - its streets, spirit, struggle - that I've read in a while, and you can feel how well-researched and honestly felt his vision of 60s Harlem is.

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Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for an ARC.

This didn't floor me in the same way that The Underground Railroad or The Nickel Boys did, but I don't think that's its aim. This is a heist novel, but it's less about the heists (which I would have read so much more about than what's given) and more about the way these characters change over time and deal with the gray areas they find themselves in. This has some legitimately hilarious moments, some tension, and a few recurring motifs I really loved whenever they popped up. One of the pieces rolling out this week mentioned Colson Whitehead's already writing what these characters are up to in the 1970s, and I'm absolutely picking that up day one if it comes to fruition.

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Ray Carney is a furniture salesman in Harlem in 1959. He seems like a decent guy, as he says “I may be broke, but I ain’t crooked.” But he isn’t really straight either. I don’t know what I expected, but it in a very good way. This book was gritty and bare. The story didn’t try to pretty Harlem up, I can only imagine how roughy it was in the 60’s for the black community. I like Ray, I liked his demeanor and his outlook on life. He was in a rough time in history, they were rocky waters to navigate.


*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.*

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Colson Whitehead hits another one out of the ballpark. It amazes me how a single author can write such distinct novels. Whitehead's newest book is to Harlem what Deacon King Kong is to Brooklyn. I felt transported to mid-century Harlem's streets through Whitehead's writing - and that's why I read. I want to see a bit of the world from someone else's perspective. This novel delivers.

The characters, plot, and descriptive prose kept me fully absorbed in this novel. I read it with a Kindle which was very helpful as there is a large cast of characters. The "search this book" feature came in handy. I read many audiobooks, but this one would have been difficult to follow in that format.

I also appreciated the juxtaposition of the Harlem hustles against the big-wig hustles in Manhatten. It makes one think about the parallels as well as the frustration of living in communities that are hustle-driven.

Readers looking for an original take on NYC culture and history must add this book to their reading list. I think it pairs well with The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

I am waiting for the movie. This book will be fantastic as a film.

NetGalley provided me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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I had trouble sinking into the story right away but once the characters began talking about their heist of the Hotel Theresa it became quicker. It provided interesting insight into the criminal world and how people might find themselves in it. It felt well grounded in time and place.

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When I heard this was more in the thriller/heist genre for Colson I was super excited. I love a good thriller and this one does not disappoint (I mean literally Colson can do no wrong!!) From the first page you csare about all the characters whether they are good bad. You can literally feel the time and place as he describes them Almost like being a fly on the wall in a time machine in Harlem. The novel centers around Ray Carney a furniture store owner. It's a novel about being African American in the 60's and what is considered good and bad in a wolrd where you have to what you need to do to survive in an unfair world. Truly a novel for our times. I highly recommend for book clubs that are interested in issues of race. Shufffle to your bookstore now and get this book!!! Thank you to Doubleday and Netgalley for the read. It was truly a gift and a pleasure to read!

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I was eagerly anticipating this book even though I have a split record with Whitehead (I loved The Underground Railroad and thought The Nickel Boys was okay). I moved it to the top of my TBR when I heard it compared to Donkey King Kong, my favorite book from last year. And that reviewer was right in the beginning; it totally had those DKK vibes. Unfortunately for me, the relevance slowly began to fade away and I got to the point where it was a real chore to pick the book up to read.

The story might have been alright, but I had a hard time getting past Whitehead's choppy writing style. It was disjointed and really hard to find my pace. The story felt slow and, overall, I just couldn't ever find my groove with the story.

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1959 Harlem, NYC: Ray Carney is a solid-citizen family man and entrepreneur with a furniture store he is pretty proud of...but occasionally he gets drawn into 'crooked complexities' by his cousin Freddie. 'I may be broke, but I ain't crooked,' he likes to believe, but then he admits perhaps he is.

This is an amusing crime novel on one level but also a look at how things really work behind the scenes. Ray learns many lessons and sees there are 'different entrances into one vast, secret city. Ever close, adjacent to all you know, just underneath if you know where to look.'

We may like to think that race relations have vastly improved over the past 60 years but sadly Whitehead shows the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Many thanks for the opportunity to read this new novel from a favorite author. I received an arc from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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I enjoyed the ride of this crime novel/family saga/historical fiction that defies definition. Whitehead doesn't disappoint. There are some structural issues that I'm not quite smart enough to break down, but I'm sure someone else will. The story is choppy and I'm not sure that served it well.

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Thank you NetGalley and Doubleday books for allowing me to read a digital ARC of Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead.

Colson Whitehead is one of my favorite authors, but this novel is a departure from The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad. We are introduced to Ray Carney, a furniture owner, who lives in Harlem in the late 50s and early 60’s. Ray is complex character who wants to take care of his family and move them into a better neighborhood. There is duality is Ray’s life, as he has one foot in a legitimate business and the other in criminal activities. He constantly gets caught in his cousin Freddie’s schemes, heists, and hijinks. Ray is devoted to his wife, aunt, cousin, employees, and an associate of his deceased father, but if crossed, he seeks revenge, but attempts to keep his hand clean, with shady, unreliable characters. This novel touched on a lot of topics germane today – upward mobility, police shootings, racial protests, power, etc. I had ambivalent feelings about Ray even though I understood why he felt animus toward others. There were so many flawed, self-centered, and unlikeable characters in this novel; as a matter of fact, I was overjoyed when I no longer had to read about them. Eventually, Ray, a man who wants to do right, must decide if leading a morally ambiguous life is worth it. Colson Whitehead does capture the ambience of Harlem during this time. Overall, this book is not a quick read, but it is worth reading.

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Ray Carney is furniture store owner and family man. He is trying to provide a better life for his expecting wife, Elizabeth and their daughter May. Ray wants to lead a different life from his father Mike, but occasionally his cousin Freddie shows up with some jewelry he needs to sell and Ray assists him in finding a buyer. This arrangement works out well until Freddie ropes Ray into a deal to off load his ill gotten gains from a hotel robbery. After being pulled into this deal Ray struggles to keep his hands clean and provide for his family while also trying to protect his cousin from himself and the shady characters after him.

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This historical fiction novel is one I did not know I needed in my life - crime and family drama. Set in Harlem during the 1960's, Ray Carney is a your average everyday furniture salesman. Happily married to the women of his dreams with one child, and another on the way. He is a respectable man, who hides his lawlessness. All is running smoothly until one big heist catches-up with to him, potentially bringing the bad guys to his door. Torn between the danger that is looming and his normal everyday life, can he figure out a path to survive?

Harlem Shuffle's vibrant descriptions of the neighborhoods, the hustle, the community and the political shift during this time period are atmospheric. The secondary cast provides added flavor to the story. Harlem Shuffle is a book that deserves your undivided attention to every word and every sentence. The reader can't afford to miss a thing in this novel. This is the third book I've read by Colson Whitehead, and I have yet to be disappointed.

Thank you PRHA for the complimentary audiobook and NetGalley / DoubleDay for the advance reader copy.

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Colson Whitehead has written another masterpiece, this time set in Harlem, where everything changes and yet stays the same. Mr. Whitehead has the gift of making historical fiction as relevant as the day's news. His characters are vivid, alive and multi-faceted. The streets are yet another character and a way to mark the passing of time. The historical context is impeccable. You may think you know where the story is going to take you, but buckle up for you are in for quite a ride. This is a book to be savored and re-read.

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Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me with a digital ARC of this title via Netgalley in exhange for my honest review.

I was drawn to this book by the cover and obviously by the author. I expected great things. I was unfortunately really disappointed with this title. I felt like a good portion of the book was actually a travel guide to New York City. SO much on the streets and where everything is located. I get setting up your location and bringing the reader into the city with you, but this was overkill and distracted from the story. Although maybe that was the point as this story was a problem in itself. I couldn't care about any of the characters. He works so hard to overcome his bad upbringing only to throw it all away by making the same choices. It seemed like we were supposed to have sympathy for the character for being judged as a criminal low-life, but he WAS a criminal. It wasn't misjudgments based on the color of his skin. Everything about this was a miss for me and just didn't connect in anyway.

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Ray Carney is a family man and business owner, selling fine home furnishings on 125th Street. Ray and Elizabeth are expecting their second child and money is a little tight with all those sofas purchased in installments. He doesn’t have a problem cashing in on the occasional piece of jewelry his cousin Freddie brings to him, especially since he knows a discreet jeweler.

Things go too far when Freddie volunteers Ray to help out with a heist at the Hotel Theresa that naturally goes wrong. Now Ray’s respectable clientele is laced with dirty cops, local gangsters, and other shady Harlemites. Walking a razor fine line between upstanding businessman and crook, Ray has to maintain his reputation while also saving Freddie from a bad situation and cashing in on a big score.

This crime caper was an unexpected piece of historical fiction from Colson Whitehead. I enjoyed the family drama, double life, and heists as well as the atmosphere of 1955 Harlem richly layered within so many monumental events of the Civil Rights era.
That being said, it was lacking action in the moment with time jumps and back stories that try to carry the narrative. This leaves some incredibly interesting characters with little to do in propelling the story forward. Still, Harlem Shuffle is an entertaining caper full of authentic characters.

Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Harlem Shuffle is scheduled for release on September 14, 2021.

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Colson Whitehead is back with a darkly comedic crime novel after two rather heavy Pulitzer winners. But his voice and the emotional heft of his characters flourish in this type of story as well.

The book follows Ray Carney throughout the '60s as he walks the wire between being an upstanding family man and business owner and operating as a fence for the crooked world of Harlem criminals. Carney's tale is told in three acts, framed around three separate big 'jobs' he pulls. The scale, mood, and gravity of these jobs act as a metaphor for Carney's internal struggles as well as the changing landscape of Harlem in the mid-century.

Carney is a complex character and I loved being in his head. Surprisingly, I also ended up loving Pepper and what he brought to the page. I do wish there were more women as main characters in this book, especially Elizabeth. I wish she had been more developed.

A great book -- and classically Whitehead -- this gets three stars because while I enjoyed it, I don't think it will stick with me and chase my thoughts around my brain the way some of his other work has.

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With colorful characters and a fast moving pace, Harlem Shuffle is a multi-tiered novel that centers around Ray Carney, a man torn between being a respectable businessman/family man and an individual who keeps getting drawn into shady schemes, mostly involving his cousin Freddy. In addition to describing the various heists into which Carney gets ensnared, the novel describes Harlem in the 1950s and 1960s, chronicling the racial issues of the time, issues that continue and repeat to the present. Harlem Shuffle evokes a time and place that I was not familiar with, drawing me in from the beginning and keeping me absorbed throughout on Carney’s activities, the various social issues described, and the brief history of happenings in New York during the 50s and 60s.

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Are you reading this, Colson Whitehead? If you are, I'm sorry. I still like your writing.

But this one just didn't work for me. I like Whitehead, and I was looking forward to reading a book that's a little less harrowing than the last one, but I couldn't follow the plot, and didn't like the characters enough to find that a way to push through, so I gave up.

I'll try again on his next book.

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Ron Carney is just trying to get by in the (sometimes) mean streets of 1960s Harlem. His father was a crook, but he owns a furniture store and is, by his own estimation, "only slightly bent." His close cousin Freddy is pretty sketchy, though, and keeps pulling Carney into illegal activities. The first section takes place in 1959. Freddie gets involved in a robbery, and pulls Carney in to fence jewelry from it. The results are unexpected (as usually happens), and additionally make Carney into a serious fence, as well as giving him the opportunity of disposing of a corpse.

The 1961 section finds Carney expanding his business, while also attempting to join an elite social club. His rejection includes the extra sting of having paid a bribe that should have guaranteed acceptance. Like his father he holds a grudge, which he gradually builds to payoff. The 1964 section takes place against the background of the World's Fair and race riots. Freddy pulls Carney into a huge job, which Carney tries to resolve while protecting both of them. In the end he comes out all right, but Freddy does not. And so it goes. Ever striving, ever upward.

Carney is a truly colorful character, but the novel also includes several others. The main one is Pepper, a crook who had been an associate of his father's who also appears throughout in a supporting role. The novel starts out looking like one thing, but expands beyond that into a broader social history.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy.

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