Cover Image: Harlem Shuffle

Harlem Shuffle

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

This was my first foray into the work of Colson Whitehead, and now I'm wondering why it's taken me so long to read one of his books.

Harlem Shuffle is touted as a crime novel and while it has elements of the genre (average family man choosing between the straight and crooked path, the seedy underbelly of the City, organized crime, and you know, a heist or two), there is much more going on here. Family dynamics, the American Dream, racism, and police brutality. In fact, you could hold a mirror up to the descriptions of the Harlem Race Riot of 1964 and see the protests from this past summer. If not much has changed in 60 years, is it fair to call this historical fiction either?

Whitehead's writing also offers more than your average crime fiction and provides a strong sense of time and place. He takes the reader down avenues of backstory in as seamless a manner as our protagonist, Ray Carney, navigates his familiar streets of New York. Anyone who has loved a city for all its good and bad will find a likeminded companion in Carney.

Overall a great read that will stick with you long after you've finished.

Was this review helpful?

I love the way Colson Whitehead writes. He's so descriptive in ways that you just don't get to read every day. The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys were so good, and I really looked forward to reading this book that takes a fresh look at historical fiction both in the story being told and in the location. Set in Harlem in the late fifties and early sixties. we find Ray Carney as a furniture salesman just wanting to provide enough for his growing family so that he will eventually get out of this neighborhood that is full of crime and mischief. Carney unwittingly finds himself on the fringe of both no matter how much he tries to avoid it. And then there's his cousin Freddie, as close as a brother, but he sure doesn't help things. Unfortunately, this book dragged for me. As exciting as the premise is, it didn't keep me turning the pages as most of his books do. I found myself bored, waiting for the next high spot that seemed to be just out of reach. The character development was superb. The historical aspect was interesting and gave perspective to what happened a few years later in our country's history. The crime and unrest were rampant everywhere. But in Harlem? It went to different levels. Mr. Whitehead brought those things I had only read about in news stories to vivid life in these pages. But those moments were few and far between for me as I read through this book. So while I did enjoy many parts of this story, they weren't enough to keep me consistently entertained. That doesn't mean that I won't be looking forward to other books by this author. I know how good he is at his craft. Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Publishing for my advance copy.

Was this review helpful?

This story centers on Ray Carney, a man in late 50s and early 60s Harlem, NYC. Ray is a determined man. He wants to be a straight shooter and not crooked like his father. Harlem Shuffle is a vivid portrayal of Carney's life in Harlem. The city and the streets come alive so the reader feels transported to the time and place. This book was written in third person, so it was very easy to see the thoughts and motivations behind each character, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It made each character nuanced and, in my opinion, brought each of them more to life. This story brought up a lot of important topics, including upward mobility, race, crime, and social justice. I feel like this is a hard novel to review, as it delved into so much. It was not a fast read, as you have to pay attention to the subtleties woven throughout, but it is one that I would recommend without hesitation

Was this review helpful?

Great characters in this historically and geographically accurate tale from Uptown Manhattan (and other parts of the City) in the 1950s and 60s. Page turning, riveting with unforgettable characters and the fantastic prose we've come to love from Whitehead. Read this book!!

Was this review helpful?

I have truly enjoyed Colson Whitehead's other books so I knew that would be the case again. Harlem Shuffle disappointed me slightly with the pace of the story, especially at the beginning. It picks up in the middle but you have to trudge on to get there.

The way Colson Whitehead describes the surroundings makes you believe you're actually in the 50's and 60's. It's a family saga that takes place in Harlem and how morality can be doubled depending on the situation. I would definitely read this author again

Was this review helpful?

This is the first novel I have read by Colson Whitehead but it won't be the last. Set in Harlem between 1959 and 1964, the book is billed as a "crime novel," which is true, but that is only part of the story. The story is focused on Ray Carney, a furniture salesman and part-time fence, who starts out the book being only "slightly bent" but who becomes more successful the more that he "bends" as the novel progresses. But within that context the book is also about the relationships between fathers and sons, a history of Harlem (particularly during the race riots which bear a strong resemblance to recent protests against police officers who have murder black men and women without being prosecuted), and a broader social commentary about how "[t]his country's founded on taking other people's shit," particularly when that "shit" belongs to people of color. Clever plot, beautiful language, relevant political commentary on race relations and fully-developed characters made this book hard to put down.

Highly recommended. 5/5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I have heard such amazing things about Colson Whitehead as an author so I couldn't wait to get my hands on Harlem Shuffle! This is definitely a slower book than I expected (I tend to read lots of fast-paced thrillers) but the story and character development is divine.

Was this review helpful?

Colson Whitehead can write, that is for sure! However, I was not a fan of this story. I liked the main character, Carney, a lot, and was invested in his story, but it was a bit too crime fiction for me. Carney is a New Yorker who comes from a shady background, but is determined to make a life for himself and his growing family that is on the right side of the law. He gets constantly sucked into things by his wayward cousin. I liked how Whitehead included the history of New York City in the 50's and 60's. That was fascinating. I will continue to read this author-you can tell he does a lot of research and has written about many different time periods, but this story was not my favorite of his.

Was this review helpful?

One of Colson Whitehead's literary gifts is his ability to make things come alive. His recreation of late '50's Harlem is incredible, the good the bad and the ugly. I' ve never been there, but he referenced things even I recognized as authentic and real (the Apollo Theatre, most notably). Loved it!

Was this review helpful?

This sentence from the publisher’s description is so spot on that I could not find better words - “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.” Some reviewers opined that they were disappointed because they believed this book was about a heist, but it was certainly not advertised that way. Yes there is a heist and it does start the ball rolling for Ray’s interaction with a host of bad guys, some just bad and some REALLY bad, but the story is so much more. This is my first Colton Whitehead book and I will definitely go back and explore his earlier work. His writing is just amazing and he paints such a visual picture that you are drawn into both the story and atmosphere. Much could be said about the Harlem that he portrays and sadly how much it mirrors our world today, in race relations, political machinations and the struggle of the little guy to get ahead in a world that is stacked against him.

But, the story did start to wane and while the writing remained consistently beautiful there seemed to be just a little too much filler, words that didn’t seem important to the ultimate outcome. Overall though a well crafted story that should be enjoyed by all.

I received an ARC from the publisher Doubleday Books, through NetGalley, and I appreciate the opportunity to read this excellent book.

Was this review helpful?

Colson Whitehead never disappoints, and in the early-sixties novel Harlem Shuffle he has created another singular character in Raymond Carney, Harlem furniture store owner who's a little bit crooked. He comes by it genetically... at first. Whitehead is a master when it comes to placing his characters into an historical moment and playing out their stories within and among the people, places, and events of the time. The reader always emerges with a truer sense of what really happened because Whitehead puts us inside the experience.

Whitehead's power as a novelist continues to grow, and the world is better for it. I only hope he's got more on the way for us. He is a national treasure.

Was this review helpful?

I found this novel to have great writing but a disjointed story. It has lots and lots of descriptions of people, places, and things—too much at times when they don’t really pertain to story being told. I did like the historical view of Harlem and NYC, as well as the beginnings of the civil rights movement in the 60s. The strongest part is the character development…I really felt like I knew these people and cared about what happened to them.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC to read and review.

Was this review helpful?

Smooth Operator. At times Ray Carney is one smooth operator, who is frequently thrown off the rails by his cousin Freddie. They have a “Laurel and Harry Routine, whereby Freddie talks Ray into an “ill-advised scheme” and then they try to outrun the consequences. This tango has been going on since they were young boys and a certain dependence and loyalty has been Ray’s constant companion. Freddie mostly disappears, goes into hiding , leaving Ray to bob and weave, protect and preserve. Ray has a business degree from Queens College, a business selling furniture and a fence or two, one for the small stuff another for the the more important merchandise. If his wife were to find out about that last bit she would take the children and leave him.

NYC is changing and everyone has to keep up or fall behind - Ray Carney recognizes the signs and knows he has to adapt. He is a smart man with great powers of reason. He hides a lot from his family and some from himself until he understands where he stands and how he got there. Where he goes next seems as if it had been charted without his input. Circumstances drag him into and along paths crossed by mini and major gangsters, corrupt cops, protection muscle, egotistical whites and blacks.

The writing is smooth, there is a rhythm, a cadence which matches the story and while I didn’t rip through the pages I enjoyed turning each one. Thank you NEtGalley and Doubleday for a copy.

Was this review helpful?

Harlem Shuffle is the newest novel by Colson Whitehead. I absolutely loved Underground Railroad and Nickel Boys and was super excited to be gifted with an advanced readers copy of this one. Unlike the above mentioned novels, this one has a different vibe to it. The novel is broken in to 3 time periods between 1959-1964 and Ray Carney is our main guy. He's a married man with a wife he loves, baby girl and another on the way. He runs a furniture store in Harlem and most of his business is legit...mostly. Unfortunately he gets caught up in a "job" with his cousin Freddie, who is involved with some shady people doing some shady work. In the aftermath of the "Theresa job", Carney is stuck dealing with some unsavory characters and does his best to keep it from his family and especially from his in-laws who feel like their daughter could have done much better. Just when Carney thinks his past is behind him, cousin Freddie gets him involved in another shady situation that leads to some dangerous situations.

This novel paints a vivid picture of life in Harlem during the early 1960's. Carney is a guy who you want to root for but then he keeps making these questionable decisions and I was like, "Why, Carney? Why?" The novel shows how difficult it was to be black businessman in post WWII America whether to stay clean and poor or try to move up in the world by making few shady deals on the side. The characters are so flawed and so very well developed. And Carney? He's a good man, trying to create a good life for his family and build a better reputation for himself than his father had.

It took me awhile to get into this story.. There were A LOT of characters to keep straight and I couldn't keep track of who was who until I was well into the story. By the third part, I was truly invested in the characters and found myself rooting for Carney and hoping he could somehow be Freddie's savior and detangle himself from the mess he was caught up in.

Thank you to Netgalley and Doubleday Books for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This review can also be found on IG @maria.needs.to.read and on my Goodreads account.

Was this review helpful?

"From the Skyline’s thirteenth-floor windows you could take in the lights of the George Washington Bridge one way, the Triborough another way, and the sentinel Empire State Building to the south. Top of the world."

Harlem Shuffle invites the reader to explore 1950s-1960s Harlem, New York, from the perspective of Ray Carney, a Black furniture salesman and family man. Carney prides himself on working hard, making an honest living, and not being "crooked," as are many of his contemporaries who make their way as con artists and petty thieves. But everything changes when Carney gets dragged into a heist of a major hotel and finds himself on the opposite side of things...

"It never occurred to him that things would go wrong, that the caper would go sideways and there would be consequences. There were always consequences."

The midcentury Harlem setting is the star of the show here. Colson Whitehead brings the neighborhood to life with vibrant descriptions of the culture, the sights & sounds, the bars & diners, the real history layered throughout. The details are utterly atmospheric and all but bodily transport the reader into another time and place.

"No New Frontier stretched before him, endless and bountiful—that was for white folks—but this new land was a few blocks at least and in Harlem a few blocks was everything. A few blocks was the difference between strivers and crooks, between opportunity and the hard scrabble."

Whitehead's characters are brilliantly diverse, not only demographically but in personality. We see the lowlifes seeding the Harlem neighborhoods with corruption and crime, the social climbers strategizing to keep up with the Joneses, and everything in between. These characterizations brought the story to life in incredibly authentic ways and kept me interested.

"The way he saw it, living taught you that you didn’t have to live the way you’d been taught to live. You came from one place but more important was where you decided to go."

Harlem Shuffle is funny, gritty, immersive, and nuanced, and offers rich social commentary on race, class, integrity, and morality. A delight to read and an insightful novel to think about & discuss afterward. Highly recommended!

——

A huge thank you to Colson Whitehead, Doubleday Books, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Was this review helpful?

I received a digital advance copy of Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead. Harlem Shuffle is scheduled for release on September 14, 2021.

Harlem Shuffle was presented to me as a heist novel, which meant I went into the book with certain expectations. This ended up causing some trouble for me as a reader, as this isn’t really a heist novel. Rather it is a story about the Little Man versus Big Crime. There is a heist in the novel, but it occurs very early in the book, and is only described in passing. This story is really about the waves that radiate out for many years after the heist, and how one man (not a part of the heist) deals with those waves.

Since I was expecting a heist novel, I was waiting for the heist to occur. When a heist was described, but as an event that didn’t involve our main character, and occurred fully off-page, I thought that heist was part of the set-up leading to the actual heist of the story. This feeling of waiting for the real event to happen made it difficult for me to get invested in the story. Ultimately, it also made the actual story feel flat to me. Again, this was entirely due to the expectations I had when I started reading, and most likely does not represent the actual story.

The story also covers enough time and introduces enough characters that I got a bit lost in terms of who was who. I think this was also connected to me reading the novel as if it were set-up to an event rather than the repercussions of an event.

Despite the issues I encountered while reading the story, there was an interesting tale here of the fall out from a group of small time criminals pulling a heist that impacted members of big crime.

I recommend Harlem Shuffle for readers looking for a historic crime novel. Just don’t go in expecting a true heist story!

Was this review helpful?

Another excellent read from Colson Whitehead! Taking place in Harlem in the 50s and 60s, Harlem Shuffle puts the reader right in the middle of all of the action. I could have closed my eyes and been there myself. We take a journey with Ray, the son of a criminal. Ray is a respected business owner in the community, but continues to follow in his father's footsteps. Ray wants to do and be good, but there are so many other opportunities out there. He wants to be the best husband and father, but how can he do this? The characters in this story just come to life as we take this journey with Ray and his family.
This book is not as heavy as Whitehead's previous two books. It is an entertaining visit to a place and time that many of us did not experience. An easy, enjoyable read for all!
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

Was this review helpful?

"Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked..."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?

By now we are all familiar with the name Colson Whitehead. In the book reviews posted by other authors and professional reviewers, the double Pulitzer prize winner is a must-read on everyone's TBR list. One review stated that Whitehead had won all the major writing awards with the exception of "the Edgar"; the prestigious award given to those in the horror/fantasy genre. So I expected something with a paranormal bent to it. Not so. Not even in the same section of the book store. Not to say this book wasn't good, just not what I was lead to believe I was going to find.
The story was slow but still interesting. Whitehead gives a view of '60's Harlem so vividly one would think he lived there as the famed New York neighborhood went through its changes and growing pains.
Personally, this book did little for me. I just could not get invested in the main character or his dilemma of keeping the two halves of his life separate. He was no more moral or immoral than any other businessman or crook out there. He worked for what he wanted and had little regard for which side of the law he stood on. Carney may have spent a lot of time worrying he was going down the wrong path, but he never hesitated when it was time to cross to that side of the street.
I have little doubt this will debut at number one on the NY Times book list, but will it be for the name Colson Whitehead or because the book is that good. I say the former will be the reason.
Thanks to @Netgalley and Doubleday Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Was this review helpful?

I honestly have to admit this my first novel by Colson Whitehead, and having heard and read phenomenal reviews about The Underground Railroad and the Nickel Boys, I was delighted to receive and ARC of Harlem Shuffle.

I'm not sure how to classify the genre of this novel. It doesn’t seem to fit a preset mold. All I can say is that it feels like a really strange book. It took me a very long time from beginning to end, always an indication that I can't really get into a book.

I also took this novel as an opportunity to learn more about Harlem and its history. While reading it however, it became very hard to keep up with the descriptions and the settings. There is a lot of "everything": Lots of characters, multiple side stories, many jumps from the present to the past and back to the present in a single paragraph and without any hints. I found hard to maintain focus and to comprehend where the stories were leading, I feel like I was constantly trying to scrimmage the main plot from the secondaries without much success. Everything and everyone in this book pulls in different directions and it felt to me like the main line lacked cohesion.

I'm still looking forward to read other works by Whitehead.
Thank you #netgalley #colsonwhitehead #harlemshuffle for the chance to read and review this book

Was this review helpful?

We first meet business owner, furniture salesman, and sometimes middleman for moving electronics and jewelry of unknown origin Ray Carney in 1959 when he is unwittingly roped into a hotel jewelry heist thanks to his cousin, Freddie. Over the next five years, we see him walk the line of businessman and crook as he builds his business (and side business), gets revenge on those who look down on him, and tries to protect his family--including Freddie who brings trouble whenever he appears. It's a slow burn of a thriller that brings Harlem of the '60s to life and makes you want to know more about the truth of how NYC was really built--and at what cost.

Was this review helpful?