Ray Carney is the proud owner of a furniture store in Harlem, on the straight and narrow after a childhood of questionable experiences, courtesy of his dad and his somewhat shady acquaintances. Ray’s going to be a dad himself for the second time in just a few short months, and he’s desperate to provide for his cherished wife, Elisabeth - in the way she’s accustomed to.

Colson Whitehead has written some other great books, including The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad which both won the Pulitzer Prize. The Underground Railroad has recently been made into a TV show from Oscar winning director Barry Jenkins. I have both of those on my TBR pile, and will definitely get around to reading those soon - I enjoyed Harlem Shuffle a lot.

It felt less like a novel and more a series of short stories with the same characters in it - tales of hotel heists and local heavies, riots and just trying to walk the line between keeping afloat in a legal way and sinking, either through trying to be clean or being drawn back into the rackets Ray’s dad was a well respected part of. This constant worry, this back and forth between handling some slightly warm ‘fell off the back of a van’ TV sets to being the getaway driver for a burglary, occupies much of Ray’s day to day thoughts and provides the motivation for his actions. He’s the main character, but we get to know a little about the other Harlem residents too. His staff, cousin, aunt, wife and her family. The movers and shakers in New York.

Ray is keen to join the local Black Gentleman’s Club, to take advantage of the connections and to be a bit closer to his sniffy father in law. There’s a hypocrisy highlighted in this, the ‘legal’ way to bypass laws, planning licences and to bolster your income. Is it really so different? Extortion from the police is just the same as extortion from the local crime boss’ heavies, a point Whitehead makes quite eloquently.

I’m not American, or Black, or born in the 1930s and living through the 1960s, but I could understand Ray’s life while learning about how he lives it. Harlem then felt vibrant and interesting, a tight knit community, but also dangerous and volatile. Ray sleeps in the furniture shop overnight when there are riots - seemingly fairly commonplace and he doesn’t seem to be that bothered. He’s calm and collected but he does make sure his employees are safe, which shows a caring, compassionate side beyond his wife and kids.

I’d recommend this to anyone who wants to read a novel which evokes 1960s Harlem, to be immersed in the world and to have Ray as a guide. Fans of other Whitehead novels, Elmer Leonard and/or Raymond Carver will enjoy too.
Thanks as always to Netgalley and to Little Brown Books for the DRC!

A change of genre and the first that I've read by this author, I really enjoyed this crime book from the author of the Underground Railroad. It is a delightful meander through 1960's Harlem, full of vibrancy and life, alongside a slow paced exploration of the desperation and racism that turns some people into criminals, so why not do the crime? Carney is a complex character and at times you want to shout No, don't do it, it won't end well, but he does it anyway. There are numerous other characters who are introduced carefully and slowly which is a refreshing change. In-between there are also important pieces of history of how Black people have been continually pushed aside in the name of gentrification, like the creation of central park that I was unaware of.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm of the mindset that if Colson has written it, then I must read it. And this book definitely did not prove me wrong; more than a love letter to 1950s Harlem, more than a crime thriller, "Harlem Shuffle" is a sociogram of this particular time and place.

This was my first Colston Whitehead book, and I was excited to read the latest novel by this award-winning author. However, I was rather disappointed. Not my favourite genre, I found this difficult to read and immerse myself in his world, perhaps because it was not a world I particularly wanted to inhabit, and I was irritated by the disconcerting time shifts. The characters were unlikeable and hard to identify with, and I realised I didn't really care what happened to them, even Carney, the protagonist. Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid.

A tale about Race, society and social injustice in 1960's Harlem.
A long book, filled with lots of characters.
''Good old American know-how on display, we di marvels, we do injustice, and our hands are always busy'

Colson Whitehead is a great writer, and this crime/heist-gone-wrong novel is stylish and atmospheric, rich with details that make it very evocative of 1960s Harlem. However, I wasn’t hugely absorbed by the plot, and it didn’t quite hold me the way Whitehead’s other books did.

This is the first Colson Whitehead book I’ve read. I like the language and descriptions but the book did not pull me into it. It’s not something I can put my finger on – just didn’t work for me.

Compelling and captivating, my first approach to Colson Whitehead and I can’t wait to jump into his previous novels.

I have never been to New York and as a white woman I’m aware that I will never fully understand what it feels like to be discriminated because of my skin, as I will never experience it first-hand. However, Whitehead is such a capable writer that line after line I felt like I was dropped in the middle of Harlem, walking right next to Raymond Carney uptown and downtown.

There’s crime, there’s human rights, there’s family drama. Being black in the early Sixties, when there’s a white New York and a black New York, Harlem being a world on its own within the biggest city in the world. How can a sensible furniture salesman and a wary crook live within the same person?

Carney has a tormented soul, he thinks he’s unwilling to compromise with his crooked side but quickly falls into the temptation of easy money. He’s not Big Mike, but not too dissimilar. He’s not Freddie, but equally naïve.

A very well crafted book. I would have liked to read a bit more of Elizabeth in the story; her character has so much potential, I wish she could have been a bit more involved.

Despite not being a favourite genre, I picked this up on the strength of the author. I was disappointed. I started out rooting for Carney, believing he’d chosen a better path in spite of his low-scale dabbling in illicit goods but he lost me with his quest for revenge and his numerous poor choices.

The way the story was sequenced was problematic too. You believe you’re in the here and now but then you read ‘That was two weeks after x/y/z.’ This occurred more than once and it became irritating.

And as for the plot? A series of enforced and voluntary ‘happenings’ (we all have a choice though in reality, don’t we?) which move Carney further and further away from the respectable citizen he wants the world to believe he is.

I was bored and didn’t have empathy for the characters but pushed on until the story reached its unsatisfactory conclusion.

Ray Carney is just trying to make ends meet, supporting his wife and a young family, mostly respectably. He sells furniture out of a shop in Harlem and only occasionally acts as a fence for his cousin Freddie and some shady connections. He tries to keep on the right side of the law, due to the shadow of his infamous crook father that looks large over his reputation and his history, and due also to his in laws who don't think he is deserving of his wife, Elizabeth. Harlem in the 1960s is at once a vibrant and welcoming presence, but also a site of unrest and riots and protest arent centre stage so much as a constant presence.


The blurb of Harlem Shuffle describes it as "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", and I don't know how better to explain it than it being all of these at once. As much as I love a good heist, some of the later events got a bit lost on me and I felt like I checked out, probably as I don't really read crime, but I stuck around because I was so interested in the family story and the narrative around race relations. Maybe the novel tries to do too much at once but I think it is mostly pulled of and Whitehead can probably write in any genre he likes.

What struck me most of all was his rolling, confident, cool prose. I had to read the first page aloud slowly to really savour it. I nearly wish I did that all along while reading as you can be so busy giving into the rhythm of the words that you're stopped dead by something striking and heartfelt.

I'm interested in how this novel fits with Whitehead's older work. I've only read the Underground Railroad, and still have the Nickel Boys on my shelf, but from what I've seen of his novel and of the series of the former directed by Barry Jenkins these three novels are part of a larger project, like the excavation of a black American (mostly male) experience and history, as are two other Jenkins films I loved, Moonlight and even more so If Beale Street Could Talk. Reading Harlem Shuffle as a historical novel that still feels very contemporary seems like a reclaimation of social and political history in mainstream conversation and by bringing different periods to life in historical fiction I like Whitehead even more. He reminds me of an American Sebastian Barry in how they both pay careful attention to marginalized stories in history (Irish loyalists in Barry's case) bringing them to the fore to see what they can tell us about a country today.

This was my first attempt at Colson Whitehead, and maybe I picked the wrong one. The title and blurb led me to expect a probably humorous, fast-paced crime caper with some commentary on race in America. And I think that is what he's attempting to do. However, the plot, if one exists, is entirely lost in a million digressions - people introduced, described at length to illustrate some facet of black life in Harlem or the North or the South, then discarded. All tell, no show, and immensely dull. How anyone can make a crime caper set in Harlem dull I don't know, but Whitehead has succeeded. By the 20% mark, a crime has taken place which we learn about after the event - Ray has bored on endlessly about how he wants to go straight, though he clearly doesn't, and the criminals have disguised themselves as a bunch of cartoons out of Tom & Jerry - cool cats in zoot suits. Maybe I'd have got on better with one of his more serious books - at least then he wouldn't be attempting humour, and failing. Abandoned at 21%.

Harlem Shuffle is not quite the slick, street-corner 3-card-monte hustle that I had expected from the title.

Ray Carney is the son of a drunken, small-time crook in 1950s Harlem, and as he grows up, he tries his very best to distance himself from this lifestyle. He studies incredibly hard, he lives in a frugal and law-abiding manner, and he manages to eke out the legitimate life of a used-furniture store owner for himself and his family. So far, so good. Unfortunately, his ne’er-do-well cousin Freddie (they grew up together and they are as close as brothers) often drags him into scrapes, and the novel opens with Freddie trying to use him as a fence for a big heist that could get them both killed by gangster thugs. Carney escapes this episode intact, and Part II opens some years later. Amazingly, this "only slightly bent" businessman still appears to be legitimate, but has actually become far more involved with the criminal fraternity, using the proceeds to finance an expansion of his day-time business.

Minor quibbles about the narrative include how unlikely it is that his highly-intelligent, well-educated wife (who was au fait with the dodgier parts of her own father's politicking) is so foolish as to miss all the hints that Carney was up to no good. Secondly, is cousin Freddie. Despite any childhood attachment, someone who had sacrificed as much as Carney would surely have kept this guy's shady dealings at a firm distance. Instead, he gets involved with him to an extent where he repeatedly puts his children's lives at risk.

Perhaps the author intends these flaws to show how divided Carney is himself, keeping the two sides of his personality so separate, even from himself. This, I think, only works if Carney is a metaphor for the city itself, its gradual and unceasing economic morphing (and, from the ending, this seems to be the case), but in real life, one part of a persona is always dominant.

And so we come to the essential dichotomy of the novel: it is a slow-burner heist and revenge story, where normally the pulp fiction genre would be fast-paced and snappy, and none of the characters, bar possibly Pepper, are totally convincing. Colson's research of, and homage to, the Harlem of the time is evocative and his descriptions are hauntingly beautiful, but there are areas where his tribute to the area detracts from the pace of the novel, and he just dwells too long on enumerating buildings and streets.

Thanks to NetGalley and The Publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The writing was good as I felt transported back to 1960's Harlem, so that aspect of it being part of the historical fiction genre was well done. But for me this wasn't 'a novel' but rather felt like 3 novellas in one volume. Yes there was a recurring set of characters from the 3 parts but the 3 parts didn't really feel connected. The characters didn't develop for me either but felt exactly the same throughout. Not terrible but my expectation were not met.

I have to confess I didn't really get along with this book.

The story itself is sound - in 1960s downtown Harlem, Ray Carney runs a furniture store, and succumbs to joining the criminal environment. He has to play off his domestic life with his wife and children against the requirements of the gangs he's caught up alongside.

I just didn't get along great with the characters, didn't care enough about them to care about the plot either.

Such a well written, smooth reading book. Anything Colson Whitehead writes is worth reading. This is not a heavy read but it is an acutely observed story centered around Ray Carney, a furniture store owner in Harlem. The son of a felon, he attends University, marries well and strives hard to make his legitimate business grow. However, he gets sucked into a sideline of fencing which escalates.Set in the sixties against a backdrop of racial unrest and street protests. He paints his characters well and one cannot help rooting for Carney all along the way. Enjoy.

Highly recommended. This is a shape-shifting novel in terms of genre. It is, as others have said, a narratively very clever. multi-layered mix. What is so extremely good about this is the forensic observation of 'place'. In fact, if anything, it is a case-in-point analysis of historic New York. The light-heartedness belies the political comment being made here about corruption, race and ultimately, morality. A wonderfully realised novel from a brilliant writer.

I chose this book having loved The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, and I was not disappointed. Colson is a fantastic writer, and his knowledge of the time and place really shone through. This felt a little lighter that The Nickel Boys, and ventured more into the sort of sprawling family saga/crime/ heist genre - it was thrilling and entertaining, but with a real historical heart. A lot of the tension arises from the difficulties Ray faces in trying to give his wife and family the life he feels they deserve, and he sees her family enjoying. He wants to be a successful Harlem businessman but is simultaneously tempted and held back by his criminal family members.
The whole book really shows the parallel lives going on in New York at the time, between the straight and crooked business deals, shops and fences, the way there can be race riots going in some streets with others completely unaffected, and how Ray is really living a double life. Will he be pulled into the criminal life as his father was or will he ever make it by going straight?

This is the first novel that I’ve read by Colson Whitehead but it won’t be my last. It took me some time to get into Harlem Shuffle but once I did, the pages started to turn quickly and I couldn’t help but wonder how it would all turn out for Ray Carney. It’s not easy for him being just a little bit crooked, paying off this one and owing that one favours.

This is a detailed book set in Harlem between 1959 and 1964. Ray Carney, the owner of a furniture store tries to keep a balance between being a straight up business man, good husband and father but he grew up with a crooked father and knows how to maneuver in that world while at the same time trying to prove that he is worthy of his wife Elizabeth and his two children. Elizabeth’s world is more genteel with a father that looks down on Ray.

There is a whole array of characters with cleverly written personalities to help move this story along. There’s Ray himself, his cousin Freddie who always seems to be in some sort of situation or another, Pepper, who is crooked but respectful. There is Elizabeth, her mother and father, Aunt Millie, the reminder of Ray’s father Mike and his background and many more. All of them give us a vivid insight into the lives of our main protagonist and what it takes to move ahead in world that seems set against him.

This is very different from the usual type of books that I read but the characters played on my mind and I would wonder what happens to Ray in the end, would he get caught up in something he couldn’t get himself out of? Would Elizabeth find out what he was up to or did she already know? What would become of Freddie? Would Ray finally get to move to a new apartment with his family? All in all I enjoyed reading it and will definitely being looking into reading more of Colson Whitehead.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for the copy of Harlem Shuffle to me in exchange for my honest review.

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead.

Harlem Shuffle is the latest novel from two time Pulitzer Prize winner, Whitehead.
Set in Harlem in the 1960s, it’s the story of Ray Carney, married with a young family and owner of a furniture shop. Ray wants a better life for his family , he’s hardworking and ambitious but his reasonably priced furniture business doesn’t bring in enough money and life doesn’t go to plan and Ray finds himself drawn into other ways to make money.

Colson Whitehead calls this novel “a love letter to Harlem” . He recreates Harlem of the 1960s in these pages with such vividness as the backdrop to Ray’s story , weaving astute social commentary about race and power through this family/ crime novel.

I’m conflicted about my thoughts on this one. Whitehead is an incredible author, every sentence crafted perfectly, this book reads authentically and his meticulous research and knowledge shines from everything I’ve read by him but something holds me back from connecting with his characters. This was very much the case with this book.

It took me two attempts to read it and I had to push myself to continue reading, although I did enjoy the book more as it went on.The setting and social commentary in the background of this story were my favourite part. The plot and characters, not so much.

A solid , well written novel but lacked something for me as a reader.

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I thought I couldn’t love Colson Whitehead’s writing more, but I do!
Harlem Shuffle has everything: gripping heist plot, beautifully detailed depiction of Harlem in the 60s, lovingly drawn living, breathing characters and so exquisitely written.
It’s vibrant, serious, funny and tender. And like me, you’ll probably find yourself rooting for Ray Carney!
It’s a stunning study of poverty, race and power - set in the past, but just as relevant today.
Everybody, read this book! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC