Harlem Shuffle is my first Colson Whitehead and I’m glad I had the opportunity to read this book. It is set over a decade from the later 1950s in Harlem, New York and follows the life and dealings of Ray Carney. Ray is the son of a local crook, who despite setting himself on the path of the straight and narrow, describes himself as only slightly bent when it comes to being crooked. He owns a furniture store and has big dreams for making it a success for himself and his family, so its perfectly reasonable that he will accept used goods from people to sell in his store, no questions asked. But one day, Ray’s troublesome cousin Freddie drops his name Miami Joe, a bigger fish in the crooked set of Harlem and so begins a slippery slope in plotting and working in the darker side of his community with higher stakes and further to fall if it all goes wrong.
I really enjoyed this book, it is set in three parts, each a few years apart, and over the years in his everyday life, Ray builds up a successful business but he is also developing his other, secretive side and risks losing everything he has strived for. Once I got into this story and all its many colourful characters, some with absolutely brilliant names (Miami Joe, Bumpy Johnson to name a couple) I found myself compelled to read more and towards the ending was dreading what I thought was coming next. Whitehead paints a realistic picture of Harlem during these times and really brings the setting of his story to life, the community and its people, the hustle and bustle of life here and the racial tensions between the Harlem community and the other parts of New York city. Overall, this is a thoroughly enjoyable trip through 1950s/1960s Harlem and the hidden community within its streets.

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.

Really enjoyed this book. Ray Carney’s dad was a crack crook, but Carney’s dream is to be an entrepreneur with a chain of successful furniture stores but, his cousin Freddie keeps bringing him back to the dark side. They get into loads of trouble, their lives at stake, while Carney maintains his role as a family man with a sound business, trying to keep his two lives separate. Found this really evocative of Harlem as I imagine it would have been in the 50's too. Will look to read other works by this author.

A sweeping, irony-filled dark comedy on ambition, racism, class, revenge.

Carney is a furniture seller in Harlem. Coming from a crooked family but ambitiously striving for respectability and status, he has gone to college, opened a shop and married a black woman from a higher social class, whose parents, however, look down on him. Brilliantly flawed, beneath his respectable facade he has maintained a crooked side to his business -- just to round-up a little bit. Things come to a head when he finds himself entangled in a heist, involving a robbery at Theresa, Harlem’s version of the Waldorf Astoria.

I enjoyed Carney’s flawed logic and the way he absolves himself, his ambition and desire for vendetta. The family drama and the heist side of the plot are interesting but unroll slowly, nearly a pretext, and tend to get lost in the details and the asides; but above all, I loved the vibrant, fine-grained reconstruction of 1960-ies Harlem (and Manhattan, thanks to the characters’ forays into the city, from Radio Row, Times Square, Upper East Side) caught in a period of social change up to the Harlem riots. The rendering of the hustle and bustle is simply glorious, it makes you feel you are there or want to be there; and even the fact that Carney owns a furniture store allows for more immersion and nostalgia as we visualise the environments and details, from the dinettes to the futuristic space-age sofas. Whitehead maps the different streets and neighbourhoods and introduces us to all types, from “strivers”, appropriately residing on Strivers’ Row, to “crooks” as he perceptively highlights the class differences within the Black community in a sociographic analysis that eschews stereotypes and is always peppered with soul, character and colour.

The way Whitehead tells this story reminded me of one of those mafia movies where the main character tells the back story and reveals his hidden crookedness with irony and nostalgia. Very different from The Nickel Boys, which was more propulsive, solemn and streamlined and used a direct, accessible language. At times one feels there is too much detail in which the reader can get lost; yet the storytelling, the use of slang, the pitch, the way he puts things is nothing short of superb and had me highlight quotes over quotes, just to be able to savour them.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book

The first time I gave this book a shot, I got 26% of the way through and realised that I had little to no idea what had happened so far. I gave it a few weeks then started again from the beginning, hoping I’d be able to soak a bit more of it up. This morning, as I hit 30%, my feelings were much the same as before. I’d paid more attention but don’t feel invested enough in any of the characters’ stories to continue reading. I think I’ll give it a third shot at some stage in the future though! p

I was so excited to read this after having loved Colson Whitehead’s last two novels.

We’re in 1960s Harlem, following the life of two cousins Freddie and Carney. In part a love story with the city, part murder mystery and part a story of racial injustice. I was transported to Harlem, the descriptions were incredibly detailed and nuanced. Whitehead’s writing style is outstanding but unfortunately the plot just didn’t engage me as much as I’d hoped.

There are a whole cast of characters, many of which were quite caricatured. I found it a little difficult to really get invested or connect with any of the characters but enjoyed following their stories nonetheless.

The majority of the story is a battle between Carney’s straight and crooked sides, a constant self-battle with lots of crime to tempt Carney from his straight side.

Overall, a more light hearted read than I expected. I liked this but didn’t love it, I think i’d hyped it too much for myself. I would still recommend for anyone who likes punchy, political reads with less focus on dialogue and character engagement and more on descriptions.

I'm afraid I just couldn't get into this. The constant digression into the past, which I did not find engaging, stopped any pace from developing. I've not read any books by this author, but I might try The Underground Railroad to see what it's like - he is a highly rated author after all.

I’ve loved the author’s other books but this one was possibly even better. Rich and detailed but so well-plotted. Masterful.. This novel deserves the enormous praise it is receiving. It is rightly acclaimed – I haven’t read another book like it and don’t think I will again for a long time.

Rarely does a novel succeed so well in transporting me to a different time and place. Atmosphere is so important to the reading experience and walking through Harlem early 1960s was what I enjoyed most: the buildings, the corners, the furniture, the conversations and aspirations of its citizens.

It also has something nostalgic and romantic; love for a place that no longer exists. The drug epidemic and extreme violence of later decades are still in their infancy and there is an innocence to the naïve, small time crooks doing their ‘odd jobs’, where bringing a gun is still something extraordinary.

Where The Nickel Boys made me feel down for days, this has the opposite effect: it is light-hearted, optimistic and has great humour, despite the constant dread and suspense in the plot as the fortunes of our protagonist might turn at any point.

As a reader you feel very comfortable in the hands of an author that is completely in control; the plot is intricate but you know there will be no loose ends. The sentences are short and simple but very precise. The characters are so colourful that I wish there would be a follow-up. It is a crime novel, so their emotions are not blown up and endlessly drawn out, but remain below the surface for the reader to imagine: pride, ambition, revenge, but also love, solidarity, justice.

5 starts without a doubt.

Outstanding writing, capturing the essence of Harlem through an interesting array of characters. Carney's meanderings throughout his city are a joy to behold.

It’s easy to find caricatures of life in Harlem, ridden with criminality, gang warfare, drugs, sex and sleaziness all set against a background of sleazy clubs and a broken down environment but, instead, Colson Whitehead has the knack of evoking a portrait of an authentic and vibrant city area emerging and changing over the years.

Ray Carney acts as the link across three episodes set in 1959, 1961 and 1964. He has a furniture store in Harlem and because he’s into buying and selling there is a little bit of criminal fencing on the side but, at heart, he’s just a guy trying to make a living and a life for himself and his family. He has a cousin, Freddie, who is more likely to be found on the wrong side of the tracks and another linking theme is his capacity to drag Ray into serious trouble.

Harlem is changing over the five years covered by the story as it gradually becomes a place of opportunities rather than decline. Race rights and the emerging Civil Rights movement speed up the pace of redevelopment with the old areas flattened and real estate suddenly having a new value. The criminal class changes as well with, firstly, Miami Joe moving in from Florida for some action but later it is corporate lawyers who are making waves. There’s always money to be made and debts to be settled.

What the book does well is to present Harlem as a living community with people living out their lives. This isn’t a gangster story or a murder mystery despite a fair sprinkling of both. However, the changing face of the place at what must have been a period of political, social and criminal upheaval is nicely evoked as the story rattles along. It’s a good read.

Really enjoyed this; read it in three big chunks (not quite aligned with the sections of the book but it felt neat!)

As someone who is not a particularly visual reader, I was struck by how much sensory grounding Whitehead does throughout the text. Everything feels clear: actions, settings, reactions, all clean, clear and tangible for the reader. Again I prefer a novel that is able to combine stylish prose with a plot and with movement; Whitehead absolutely delivers. There are gorgeous phrasings but the characters are all fully drawn, their motivations understandable and revealed to the reader.

Carney is the heart of the novel, a new father and furniture dealer, never quite stepping out of his father's crooked legacies of petty crime and revenge. There's a lot of warm consideration of fatherhood, of building a life, a name and a partnership alongside some really gratifying capers (it's a light word for the crimes explored in the novel but I think it indicates Whitehead's deftness with tone).

From the Theresa heist to dénoûment of the novel you can get a sense of Harlem shifting as Carney shifts, it's carefully drawn parallels to contemporary experiences never feeling heavy handed. I particularly loved the descriptions of Carney's reintroduction to dorveille, the witching hour, as well as Pepper's narrative every so often rewinding so as to broaden our readerly perspective.

Highly enjoyable as a crime novel, as a historical novel, as a character piece and exploration of setting - but more than all of these parts it's a well constructed propulsive read.

Like Colson Whitehead’s excellent ‘The Nickel Boys’, ‘Harlem Shuffle’ is a crime novel infused with rich commentary on racism in the United States. It’s not quite as good as the earlier book, but it still has a lot to recommend it.
Split into 3 distinct acts, the book follows the life of Ray Carney, an outwardly respectable New York furniture salesman who has a sideline in dealing in stolen goods. Ray’s cousin Freddie is even more deeply involved with local criminals, and gradually drags Ray down with him.
This is the best kind of book, one that mixes a compelling story with convincing characters and beating heart. Its power comes from the fact that Ray is a completely believable protagonist. His subtle mix of hardworking honesty and criminality makes perfect sense once you get to know him as a character, despite the apparent contradiction. The three way tension between doing the right thing for his cousin, doing the right thing for his wife and children and making easy money is both convincing and a useful plot device. The second act of the book, which revolves around the concept of Ray waking in the middle of the night to work on the books relating to his activities as a fence, handles this particularly well.
The story is set against the vivid backdrop of black New York in the 1960s. The detail is rich but never overwhelms the story and the blend of every day life and the fight for racial justice is brilliantly done. The civil rights movement is part of the lives of the characters, but only part - they still have to work and eat. Riots in Harlem play a big part later on in the book, but as something that is happening around the characters rather than an event they are actively involved in. Whitehead’s skill as a writer is in making the reader reflect on injustice without laying it on too thickly. His stories are about people first and foremost, which makes them all the more impactful.

Having read "The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead, I really wanted to read another of his books. However "Harlem Shuffle" just didn't have the same emotional connection. This might be down to the material - set in 1960s Harlem but I didn't engage with any of the characters and didn't feel a sense of place.

Edgy and lyrical. In Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle, there’s a feeling of nostalgia with its tone of pared-down awareness, melancholy, and moments of humor that sums up Ray Carney’s push-and-pull life and the world of Harlem.

Whitehead does a superb job in not only capturing the mood but also the times—1960s Harlem—where Harlem is at the intersection of upward mobility, big city bustle, shine and grime, vibrant entertainment, hustlers, violent criminals, class disparities, multiculturalism, racism, and the Civil Rights Movement.

Equally important to the plot is character development and overall vibe of the story. And at times the plot becomes secondary to the other two. At those moments, the book reads like a memoir (in 3rd person). Or like a social and cultural commentary in poetic form.

This was my first experience reading Whitehead’s work. It felt slow at times but overall I’d recommend it. Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Colson Whitehead demonstrates his range again here for with this study of a furniture salesman - and his sidelines - in a Harlem that’s rapidly changing through the late 1950s and early 60s.
Arguably small in scope, but rich in character and in painting a vivid view of Harlem, crime, politics and civil rights - all through the lens of the main character and his family, and their own aspirations.
I found Harlem Shuffle deeply absorbing, but also warm, amusing, and at times moving. Thoroughly recommended. .

I don't consider myself an expert on C. Whitehead partly because I've only read three of his books, but I certainly wasn't expecting this one, which seems almost like a funny book, as much as there are tragic moments as well. Let's just say that I was so taken aback by the plot that I can't really tell if I'm disappointed by my own expectations because I thought it would be a different book or if, on the contrary, I didn't like it that much, regardless of what I was expecting.

Non mi considero un'esperta di C. Whitehead anche perché ho letto solo tre dei suoi libri, ma certamente non mi aspettavo questo, che sembra quasi un libro comico, per quanto ci siano anche momenti tragici. Diciamo pure che la trama mi ha talmente preso in contropiede che non saprei ben stabilire se sono delusa dalle mie stesse aspettative perché lo pensavo un libro diverso o se invece, non é che mi sia poi piaciuto tanto, a prescindere da quello che mi aspettavo.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

I thought Harlem Shuffle was excellent. The Underground Railroad was truly outstanding; this is different in tone but just as good, I think.

Set in 1959 to 1964 Ray Carney is a nearly-respectable furniture store owner in Harlem, where shady dealings and outright criminality are never far away. We see Ray’s story develop as he strives to do well for his family (including his deeply dodgy cousin Freddie) and behind the facade he becomes drawn more into Harlem’s underworld while trying to maintain a legitimate business.

It’s a very well told story with wholly believable characters and an engaging protagonist in Ray as he tries to negotiate the tough realities of life in Harlem. I think the publisher’s blurb is a little misleading in describing it as “gloriously entertaining” and “hilarious.” It is a very engaging, enjoyable read, but it’s a novel with real social and political content, as you would expect from Colson Whitehead. The picture of Harlem is remarkably good, and the background of a corrupt city which runs on influence, payoffs and kickbacks (the “exchange of envelopes”) and the racism of the time are extremely well done. Whitehead never becomes solemn or preachy, which often makes the ingrained, everyday nature of it all the more powerful – with obvious present-day resonances. For example, the wit of having the 1964 riots described by a thug who is annoyed because the mayhem means that he can’t buy a sandwich for lunch is brilliant, I think, but it doesn’t detract one jot from the horror and rage sparked by yet another black child being shot dead by a white policeman with impunity.

This is, in short, a great read. It is gripping and entertaining while having genuine weight and I can recommend it very warmly.

(My thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Another great book from Colson Whitehead, which gives the reader a good flavour of the challenges of living Harlem during the 1960s. Colson does a brilliant job of giving you the feel of being in Harlem.

Ray Carney is presented as a reputable furniture salesman in Salem, but finds himself involved in various crime situations as the book progresses and he has to box clever in order to try to keep himself out of big trouble with both the police and organisations within Harlem.

I absolutely loved the very feel of the book and the conundrums created by the author. As usual with Colson Whitehead he gets you fully involved with the book and the characters, and then plays with your emotional heart strings and there is a sad element to the story as you would expect.

I would strongly recommend this book to those that like high quality fiction. I personally cannot wait for his next book.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publishers for providing a copy of this book for me, for an an open and honest review.

I was provided with a free ebook copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for this.

Wow.

This book was fantastic.

Set in the late 50s/early 60s this book follows Ray Carney, a furniture salesman living in Harlem. By day he sells furniture but by night he often finds himself involved in petty and not so petty crime. He sells second hand items he knows are stolen and so on. He ends up in deep on several occasions.

I think the major themes in this book are how Ray sees himself quite differently to the reality of how he behaves and also how it's easy to get away with crime if you are rich but not so easy for the little guy.

This book provides such a vivid image of Harlem during that time period, you will feel like you are there. The author also provides a lot of background, even for minor characters which makes the story feel very rich. It took me a while to read this one, but I savoured every moment.

I found the ending anticlimactic but still thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would recommend.

It's also not as dark as Colson Whitehead's latest two books.