I’ll start with what I loved- the writing in this book is pure Colson. Always a treat to enjoy his unique comparisons and vivid descriptions.

Unfortunately, I found this one tough to follow and not a terribly cohesive story. Perhaps it’s just me and how I like to enjoy a story, but the jumps in time were loosely connected and it felt like skimming the surface instead of diving into the characters.

Ray Carney is a furniture store owner in 1960's Harlem whose straddling the line between the honest life with his wife and kids and the crooked life as a fence. His cousin Freddie is no help in his endeavors to follow the honest path, but the money earned from his work as a fence will help to give his family a more comfortable life. As we follow him through pieces of his life as a fence, we learn that the two halves aren't as separate for him, or anybody else, as he would like to believe.

If you go into this book wanting a good crime caper, you will be disappointed. Thats how I went into it, and I nearly DNF'd it as a result. This, to me, is much more of a historical fiction character study of Ray and those he crosses paths with. Once I saw it this way, it enhanced my reading experience tremendously and I'm glad I pressed on. I liked getting to know the characters and how Whitehead made the city itself a character of the book.

One complaint is that there is a LOT of narrative (there are more details about furniture in this book) and sometimes it became a slog to get through. Overall, I'd recommend to those who enjoy a more character driven novel.

Thank you to Doubleday Books, author Colson Whitehead, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

A gloriously entertaining novel of heists, shake downs and rip offs set in Harlem in the ,960s, come from Pulitzer prize winning author Colson Whitehead. What I loved moat was the struggle the main character, Ray Carney, faces between living his family friendly life versus the life he lives underground, in the complicated world of 1960s Harlem. What wasn't my favorite was the author's writing style. It was difficult for me to follow as it jumps around a lot from viewpoint to viewpoint and character to character. For me this is not a style that I engage in well. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this writing and fully believe that this will soon become a classic. My favorite quote from this book was "How long do you keep trying to save something that has been lost?" Stopped me in my tracks. Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for an advanced e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is my second book by Colson Whitehead and the second I struggled to finish. . The setting is amazing and Colson Whitehead is a great author but perhaps not for me.
Thanks to NetGalley for my review copy.

Colson Whitehead does not disappoint in his newest novel, “Harlem Shuffle.” A tale of how one man, who goes by Carney, desperately wants to be on the “right” side of the law or fence and to run a legitimate furniture store. Carney longs to have a stable home for his wife and children. Unfortunately, his cousin’s rash decisions as well as his father’s criminal dealings from the past forces Carney to deal with the seedy-side of Harlem. Carney and his cousin become pivotal players in a heist that goes awry. Over the span of several years, Carney is haunted by his involvement all while trying to climb the social ladder to make a better life for himself and family.

Whitehead demonstrates how no matter how badly one strives for the “American Dream”, it often is just out of reach because of forces beyond our control such as race, class, and education. It is impressive how Whitehead examines such issues amidst creating a suspenseful story about a heist. The reader receives an education while being entertained. Equally impressive is how the 1950s & 1960s culture of Harlem is captured. The setting is developed so well that the reader can visualize it; this would be an amazing movie. An added bonus is the deep dive into Midcentury Modern furniture design, which the main character lives and breathes.

As a high school teacher, this book would be a great addition to a reading list for AP Literature & Composition because of the complexity of plot, characters, and setting.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me early access to this book. As I write this, this novel has become so popular that it is nearly impossible to check out at the library and is on the list for Goodreads list for 2021 Best Books of the Year.

atmosphere, voice, aspirations, corruption...atmosphere, voice, aspirations, corruption... this book has everything, presented like the saddest jazz song ever.

OH MY GOD this book is masterful! The only other book I've read by Colson Whitehead was Apex Hides the Hurt--which is an amazing book--and reading Harlem Shuffle cemented him in my mind as one of the best authors in America today. The setting of this book--1960's New York City--was perfectly executed by Whitehead. Gritty, colorful, a little dangerous; this book was full of life and had me compulsively turning every page. Funny, dark, suspenseful, and full of hope, Harlem Shuffle is not to be missed.

Perhaps Colson Whitehead is not an author for me. This is the second book I have tried to read and it has me scratching my head.

Ray Carney owns a small furniture store but takes in some hot items on the side for a little extra money. He is married to Elizabeth whose parents look down on her choice of husband. When the book opens she is pregnant with their second child. His cousin recommends Carney as a fence for the goods they plan to sell from a robbery of the Hotel Theresa. All sounds good but nothing ever really happens. There are a lot of characters to keep track of and I didn't care for a single one of them. I didn't know much about Elizabeth except she works at a travel agency. I did feel kind of sorry for her because she could have picked a man that wasn't slightly "bent" and risking the life that they had.

The thing is the book was beautifully written. I felt a strong sense of Harlem in the 1960s. Gritty and dark and isolated but it wasn't enough for me.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Doubleday.

Not as memorable as The Nickel Boys, or Underground Railroad, but enjoyed it. Appreciate the range, and breaking down of genre barriers (from zombie novel, Zone One, to near future allegory, The Intuitionist, and now crime fiction) Colson Whitehead is on a mission. Recommended.

Another example of a book that might be too literate for the audio format. I enjoyed parts of it and the character of Carney, but the sum was somewhat confounding. I'd like to go back and re-read.

My experience with Colson Whitehead is this: 1) I feel like I should love his books because he is clearly an immensely talented writer. 2) I abandoned Underground Railroad. 3) I liked The Nickel Boys. I think Whitehead is one of these authors who I can acknowledge as great and also say “he’s not for me”.

Harlem Shuffle was a slog for me and I ended up abandoning after 123 pages. Sometimes that 100 page mark is where things hook me, but after that, if I’m not invested by that point, I’m moving on. I’m not interested in finishing a book that will probably put me in a reading slump. I do like literary fiction so I don’t always need a plot to move quickly but so little was happening that I was literally getting sleepy and rereading sentences 3-4 times.

What I do think was done well was the setting. Harlem is a living being in this book and I could vividly imagine myself there. There are some sentences that just perfectly capture a mood or an expression or a feeling or even the whole season during which the story happens. If you’re a diehard Whitehead fan, you’ll probably love anything he writes, but if you’re already indifferent, I would just skip this one.

This is the first book I've read by Colson Whitehead. He is definitely a talented writer, and I think this book qualifies as Literary Fiction because of the depth of characters and the intense plot. It is a mystery, and I really like the main character Carney as we learn more about him and his family as the book.unfolds. There are some high class bad guys that remind of the Godfather. I could easily see this book being made into a movie for I think it would be a great movie! At times though the plot confused me. I want to read more of Whitehead's books. I strongly recommend this book!

3.5 stars

This is a book about 1960's Harlem and the crime sprees and layered relationships associated to them. There is some entertainment here as you think about how the furniture store down the street may be much more than it appears. To me, this book didn't draw me in to the story line as much as I had hoped. There were a lot of characters to keep track of, and I didn't feel a connection to them.

I recently read Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead. It was a big departure from the classics I normally read. It spanned 20 plus years of the life of a guy who lived in Harlem starting in the late 1940s. Considering my rural upbringing, this was far from anything I had been exposed to. It takes such different skills to live in an inner city. A worthy read for suburban students.
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This book was really interesting. It was a look inside 1960s Harlem. The setting was like another character in the book. And I loved all the characters and the language of this book. It was such an amazing book. Just be warned it does deal with some difficult issues.

This is not the type of book that I normally read, but i got it as ARC and thought I'd give it a try. I quite enjoyed it. I had a little trouble keeping track all of the players, especially when they would change between surnames and first names, but the characters were interesting enough to keep my attention - especially Carney and Freddie. A good heist-style story with some history.

The premise of this made it seem like this was going to be an action packed heist story, I thought it was actually light on the action and lacking much plot. Ray Carney is a petty thief who sees himself as an upstanding citizen and while I liked Ray, I found that he along with the many side characters weren't very layered. There was a lot of talk and not a lot of action which caused me to feel bored. the humor that is in the book is very subtle and not enough to keep me interested

I just couldn't get into this one - loved The Nickel Boys and Underground Railroad, so it was disappointing to give up on this at almost the half-way point. There was something about the rhythm of the writing, the slow pace, and my not feeling a connection to any of the characters, I guess. It isn't bad, just not something I want to spend any more time with, so I'm giving it a couple of stars - because it's Colson Whitehead!

I don't read a lot of thrillers or noir, but I so admire Colson Whitehead's storytelling and writing that I knew I had to pick up "Harlem Shuffle." Whitehead accomplishes a lot in a fairly compact volume: There's Black history here, interesting details about New York City and its inhabitants, finely observed friendships and marriages, information about 1960s furniture and more. It's all layered over a plot that includes a big heist and lots of business dealings, some more crooked than others. Most of the story unfolds in the 1960s, but there are flashes back to earlier days, too. For every scene that stirs up nostalgia for old diners and men wearing nice hats, there are reminders that some things haven't changed much at all, most distressingly when it comes to the shootings of innocent Black children by police.

Another masterpiece by Colson Whitehead. This was one of my most anticipated new releases of 2021, and it did not disappoint. Harlem Shuffle is probably the best crime novel I've read, exploring three separate but connected heists involving main protagonist Ray Carney. I thoroughly enjoyed Carney's attempts to keep his straight-and-narrow, furniture salesman side far apart from his crooked side. The action along with the Civil Rights-era history of Harlem, New York City made this an exceptional read.