*** I received this Arc from NetGalley for my honest review.***



Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead is a fictional story taking place between 1959-1961. The main character, Raymond Carney, is a Black man trying to run a successful furniture business and take care of his wife and children. He struggles to prove that he doesn’t have to rely on the crook side of himself (a legacy passed down by Big Mike, his dad.) Yet, his cousin Freddie keeps coming up with new schemes and Carney is always looking to make money. Can Carney balance the crookiness of Harlem, his business, and keep his family safe?



I was hesitate to read this novel because I didn’t care for Whitehead’s Zone One’s (a literacy Zombie fiction) writing style. But Whitehead’s (sometimes long winded) reflective writing worked for me in Harlem Shuffle. Perhaps, I prefer his realistic fiction. Or he just has a knack for historical fiction because I love this book, the plot, the themes, and the characters.



I am cautious when reading historical fiction. Will it be too depressing? Will it piss me off from all the injustices my people face? But, Harlem Shuffle had the elements I love: colorful characters, world building that places you right into that place and time—taste the food, hear the music — and high stakes hijinks that were strangely fun and pushed the story along quickly.



In Harlem Shuffle, Whitehead created a world where Black characters were the center. Like a Toni Morrison book, the usual white American narrative did not dominate this book. Colson Whitehead grounded the novel in the Black experience. There are only brief interactions with white Harlem and the white characters were too interested in money and/or power to insult Black people who were making them dough.



I never felt the rage that happens when a book is full of overt racism. Yet, the racism was there, quiet and insidious. The big issues of internalization racism, classism and colorism within the Black community poured through Carney’s narrative. Deep stuff. Yet, with all the nastiness and violence that happen it the book, I said to my partner we need to go to Harlem for a vacation. I added 60s music to a playlist so I could escape more into the atmosphere as I read Carney’s journey. I don’t know how to describe it but there is something terrifying, exciting, and addicting about Carney’s/Colson’s Harlem.



The book reads like a collection of short stories or novellas about Carney’s life. The stories all connect, but each part is a new “problem”. Carney’s life is in constantly in upheaval and conflict. But there is a balance between domestic drama and the Carney’s hidden life. Deep down, we have a Black man with a family that is just trying to make it in this world.



This book is best labeled as literary fiction. It is for readers who like well-developed characters, a clear setting, and who want to learn something about the past and the current state of society, they will love Harlem Shuffle.



Every single character got a brief story of their own. It’s brilliant how Whitehead can bring a character or place alive with a paragraph or just a few sentences. If you are a reader who likes powerful character writing, then definitely read this one. Also, adult readers of Black lit, literary fiction, historical fiction or slow burn crime fiction should give this a try.



I gave Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead a 5 out of 5 stars for the amazing character development, world building and an engaging plot.

“He’d spent so much time trying to keep one half of himself separate from the other half, and now they were set to collide. But then—they already shared an office, didn’t they? He’d been running a con on himself.”
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Harlem, 1959. Ray Carney lives in the grey area between the straight and bent. With a family and a furniture store, Ray strives to be a respected member of the neighborhood and a beloved husband and father, hoping to provide things for his family that he didn’t get as a child. Ray’s cousin, Freddie, runs with a different crowd, and convinces Ray to participate in a scheme to make some big money. Ray slowly finds himself entangled with various members of the community where he learns that everything has a price.
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This is the first book I’ve read by Colson Whitehead, so I can’t speak to how this compares with his other work, but I’m intrigued! I found Ray to be a complex and interesting character. I always appreciate a book with morally grey characters - I feel like it’s so much more accurate to how the world really is. The writing was like a walk through the park with a friend, meandering in a roundabout way along a curved path, where you can kind of see your destination but you’re not sure where you’re going until you’re there. The writing was beautiful and nuanced, but there were times I struggled with the pacing and got a little lost. This is definitely the type of book where the writing forces you to slow down to absorb every word. It started slow for me, but I was truly invested by the end. I found the last third section of the book to be my favorite, because that’s where a lot of the tension between Ray’s two lifestyles converged. A beautiful love letter to Harlem, and now I can’t wait to read more of Whitehead’s work. 4/5⭐️
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Thanks to @netgalley and @doubledaybooks for an e-arc of Harlem Shuffle!
Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4215045231

Ray Carney's father was a crook and Ray is determined to be different. A college graduate, he owns his own business, married a woman with upwardly mobile parents who don't approve of him, and has two children. But he wants to improve their lives, and if his cousin, Freddie, occasionally provides an opportunity to earn some extra cash on the side, he's not going to refuse.

Getting involved in the robbery of a hotel cements his involvement in the Harlem underworld, and he juggles his straight life with his "bent" life. But the combination of racial unrest and increased drug use in the neighborhood brings a new element of change--mainly to Freddie.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Colson Whitehead creates such an evocative setting featuring 1960s Harlem, Midtown, and Lower Manhattan that I wanted to crawl in and experience it myself. His prose is occasionally breathtaking. #HarlemShuffle #NetGalley

This one has its moments, but wasn’t what I hoped for.

I have greatly enjoyed Whitehead’s other novels and his writing is as lovely as ever in this one, but there just wasn’t enough substance here for me.

Lighter crime novels need to be rife with action or intrigue, and this book has little of either. It’s very much a character study, which I don’t think works particularly well in crime fiction unless it figures into a complex mystery, and here’s there’s almost no mystery at all.

The book is a portrait of time and place, and a well rendered one at that. But from that perspective it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. Whitehead may paint the picture better than most, but the plot isn’t especially original or exciting, and I frequently found myself desperate for more movement in the story.

I do like slower novels when they’re especially atmospheric or full of mystery, but this book’s biggest strength is in Whitehead’s masterful dialogue, so that was the high point for me. The humor is subtle but satisfying, and it’s the best part of Harlem Shuffle.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year so I was really sad that I took me forever to get into the story. The writing was exquisite as always, he’s a master storyteller. However, the story just didn’t grab me and I had a really hard time connecting with it. I finished it because of the author and ended up enjoying it, but not loving it. I’m sad to say that if it hadn’t been this author, I probably would have DNFed it.

Such a great book!! I love a good heist story and Colson Whitehead delivers (as usual). I had a bit of a hard time getting into the beginning of the book. I kept putting it down and picking it back up a week or so later. However, once I sat down and powered through the beginning, I ended up really loving it. In true Colson Whitehead fashion, the book is dense with thought-provoking content and rich scenery. This was one of my most highly anticipated reads for the fall and it did not disappoint!

More in-depth review to come on bookmarkparty.com and instagram.com/bookmarkparty.

Thank you Doubleday and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I always like Colson Whitehead's stories, but man, is his writing dense. It's not something I can just pick up any time and read, you have to devote time to it. Doesn't mean it's not fantastic, it just takes work.

I had a very hard time reading this book as the story seemed to jump around and I would lose interest and forget where I was in the plot. There is no doubt Colson's attention to detail really brings Carney's Harlem to life, however I didn't appreciate what felt like walking two steps forward into the story only to take one step back. It was like walking through thick, muddy water, taking forever to reach the shore.

Thank you NetGalley and Doubleday Books for my digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book is beautifully written and while I usually love Whitehead's writing, this one just was not for me. It was very slow moving with not a lot of action. I just could not get into it. Just because it wasn't my favorite read of Colson's doesn't mean it won't be somebody else's.

Thanks to Netgalley for access. All opinions above are my own.

Overall a fun read! Definitely felt the super 60s vibes. It did feel a little slow, but overall nice!

This book is a family saga, a tribute to Harlem in the 60's, and a story of race and power. A real multilayered story perfect for discussion.

I’ve got to believe that Colson Whitehead enjoyed writing this book as much as I enjoyed reading it! Harlem Shuffle is a heist story, but unlike the genre’s typical plot-driven action tale, this book is all about the characters in late 1950’s New York. Ray Carney is a man divided between his deep desire to become a respected business and family man, and his upbringing as the son of a crook. On the sunny side is his furniture business which relies on used (legitimate and not-so-legitimate) goods to stay profitable. Ray’s wife, brought up on Striver’s Row, and his two children provide him with a deep incentive to prosper. On the shady side, though, are his connections with criminal New York, his cousin Freddie who is always bringing in a new hustle, and his father’s old cronies.

Written with the color and verve that are Whitehead’s gift, Harlem Shuffle is a delicious read.

"Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked ..." Colson Whitehead, Harlem Shuffle

These first words set the tone for Colson Whitehead's newest novel. It shares the life of Ray Carney, a Black man, in the roles of husband, father, furniture store owner, employer, community leader, and fence in New York City from 1959 to 1964. Key themes include exploration of father and son relationships, consequences of the Harlem riot of 1964 which were triggered by a police shooting that killed a 15-year-old Black youth, and the slippery slope of compromising one's values to achieve success.

The setting, New York City and specifically Harlem, is central to the plot and an important character. I'm not familiar with NYC geography, and didn't care enough to research it, so I missed a big piece of the story. My favorite sections were recountings of heists - think Oceans 11 on a much smaller scale. I appreciated that they were told in the past tense rather than as they were happening. It was a surprise to see Omaha, my city, mentioned a couple of times.

I'm sure this novel is brilliant, and discussing it with other readers would give me greater insights into Mr. Whitehead's genius and greater appreciation for its craft. I'm glad I read it, but it's not likely to be on my top 10 books of 2021. Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for the review copy.

I was very excited to receive an advanced e-ARC for Colson Whitehead’s latest novel, “Harlem Shuffle.”

Ray Carney is a furniture salesman. And he does alright. But he also fences some jewels and other property on the side. As far as he’s concerned, it’s not stolen because he never asks where they come from. He’s a small time crook. Until his cousin Freddie brings him in on a big robbery that Freddie is involved in with some big time gangsters.

And Ray learns that upright citizens, even police, aren’t as straight as they appear.

This book will make a great movie! Colson Whitehead tells a great story and it will be brilliant on the silver screen!

For me, there were parts of the book that lagged. We get Ray’s father’s story told in flashbacks. We meet Freddie’s mom, who is a great character. We see Ray’s wife and two small children. This book is set between 1959 and 1964 in Harlem. There’s racial conflict, and there are socio-economic differences among those residing in Harlem.

This book is good in 3 parts. I enjoyed some parts more than others. Overall, it was a good read.

Thank you to #netgalley and #doubleday for the advanced e-copy of #harlemshuffle .

“Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked…”

The Gist: Ray Carney, furniture salesman, finds himself caught up in a series of criminal schemes in 1960s Harlem.

My Thoughts: I’m a big fan of Colson Whitehead, but I have to admit some relief when hearing that his latest was much lighter fare than his previous two books. There are some darker moments in here, to be sure, but on the whole this heist novel was much funnier and madcap than expected.

Whitehead is an expert at immersing you in a setting, and in this book I really got a sense of life in 1960s Harlem. Both the “straight” world and the “criminal” underworld felt so vivid and real, and just like Carney I felt equally engaged in the two.

(Anyone else want to try dorvay in their own life now? lol)

The various heists were fun to follow, and I loved seeing Carney win and move up in the world. My only qualm with this book is that there are a LOT of time shifts, a lot of flashbacks and flashforwards. It became a little confusing at times to keep it all together.

But overall, I really enjoyed this. If you’re a fan of Whitehead or NYC history or heist stories, definitely check this one out!

This is the story of Ray Carney, a man from a criminal family, striving toward a better life as a furniture store owner, but with one foot (or at least a few toes) still in the criminal world. Set in Harlem New York, from 1959 to 1964, the novel is full of details, from the furniture lines Ray sells, to the sounds and smells and sights of his world in Harlem. Ray is doing pretty well in his legitimate business, but his liberal installment policies sometimes have him coming up short on cash flow to pay his store rent and expenses, so he has a side business selling used furniture and appliances, mainly televisions and radios with a less than spotless provenance. He also sometimes is called upon to find new owners for jewelry and coin collections.
Ray also has other expenses; the “envelope” system. Envelopes full of cash that are picked up by the enforcers for the local crime boss, and also envelopes picked up by the local police, protection money paid to both sides of the law.
Ray is married to Elizabeth, and has a daughter and a son on the way as the novel begins. Elizabeth’s parents are well to do, live on Strivers Row, and do not approve of Ray. Elizabeth works as a travel agent for an agency specializing in arranging travel for Black travelers, steering them to Negro-friendly hotels and restaurants, and advising them what places to avoid. Her involvement in this work makes her aware of the growing civil rights movement.
Ray also has a rather feckless cousin, Freddie, who while constantly apologizing for getting Ray into sticky situations, seems unable to resist falling into various schemes and involving Ray. One of those schemes is the main plot of the first section of the novel. Another frequently appearing character is Pepper, an enforcer who was a long-time friend of Ray’s father, who appears to have a soft spot for him and often helps to get him out of the trouble Freddie gets him into.
This novel, while primarily following Ray’s journey as he navigates between his two worlds, also illustrates much that goes on beneath the surface. A walk along the street with his police contact illustrates how many businesses he has been unaware of, and their function as fronts for less savory enterprises. We also come to see how racism plays a part, not only between black and white, but also within the black (or Negro, as the term is used at the time) community. One’s skin color plays a part in where they stand in the community.
The novel is in 3 parts, the first and third centered on schemes that Freddie gets Ray into, and the middle section where Ray runs his own scheme of revenge on someone. All in all, a satisfying read.

With his newest book, "Harlem Shuffle," Colson Whitehead has once again proved himself to be one of the best writers of the era. Though this book is much different than the two other books I have read by this author, I devoured it just the same. "Harlem Shuffle" follows Ray Carney, the owner of a furniture store in 1950s-1960s Harlem. Though Carney strives to keep his business mostly on the up-and-up, he is plummeted into the criminal underworld when his cousin's schemes drag him into a heist gone wrong.

Whitehead's writing is always exquisite, and this book is no exception. Though it started slow, I was quickly drawn into the world created by the author's language. This multilayered story is interesting and entertaining, and I was utterly captivated. This book is much more than a simple crime novel; it's the story of a man trying to find a place in a changing world.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the amazing privilege of reading an advanced digital copy of this fabulous book in exchange for my honest review.

I tried reading Harlem Shuffle, but it didn't grab me. I don't know if it was the mood I was in or the style. I'll have to try another time since I do think it has potential.

Good book, a little slow but so far I am liking it.
thanks NetGalley and Doubleday books for the ARC copy.

After reading The Nickel Boys, I was so excited to read this latest Colson Whitehead novel. I have a distinctly white and western-US background and have never visited NYC, so I really enjoyed this recreation of 1960s Harlem. The atmosphere was rich and easy to picture, even as someone who's never visited that part of the country. This book always has one of my favorite things: a morally ambiguous protagonist. I wouldn't go so far as to call Carney an anti-hero, but his moral grey areas make the action very tense and palpable. A bit slow moving if you're reading it in chunks over a long time like I did, but nevertheless entertaining. Another banger from Colson Whitehead.