<i>"Living taught you that you didn't have to live the way you'd been taught to live"

"He used to say that you wee going to be a doctor, you were so smart, but that you were smart enough to know you make more money being crooked" </i>

Ray Carney, the slightly bent, furniture salesman/fence for heists of Harlem is a memorable character. He loves his family and values friends. When for no fault of his (and all of his cousin Freddie) he becomes the fence for one of the big heists of Harlem, he gets re-introduced to Pepper and his gang. We have three meticulously planned heists/jobs with Carney growing in the black community as an outstanding citizen. The fact that his family/staff do not have a clue as to his two lives is a fun exaggeration.

Set in the 1950-60s Harlem, the book is a departure from the sober material of Whitehead and even infuses wit and humour to his characters. Though we do get references to the black movement in the background, we do not get into history but rather the impact of the event on the characters (A KKK procession is mentioned in passing).

There is a subtext of race without being so overt. Sample this: Carney's wife runs a travel agency called Black Tours where she has a map for her black clientele to travel safely and not run into trouble with the whites. I enjoyed the fact that by choosing a neighborhood - he keeps most characters heroes, villains and everything in-between, black and hence it is not a clash.

Though this was much more fun than the Underground Railroad, I found it still very "put-downable"(?). Maybe it was the second plot of revenge that was especially dragging and petty for a book of this sort. Or the narrative that jumps around like a movie script from multiple POVs which was a bit jarring. Whatever be the factor, I'd still read this book for the retro-feel.

Note: Thank you Netgalley and Little Brown Book publishing house for providing the ARC of this book for review.

This book totally transports you to 1960’s Harlem, it’s a brilliant combination of family drama, crime thriller and historical fiction, full of colourful characters.

Ray Carney ‘is only slightly bent when it comes to being crooked’. To some he is an upstanding, hard working furniture shop owner, but he keeps getting drawn into the seedy underworld of his past, mostly thanks to his troubled cousin Frankie.

Ray Carney owns a furniture store in Harlem, where he tries to make a living and strives for better for his pregnant wife and child. But Ray comes from a family of crooks, and when his cousin Freddie gets him involved in a heist mission, Carney finds himself battling between Ray the striver and Ray the crooked.

"We all have our station in life - people, stars, cities - and even if no one looked after Carney and no one suspected him capable of much at all, he was going to make himself into something."

As usual, Colson Whitehead shows himself in this book as one of America's greatest writers. In Harlem Shuffle, his descriptions and mood setting makes the reader feel like they are walking the streets of Harlem in the 1960s. We see all types of characters in this story, including dodgy cops and mobsters, and each one is full of personality. However, where this book fell short for me, was the lack of action.

Whitehead is brilliant at writing descriptively, but a lot of the time in this book I felt like he was doing more scene-setting and mood-setting than actually making the story move along. In short, it never felt like there was a lot happening. I would have loved to hear more of the female voice in this novel, as it's not short on female characters, but they just don't get to say much.

This is the third book I've read by Colson Whitehead and he's no doubt a talented writer, but I did find myself comparing this book to his other two works and it didn't reach the expectations I had set out for it. However, if you have never read anything by Whitehead before, I think you'll be captivated by his ability to bring the 1960s Harlem to life.

Thanks to @littlebrownbookgroup_uk for approving me to read this copy in advance of it's publication via @netgalley.

Harlem Shuffle is out now.

Ray Carney is, to all intents and purposes, a respectable businessman selling furniture in 1960's Harlem. However, he has a shady side as a fence for stolen goods. He does this quietly and keeps below the radar of law enforcement and high profile criminals. His main aim in life is to improve his family's fortunes and move to a better neighbourhood. Unfortunately for Ray, his cousin Freddie is a little more reckless and draws him into a darker world of gangsters and criminality.

This is a stunning novel which explores race, civil rights, snobbery, social change, family loyalties and revenge. It is beautifully written and the characterisation is perfect. It's the story of one man's ambition to do better for those he loves. The backdrop of 1960's Harlem is created perfectly with a real sense of place and time.

This is one of the best books I have read in 2021.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Its successor, The Nickel Boys was hailed by Time as one of the books of the decade. Now comes Harlem Shuffle, a hugely enjoyable story of crime, family, morality and race set in 1960s New York.
Ray Carney is ‘only slightly bent when came to being crooked’. He sells furniture, most of which is legitimately acquired. His business might be mainly above board, but if his cousin Freddie comes in with a piece of jewellery to sell, he doesn’t ask too many questions as to where it came from.
When Freddie asks him to take part in a heist at Hotel Theresa – ‘the Waldorf of Harlem’ – he has the nous to keep clear. His instinct is right – the heist goes wrong and the gang find a local crime lord on their tail. But Ray, too, is unwittingly drawn in: how far can he keep his respectability intact, while taking advantage of the more nefarious rewards that Freddie’s way of life is offering …

Review in various regional Living Magazines, Sept 21

Division’s central to Colson Whitehead’s impressive, Harlem-based novel: the divide between black and white America; the divide that inspired Langston Hughes’s "A Dream Deferred"; the divided self of Du Bois's concept of double consciousness. In Whitehead’s episodic narrative these resonate through Ray Carney, who’s simultaneously hero and anti-hero. It’s 1959 when Carney’s introduced and he’s already on the road towards achieving a version of the American Dream – an era when that myth still held out a slender form of hope. Carney’s overcome the proverbial difficult, impoverished childhood, created a family and a business. But behind his façade of conformity and hard-working aspiration’s another Carney whose rule-breaking exposes the flaws and fractures in America’s capitalist mythology.

Carney’s a liminal figure in the most literal sense, by day he runs a modest furniture store, by night he’s a fence trading in stolen goods. He’s poised between would-be respectability and the criminal undercurrents unceasingly flowing through Harlem’s streets. Whitehead expertly draws on the sense of place that’s a feature of the best crime fiction, making it clear Carney’s story’s also Harlem’s story. He effortlessly captures Harlem’s flavour, its hum and throb, its rich, turbulent history. Harlem’s indicative of a New York in flux, communities are being eroded, Carney’s childhood landmarks are disappearing, buildings rapidly rise and swiftly fall. Carney’s existence’s typified by constant movement, a state of permanent impermanence - the only way to survive’s to go with the flow. Carney’s desires mirror his surroundings, he’s always focused on the next step, moving out and moving up: an expanding business, a bigger apartment, a better area. Whitehead parallels Carney’s situation with his hapless cousin Freddy, an apt demonstration of the consequences of failing to adapt.

In "Harlem Shuffle" Whitehead skilfully reworks genre conventions taking admirable advantage of the crime novel’s ability to deliver an engaging story with a generous helping of searing, social critique. His writing’s taut, disciplined, carefully honed, his tone shifts between drily humorous and gently lyrical, plot secondary to character and atmosphere. He imbues his hero with the sympathetic, world-weariness of Chandler’s Marlowe, the melancholy resilience of Mosley’s Socrates Fortlow, and the pragmatic, moral ambiguity of Highsmith’s Ripley; placing Carney in a noirish, corrupt world lacking any semblance of moral certainty, that much more precarious because he’s a Black man in racist, white America. "Harlem Shuffle’s" a meticulously-realised, compelling piece and I’m already longing for the sequel.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Fleet, an imprint of Little Brown for the arc.

“Harlem Shuffle” is set in Harlem, NY in the 1960s. It tells the story of Ray Carney, son of a full time crook who tries to lives his life on the right side of the law…mostly. But the pull of the darker elements of the local society (notably in the form of his cousin, Freddie) and Ray’s need for revenge lead him to attempting a major heist.

This is a wonderful book which is so evocative - you can really picture New York at that time - and it’s wonderfully detailed too. I particularly enjoyed that every character mentioned gets a detailed back story. I sometimes struggled to remember which characters were on Carney’s side and which were against him so I would recommend reading this book in as few sittings as possible. But that shouldn’t be a problem as it is another classic from Colton Whitehead.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

*REVIEW*

Happy Publication Day to Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead!

After being riveted by The Underground Railroad, I was looking forward to reading the new novel bu Colson Whitehead, Harlem Shuffle.

Set in 1960s Harlem, New York City, Harlem Shuffle follows Ray Carney, a businessman trying to keep his legitimate business dealings far away from his associations on the other side of the law. Descending from a long line of crooks, the cracks in Ray’s law-abiding facade are getting bigger each day, and after getting caught up in his cousin’s dodgy dealings, it becomes harder than ever to keep everything afloat.

Whitehead is a great writer. He can engineer worlds with his phrasing, and emote feeling in a few words. His characters are engaging and well balanced, and he brings 1960s Harlem to life.

That being said, I found this story more of a struggle to read than The Underground Railroad, which had real heart and passion.

I didn’t feel the same connection with Harlem Shuffle. When events did happen, they were told in an almost mundane fashion. There was little to be excited about and little tension or thrill to be found. To describe this novel as ‘gloriously entertaining’ and ‘hilarious’ is to do it a disservice, as that is not its style.

Whitehead writes with purpose, with social and political context that is as relevant today as it would be in the 1960s. However the lack of pace is not for me.

A greatly crafted novel, perfect for a meandering exploration of 1960s race relations and corruption.

3⭐️ for me but others may love it!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Having just finished watching the TV adaptation of The Underground Railroad, diving straight into this was a demonstration of just how versatile Whitehead's writing is. Harlem Shuffle feels like a completely different book, focusing on the life of Ray Carney, a furniture business owner and part-time fencer for stolen jewellery. However, the issues of race are still prevalent - part of the story plays out against the Harlem riot of 1964, and the final act of the story makes it obvious that white privilege exists even in the criminal world. I particularly liked that the three acts of the story played out over several years, giving us a much broader perspective on Carney's life and travails. Another standout novel from Whitehead.

Ray Carney is the son of a thief who runs a second hand furniture store. He has one foot in the law-abiding world with his furniture store providing a useful service to the neighbourhood and another foot in the criminal world, round the back of his store as it were, where he fences stolen jewellery and televisions. As he treads this fine line between these two worlds, trying to stay as honest as he can in some dishonest situations his cousin Freddie draws in him into further criminal dealings. All the way you are rooting for Ray and hoping he will turn out good.
This is a crime novel, a social drama with the history of Harlem in the 50s and 60s thrown in as well for good measure. It’s also incredibly funny in parts with characters that you really warm to. It is brilliantly written and incredibly clever. However, I am the wrong demographic for this book. It’s about a criminal underworld, Harlem, black issues, and it’s gritty. While I really appreciated the enormous talent of the writer and his clever construction of a remarkable novel, I spent the whole time thinking this is not the right book for me. If you enjoy reading about Harlem and its underworld, you like the grit and bad language that goes with it, you will enjoy this book, but if you are of a more delicate disposition, perhaps give this one a miss!

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
I read and loved both The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys and this is another novel from this master storyteller but in a lighter mood. It is set between 1959 and 1964. The main character is Ray Carney, a nearly-respectable furniture store owner. He lives in Harlem where shady dealings and outright criminality are never far away. Ray’s story develops as he strives to build up his furniture business and improve the lot of his family. We also see how he is drawn into events by his cousin Freddie, who has always sailed close to the wind and whom Carney has spent a lifetime protecting. Behind his façade as a legitimate businessman he becomes drawn further into Harlem’s underworld.
His grievance with Duke is understandable and his desire to right the slight against him is very well drawn. The picture of Harlem is remarkably good; we are shown a corrupt city which runs on influence, payoffs and kickbacks. There is also a very powerful picture of the racism prevalent at the time. Through his clear portrayal of events of the period Whitehead makes the ingrained, everyday nature of the racism more powerful. It is gripping and entertaining novel whilst also tackling genuine issues which resonate today.
I will be recommending this book to others and would like to thank the author, the publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read it in return for an honest review.

Harlem Shuffle is riveting and richly atmospheric historical crime fiction with a dash of pulp seasoning and a distinctive air of noir about it from the multi-award-winning Whitehead, set in the shimmering Harlem of the 1960s, where gangsters and pimps, impostors and trigger-happy people pull the strings and a man from a humble background tries to rise as honestly as possible. To his clients and neighbours on 125th Street, Ray Carney is a serious merchant: he works like a good family man in his shop where he sells furniture at affordable prices. His wife Elizabeth is expecting their second child, and although the in-laws do not show much appreciation that their daughter and grandchildren live in a small apartment near the elevated platforms, Ray seems so pleased. But behind this apparent normality, there are cracks: few people know that Ray’s father was a rather feared member of local crime. Plus, with all those sofas sold in instalments, money is running low.

So, if his cousin Freddie occasionally brings him some rings or a necklace, Ray doesn't see the need to inquire about where they come from; he also knows a jeweller in the centre of town, who is also very unwilling to ask questions and very discreet. Thus begins the inner conflict between Ray the honest merchant, father of a family, and Ray the thug. But when Freddie decides to take part in the robbery of the historic Hotel Theresa, a series of terrible criminals bursts into Carney's life: from the gangster Chink Montague, "known for his skill with the freehand razor", to Pepper, a veteran of the Second world war, and from the easy gun to the deadly Miami Joe in his elegant purple suits. Navigating this double life becomes more and more difficult and dangerous: will our hero be able to avoid being killed, to save his cousin and get the part of him in the big shot of him? But, above all, will he be able to keep his reputation intact?

This umpteenth Whitehead literary exploit is not just a hilarious moral drama disguised as a detective story: it is also a social novel about race, poverty and power. But at its heart, it is best described as primarily a love letter in which Harlem - animated by a Dickensian parade of colourful and highly original characters - has the same liveliness and richness as Joyce's Dublin. It is a compulsive and thought-provoking family saga, sociography and crook, but above all a declaration of adoration and respect for New York's most famous district. Beautiful prose and multi-layered plotting abound and vivid, vibrant and authentic depictions of ’60s Harlem are ripe with scalpel sharp observations. We are thrust headlong into city life with its population scurrying around through the hustle and bustle, and Whitehead juxtaposes the face of the city that normal people see and the gritty, grimy criminal underworld that lurks just below the city’s surface, with its countless idiosyncratic characters.

You have the famed New York gangsters in fedoras, powerful elites, corrupt government and police, seedy back street bars full of stale cigarette smoke and the musky scent of whisky, all manner of shady criminals and a plethora of swindlers and pickpockets who perpetually pilfer their way to their next meal. The large number of different races living together in the same area brings together so many different cultures that it creates a zeitgeist unlike any other. Whitehead also explores the most prevalent issues of the time including political and law enforcement corruption, white privilege, discrimination against minorities, classism, morality, rampant crime and the ensuing civil rights movement. A dark, grimy and hard-hitting read, this is a fast-paced, plot-oriented tale with a clearly defined, larger than life, memorable cast, creative descriptions, clever use of turns of phrase and an intensity often missing from other novels. An entertaining, humorous and deftly nuanced story of robbery, extortion and swindle in The Big Apple in an era of vast social and political change. Highly recommended.

Award-winning author Colson Whitehead moves from earnest novels like Underground Railroad and Nickel Boys to a more light-hearted mystery set in 1950s and 60s Harlem.
Main character Ray Carney, married and expecting a second child, runs a furniture store, but as money is tight he moves into more illegal enterprises to impress his in-laws and climb the ladder. His cousin Freddie urges him to participate in a heist at the "Waldorf" hotel of Harlem. He detects the other sides of the city, the underworld, corruption in the police and emancipation of the Black community.
The mystery and its complications aren´t necessarily in the foreground, but topics like love, loyalty, family and a declaration of love to Harlem.
The language seems a bit rushed and the story not quite developed, but besides the elegiac I liked the humorous atmosphere.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgally for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

"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."

I've heard amazing things about Colson Whitehead, which is why I decided to sit down and read Harlem Shuffle i three days ! This was definitely a slow burn that really picked up around the halfway mark! Before that Carney was kinda interesting, but also not really. I felt so bad about Freddie though!

Thank you, NetGalley for a chance to read and review this ARC!

Harlem Shuffle, Colson Whitehead's latest novel is superbly entertaining whilst being tragically real. Close cousins Ray and Freddie endured a difficult childhood in Harlem; this is the story of how their adult lives unfolded between 1959 and 64.

In '59 we meet Ray after taking control of a furniture store, trying his best to keep his head above water as various mobsters come looking for their weekly payment. Freddie's friends are planning a job and he is trying not to get involved. The robbery of the hotel defines their lives for the next few years.

Whitehead creates wonderful characters and puts them into impossible situations with ease. The ambition and self-destruction is admirable and tragic. The atmosphere within the Harlem area is realistically depicted. Harlem Shuffle is a joy to read!

Colson Whitehead’s reputation as one of the greatest living American writers took off with his last two novels which both won the Pulitzer Prize making him only the 4th writer to win this most prestigious Fiction award twice (alongside William Faulkner, John Updike and Booth Tarkington) and the only Black American to do so to date.
“The Underground Railroad”(2016) was the book that took him to the big league- I still cannot understand how it did not win the 2017 Man Booker Prize describing it thus “It ticks all the boxes for me, an involving, entertaining, well-written, imaginative, educational, unpredictable read.”. I still feel aggrieved by the panel awarding the big prize to “Lincoln In The Bardo” with Whitehead failing to make the transition from longlist to shortlist. I still haven’t watched the adaptation of this currently on Amazon Prime in the UK.
Pulitzer Prize number 2 came with “The Nickel Boys” (2019) which focused on a boy’s reform school. This was a more straightforward narrative which managed to both please and slightly disappoint me so I ranked it four stars.
This latest, his 8th novel is more understated than his two big-hitters but he is now at a point of his career where each publication is a big literary event. Set in late 50’s/early 60’s Harlem it feels what I imagine Chester Himes to read like (I’ve never read him but I did recently buy “A Rage In Harlem” (1957) so it’s only a matter of time) with greater awareness of the history between now and then and the significance of civil rights unrest. Here this unrest provides a backdrop more than a focus for the novel and in fact is seen at best as an inconvenience by the characters.
Main character Raymond Carney’s focus is furniture, a salesman with his own store. His desire is to become the first black shop-owner allowed to stock branded items previously only available in white-owned stores. Carney is doing okay, he is employing staff and looking towards expansion but the start-up money derived from wrong-doings from his largely absent now deceased father and that association causes Carney problems. Fencing stolen goods becomes part of his trade yet (and this will become the most quoted phrase from this novel) “Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked.”
The influence of family leads to Carney becoming involved in a heist at a hotel frequented by a black clientele which begins a slippery slope. What begins as a crime caper becomes darker as Carney becomes obsessed by revenge whist always trying to separate the personal from his business life.
Carney is a great character and he comes up against a number of other memorable creations here but I found plot development a little stop-start and the novel does not flow as well as I would have hoped. I actually found it hard to retain what had been going on. There’s a tendency to introduce something then backtrack as to how it happens, but this introduction caused me to feel like I’d missed out on something and started leafing back when there was no need as the author hadn’t got to that bit yet. The plot seems too content to just simmer along, there were points when the pace accelerated and then the book really takes off.
There’s nothing wrong with this novel and it’s totally right that an author should be allowed to move back from creating the extraordinary to do something which feels less momentous but it is not up there with his best. I think my own expectations might have let me down here. I’d been looking forward to the publication of this since the start of the year when I highlighted as a must-read for 2021 and that is probably the reason why it feels for me just a touch disappointing.
Harlem Shuffle will be published on 14th Sept 2021. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

Disappointing.

I loved The Underground Railroad and started this novel with high expectations. Unfortunately, the writing style was off-putting and read more like a rambling description of events than a gripping tale of heists and crime capers.

I tried so hard to love this story – clearly many others have – but sadly, this novel just isn’t for me and I gave up 40% of the way through.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance copy of this novel.

Loved this - a heist novel which is also a beautifully and thoughtfully written portrait of 1960s Harlem. It's crying out to be made into a. film but its carefully drawn characters and refusal to drop into cliche works often works against this, slowing its pace. Some of this is summed up by the reflection of Carney, the central figure: "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... He''d been running a con on himself." I'm not convinced the novel quite reconciles its thriller and social commentary halves but that does not mean it is not both gripping and rewarding. Colson Whithead's versatility, following The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, is also remarkable.

That Colson Whitehead is one of the foremost American authors of his generation is undisputed and this novel confirms this. The same inimitable writing style but applied to a lighter subject - somewhere between a 1950s crime caper and a social commentary. Maybe because it's trying to be both, the novel seemed a little jarring in places but on the whole another fine addition to what hopefully will one day be a long Whitehead back catalogue

Highly recommended

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

2021 Booker longlist nomination

Finally a 2021 Booker nomination that is worthy of the nomination. Enjoyed this very much. Hanging my head in shame, I admit this is my first Whitehead read, but it won’t be my last.

The novel starts in 1959 NY and ends in the mid 60s - on the site where the World Trade Center will be. The penultimate paragraph states “…(he) gave the WTC site one last look. The next time he was there it’d be something totally different.” A bit of a chill to read that on the 20th anniversary of their collapse.

This better be on the shortlist.

Many thanks to Netgallery for a RTC in return for an honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54626223-harlem-shuffle