Harlem Shuffle: A Novel (The Harlem Trilogy)

Disclaimer to the author: I believe that my review of this book being so low is due to my mood at the time I read it, and I wasn't in the right frame of mind to enjoy it...the writing itself was excellent. The subject matter was depressing to me in the moment, and I couldn't keep reading. Amazon review: From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, a gloriously entertaining novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s. “Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked…” To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver’s Row don’t approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it’s still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time. Cash is tight, especially with all those installment-plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace, Ray doesn’t ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who doesn’t ask questions, either. Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa—the “Waldorf of Harlem”—and volunteers Ray’s services as the fence. The heist doesn’t go as planned; they rarely do. Now Ray has a new clientele, one made up of shady cops, vicious local gangsters, two-bit pornographers, and other assorted Harlem lowlifes. Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he begins to see who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs? Harlem Shuffle’s ingenious story plays out in a beautifully recreated New York City of the early 1960s. It’s 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. But mostly, it’s a joy to read, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Colson Whitehead.

Having loved Colton’s The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, I was disappointed not to like this book. The most interesting parts to me were about the riots in Harlem during the 60’s. Otherwise the plot dragged and I disliked the characters.

Couldn't get into the writing style, put it down and picked it back up, still couldnt get into it. DNF

really well written and paints a vivid picture of harlem in the 50s-60s and it’s characters. pacing was inconsistent and i felt like I was super into it half the time and the other half waiting to see what the point was.

I wanted to like this book so badly. I enjoyed Nickel Boys and Underground Railroad has been on my TBR for a while. I heard a piece on NPR about how groundbreaking this book would be and it just didn’t meet expectations for me. I dredged through it, confused by the time changes and rotating cast of characters. The main character was written well, but the story was hard to follow. I listened to the audio, so that could have something to do with it. I thought it was just alright. There was never a clear climax in my opinion and I just felt like I had to finish it but had no actual desire or motivation. As strange as it sounds, I’d still give it another shot one day maybe on paper this time. Not a winner for me at the moment