Harlem Shuffle: A Novel

4.3 | 14,576 ratings

Price: 17.72

Last update: 01-04-2025

About this item

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, this gloriously entertaining novel is “fast-paced, keen-eyed and very funny ... about race, power and the history of Harlem all disguised as a thrill-ride crime novel" (San Francisco Chronicle).

"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 listen to, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Colson Whitehead.

Look for Colson Whitehead’s new novel, Crook Manifesto, coming soon!

Timothy Haugh

My Personal Favorite

Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2022

Before this, I’d read two novels by Mr. Whitehead: Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad. Both of these are very good novels filled with great characters and powerful moments; however, I wouldn’t rank them among the great novels. My main complaint with both is weaknesses in plotting. In essence, the author gets in the way of the story. What he is trying to accomplish in these novels interferes with good storytelling.

I know a number of readers who enjoyed this novel less than the other two I’ve mentioned. Perhaps they missed the excesses that make episodes of those books so memorable. I, on the other hand, find this to be the best novel Mr. Whitehead has written so far. Other than having to hear Mick Jagger’s brassy voice in my head every time I think of the title of this novel thanks to the Stones’ song of the same name, I have few complaints about this novel and much praise. It is simply a well-told story without anything getting in the way of that.

The novel takes place over a handful of years in the late fifties/early sixties. Mr. Whitehead is an absolute master of character which makes it no surprise that Carney, our protagonist, is full of depths. Son of a violent crook, he makes most of his living as an honest owner of a furniture store; however, petty crime and graft is a part of his world and, as the plot develops, he gets dragged deeper into the game. His foot in the middle class gives him aspirations and access to successful people (and their pretentions and crimes) while still muddling with thieves and murderers, and the reader gets to see it all, a panorama of supporting characters who are as real and memorable as Carney himself. And all of this is set in a vividly recreated Harlem.

Every time I read another of Mr. Whitehead’s novels, I become more and more impressed with his skills as a writer. This is the first time, however, that I’ve felt story and characters trumped his need to slam the reader with his prose. There are still plenty of shocks and surprises here, but it all seems to come much more realistically from the characters and the situations in which they find themselves. In my mind, this book is a real triumph.

Amazon Customer Wes

Good historical fiction

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2024

I like the flow of the book and the characters. However, it is a bit overly descriptive. I found myself skipping over passages to get to the meat of the story.

Zack

Whitehead has such great details. Easy to read with a great plot

Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2021

Colson Whitehead has won two Pulitzers AND National Book Awards for books with rather heavy subject material. Harlem Shuffle is a lighter kind of novel, but it retains the excellent writing. The main character is a black furniture salesman in the late 50s-early 60s. He's started a family and run a successful business, but he is still struggling to measure up to his expectations-- his own and his in-laws'. His race matters because, well, the novel takes place during a time and in a setting where race mattered quite a bit and in a particular way that informs the plot. The main character had a criminal for a father and grew up with a cousin who associates with the wrong crowd. Eventually, he gets roped in by his cousin to pull off a heist at a hotel in the first act. It's all quite exciting and results in his becoming a trusted fence for stolen goods in his area. This helps provide him and his family with opportunities for growth but also ups the potential for getting caught in the cross fires when it comes to illegal activity and the hair-brained ideas of his well-intentioned but reckless cousin.
The characters are unique and interesting, and they are given great opportunities for both action and dialogue to display who they are. Their conflicts drive some excellent plot tension and lead to a tense and gripping third act.

Sean

Great Writing, Somewhat Aimless Plot

Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2022

I agree with another review I came across here on Amazon; Harlem Shuffle is more like three short novellas than it is a single cohesive one. The plot described on the back cover - where part-time fence Ray Carney is brought in on a heist by his wayward cousin Freddie - covers a bit less than 1/3rd of the book.

From there, we spiral off in many directions. We follow Ray's attempts to join a club of elite Harlem movers and shakers. We follow the growth of his furniture store. We take numerous diversions into the backstories of characters that are either already dead or are quickly killed/otherwise written out of the plot. The whole thing seems to wander a bit before finding its footing again toward the end.

Frankly, it feels to me like the author started writing the book with a plot in mind but quickly abandoned it and widened his scope. Most of the middle of this book fell flat for me and I had a difficult time staying engaged with it.

That said, the writing is quite good. I will definitely read some of this author's other work. I think you'll LOVE this book if you live in NYC or have a deep connection to it. I realized too late that New York itself is the central character here, and while that generally wouldn't bother me, I found little else to hold onto while I read this book.

I found it interesting that towards the end of the book, a certain character acknowledges his desire to live in a neighborhood where on calm, cool nights you might not even realize you were in the city at all. I get what he means.

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