Harlem Shuffle (Ray Carney, #1) By Colson Whitehead

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. Harlem Shuffle (Ray Carney, #1)

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4 stars for a book about Harlem, New York city, from the late 50s to the late 60s. The author calls this book a love letter to Harlem.. This book is more about the changes in culture than about crime . It is narrated by Ray Carney, son of Mike Carney, a small time crook. Ray wants to go straight and opens a furniture store. But he accepts merchandise from questionable people to sell. His contacts with the underworld bring him into dangerous situations. How he resolves them amid the changes in society, including riots and civil rights protests, makes for an enlightening window into Harlem during this period. I recommend it to historical fiction fans and crime fans.
I read this book in two days.
One quote: Put it like, that, an outside observer might get the idea that Carney trafficked quite frequently in stolen goods, but that's not how he saw it. There was a natural flow of goods in and out and through people's lives, from here to there, a churn of property, and Ray Carney facilitated that churn. As a middleman. Legit.
Thanks to Doubleday for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.
HarlemShuffle #NetGalley English 2.5 stars: I really wanted to love “Harlem Shuffle” by Colson Whitehead. I’ve read his previous works and enjoyed his literary style. This style didn’t work for me in his story of a shifty, almost crooked, black man in 1960’s Harlem.

I give a novel 50 pages, and if I’m not into it, I abandon. Well, this is Colson, so I persevered. I read almost 2/3 of the story, was about to abandon it, and then it picked up. Did it take over 200 pages to get into the rhythm? Not sure. For me, Whitehead took his literary style and went off on tangents that were not always related to the main plotline. It’s a shame, because the plotline of a man who has ambitions of becoming one of Harlem’s upper middle-class, and wants to do it legally, yet is plagued with a problematic cousin and a very crooked father, is a fantastic idea.

The main character, Ray Carney, is married with two sweet children. His wife works at a black travel agency and is doing well. In fact, if she knew Carney was into illegal activities, he’d be in a world of trouble. Whitehead has a fantastic imagination, creating a ‘60’s Harlem with entertaining side hustles and illicit operations. If Whitehead would have just stuck to the hustles, the entertaining criminals, and not gone off on odd tangents, this could have been a 5 star for me. Yes, I enjoyed learning a bit of the early NYC history (Central Park, which was Seneca village, forcibly removed black villagers by eminent domain in 1857 to create the park for whites) along with historical information with regard to building the World’s Trade Center. There was most likely more tid-bits that I missed while reading some of his long and involved sentences.

Perhaps the fault is in me, that I didn’t allow enough energy and time to read the story. Because it was Whitehead, I did reread many pages, trying to keep up with the story. Maybe I wanted the writing to be more “street” in line with the shady characters. Whatever the reason, it didn’t work for me……but I’ll still read his next novel because well, it’s Whitehead.

First 200 pages of the story 2-3 stars. Last 100 pages 4-5 stars.

English ‘No New Frontier stretched before him, endless and bountiful — that was for white folks — but this new land was a few blocks at least and in Harlem a few blocks was everything. A few blocks was the difference between strivers and crooks, between opportunity and the hard scrabble.’

What’s a literary superstar to do after winning back-to-back Pulitzers for novels dealing with the more brutal aspects of African-American history? If you’re Colson Whitehead it seems the answer is: write a crime caper dramedy.

Harlem Shuffle takes a trip to its titular neighbourhood during the massive social change of the 1950s and 1960s, through the eyes of Ray Carney. Ray’s a devoted family man; upwardly mobile; owns a thriving furniture store—while running a shady side hustle that keeps threatening to get him in trouble with the big boys in town.

There’s a comprehensive cross-section of New York criminality represented: Ray, with his pretence of being a strait-laced entrepreneur, crosses paths with oily mob bosses, two-bit hustlers, untouchable old money types (‘stone cold original Dutch motherfuckers’), cops on the take, and everyone in between.

The Harlem setting, with its dive bars, greasy spoon diners, Strivers’ Row townhouses, is vibrant and definitely the novel’s greatest asset. Whitehead layers beats of Black history—from Seneca Village to Freedom Riders—throughout the story like a pulse, vivifying that sense of place.

Despite an appealing backdrop and milieu, this novel misses the mark when it comes to storycraft. Too much action happens off-stage, too much of the narrative is taken up with filling in back-stories or catching the reader up between time-jumps, not enough happens in ‘real time’. The best characters (hello Pepper, a gravel-eyed glare in dungarees…) are not given nearly enough to do.

Harlem Shuffle is much lighter fare than Whitehead’s last two outings (you really can’t blame the guy for wanting a change of pace), with all the ingredients for a Fargo-style caper but it doesn’t quite live up to its promise. If you have a special interest in mid-20th century Harlem, definitely check it out. English I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting myself into when I chose to read this book —
I had read plenty ‘about it’. Even before it was released in September of this year — I listened to Colson Whitehead speak about how much fun he had writing it — the first book of a series.
I laughed when he said, “yeah, something a little different”….
when his other two novels : “The Underground Railroad” and “The Nickel Boys” were each very different from each also. But, yes….‘something’ a little different from Colson. …..

I met Colson Whitehead a couple of years ago at UC Santa Cruz (with my friend Margie)…when he did a book-reading for “The Nickel Boys”.
It was so pleasantly surprising to learn how FUNNY-BOUNCY- and ADORABLY-COOL Colson was …. (in his school-boy-t-shirt and keds)…I’m not surprised at all that the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner wrote a *romp*.

So…..I waited awhile to read this book. Mixed reviews were coming out — I was worried I’d fall into the low rating group — why? It just sounded too much like a ‘dude’ book (yes, aware I’m being sexist)…but I was hoping — I’d love it.
I ended up liking it much more than expected—but in order to keep myself ‘present’ - deeply engaged - I found myself …( don’t laugh)…reading at least half of this book OUT-LOUD….(to the air in my house)… maybe our birds were listening?
Once again, I’m so IMPRESSED with Colson….
….the visuals, the crazy characters, (HARLEM itself being one of characters), the atmosphere, the neighborhood, the history of Harlem in the ‘60’s ….(‘The Donna Reed’ show era), the family-business retail life-style living ….(clearly, without having to even be said, it’s a novel about race)…..
but what stands out to me is simply - unapologetically - an old fashion crime-amusement- escapade.

Ray Carney was trying to maintain a legitimate furniture business, while occasionally dragged into devious-sketchy elbow-grease….(thank you cousin Freddie) ….
The relationship between Ray and Freddie was often a kick….
“The waitress walked over and muttered something. Freddie winked at her, plucked a sandwich crust off Carney’s plate and gobbled it up. When she retreated, Freddie said,
‘What’s on around town?’”
“That meant gimme dirt, in his lingo”.

The LANGUAGE is soooo mind-blowing masterful!
Reading excerpts like this out loud become extra sparkly.
“Tonight he was on another Moskowitz rendezvous, but Times Square ‘round midnight was a different creature, an incandescent, stupefying bazaar. White bulbs rippled on and off in waves across bold marquees, thin neon tubes capered and pranced—a pink martini glass, a galloping horse—among a clamor of honks and whistles and big-band brass out of dance halls”.

PARTS WERE VERY CHARMING (can I say that about a crime-family-saga- story?)…..
It has raunchy thrills, squeamish moments, hilarity, pathos, plenty of action —but also….plenty of warmth……

Starting with the protagonists- Ray Carney > his character is so well developed….it’s hard to believe that he isn’t a real person - owner of the Harlem furniture store…..passed down to him by his lawbreaker father. It’s also almost hard to believe that the ‘Harlem Furniture Store’, isn’t a real store standing in Harlem ….with the old sign out front reading:
“The ‘& Sons [“The Sign had never been aspirational”]

Given that Ray’s father was a criminal…the way Ray saw things — and perhaps the books strongest themes:
“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”.

Like most Harlemites, Carney grew up with broken glass in the playground,….the smell of gun smoke, thieves, bandits, rooms that smelled like cigarettes and cigar smoke.
Cheap beer soaked into floorboards, revolting stains on an old couch….

Side-street saloons, gamblers, goons, drunks, crooks— illicit business-secret police, roughnecks, bouncing checks, rich people who were as bent as gangsters but didn’t have to hide, uptown train rides, hot dogs…
evening rendezvous’s…..
Balancing straight-lace intentions with tragedies of crime turned out to be rather fun for this normally-non-lethal mobster-underworld reader.
I was reminded of words from Ghandi …..
“you must be the change you wish to see the world”. English If Colson Whitehead writes it, then I will read it. English

The dialogue and action were so shrouded in euphemism, so opaque in meaning and intention, alternatively dull and worrisome, that no one could decide what the play was about, if they understood it, let alone enjoyed it.

I can't help but think Colson Whitehead was talking about this very book when he wrote that prescient line into it.

Harlem Shuffle is a set of three loosely-related stories about furniture salesman and reluctant crook Ray Carney. He wants to lead an honest life, but that's not easy as a Black man in 1960s Harlem. So due to necessity and unfortunate circumstances, he keeps getting pulled into dodgy business.

The book blurb promises heists, and I'm immediately thinking of well-planned and well-executed ones à la Ocean's Eleven. But what I got instead were hijinks. Carney and his friends, through schemes and poor-decision making, would cause the sort of trouble that Carney can then only straighten out via crooked ways. Now that sounds interesting enough, but for some reason, it didn't feel compelling when I was actually reading it. Perhaps I'm just not the right audience for this type of gangster noir.

However, an even bigger problem is that the writing style didn't work for me. Instead of leading with contextual information, Whitehead often dropped the reader right into random thoughts or new characters—of which there were many—without explanation. Then after many paragraphs of incomprehensible blather, he finally provides context, at which point the reader would be forced to go back and reread it all again in order to gain understanding. In this way, I read numerous portions of this book many times.

The writing also has a tendency to be unfocused. Even the most straightforward of scenes would stretch to fill many pages, stuffed full of irrelevant musings, asides, and tangents. Those musings often involved characters we don't know or context we don't have, which adds to the confusion. And by the time I've come out of it, not only did I not understand, but I've forgotten where I am in the original scene.

I'm sure there is an interesting story in here somewhere, but my patience was stretched to the limits trying to find it. The third part (the last 100 pages) did finally feel closer to what I expected from the author, as if that was the story he had meant to write all along, but on realizing he was 200 pages short, fluffed out the rest and that's what we got.

This was a pretty disappointing read for me, especially from an author of Colson Whitehead's caliber. If you prefer your stories to be maximumly tedious and difficult to follow, then I recommend this book. For everyone else, I'd say stay away. English The award winning Colson shifts genres to write a light hearted and beautifully crafted piece of multilayered historical fiction, crime and family drama, an astutely observed and atmospherically vibrant picture of 1950s and 1960s New York City's Harlem. It depicts the hustles and bustle, the culture, the community, detailing and describing the neighbourhoods, with its wide ranging cast of diverse characters, the offbeat, the high, the low and the shady, amidst a background of social and political change the author provides a commentary on. This entertaining and humorous novel celebrates black crime writers such as Chester Himes, whilst touching on a number of critical areas, political corruption, white privilege, exploitation, race, power, policing, class, ethics and morality, the criminal underbelly, black history and the civil rights movement.

The ambitious Ray Carney is looking to move on from his crooked personal family history, married to Elizabeth, now expecting their second child, he is doing well running his furniture store, but money is tight, his in-laws look down on him, and he dreams of moving to better neighbourhoods as he aspires to climb the social ladder. The respectable side of him juggles with the more illegal parts of his enterprise, while his cousin Freddie manages to drag him into deep trouble as with a planned heist of the Theresa Hotel, the 'Waldorf of Harlem' where it could be predicted that things would go wrong. We follow Ray through time as he tries to negotiate the pitfalls and dangers that come his way, is he going to be able to survive?

Ray finds his eyes opened to the truths of the parts of New York that so often remain below the radar, the powerful elites, mobsters, corrupt cops and other criminal elements. The complex plotting, the comic touches, the great characters, particularly Pepper, and the nuanced storytelling make this a joy to read, whilst showcasing Whitehead's versatility as a writer. The Harlem of this historical period and its community holds centre stage, so wonderfully evoked, so different to the place it is today with the rise of gentrification. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC. English so this was not a heist story.

or a character story. or a plot story. or a much of anything story?

i never dnf books and i almost found this unfinishable, on top of being unstartable and unmiddleable.

these characters had none of the magic colson whitehead characters usually do for me, and in spite of having significantly more action the story felt...more boring.

i just never connected with this. no matter what i did, and how many times i picked it up, and in spite of it being an objectively fine book, i found it borderline unreadable.

i never, ever thought i'd have a hard time connecting with colson whitehead characters, who if anything i feel too attached to.

so what on earth!

bottom line: ???

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currently-reading updates

i have tried to pick up this book seven times, and through no fault of the book's own, i have failed to get past the 25 page mark all seven times.

(this is an actual number that i update every time it happens again.)

nevertheless we persist.

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tbr review

a heist story written by colson whitehead?! what did i do to deserve this English Beautiful prose but light on plot and action.

Ray Carney, situated in Harlem, owns and operates a furniture store in Harlem. Carney is straddling two worlds though: the up and up furniture store and the goods that must have fallen off a truck somewhere. Will these two worlds collide? How will Carney navigate these two worlds?

Harlem Shuffle is my first Whitehead novel who is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. The prose of the book was at its finest. Whitehead has a very strong command of verbs and adjectives, such a wide variety. His prose truly is a work of art in and of itself. However, this book was light on plot and light on action. I fell asleep twice while reading it.

Overall, Harlem Shuffle was beautiful to read but it was not a page turner.

2023 Reading Schedule
Jan Alice in Wonderland
Feb Notes from a Small Island
Mar Cloud Atlas
Apr On the Road
May The Color Purple
Jun Bleak House
Jul Bridget Jones’s Diary
Aug Anna Karenina
Sep The Secret History
Oct Brave New World
Nov A Confederacy of Dunces
Dec The Count of Monte Cristo

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Blog Twitter BookTube Facebook Insta English Having read two of Mr Whitehead's novels, this one was on top of my list. What a total surprise it was! A definite and unexpected shift into Harlem in the 1960s, with its bitter humour and portrayal of people and places so well-written that visualising them was not a problem for me. The beginning was rather slow and it took me a little time to get involved mainly due to my lack of knowledge what Harlem was like six decades ago. After some time though I felt more secure in the company of Ray and the company. This novel was the closest I could get to Harlem, I suppose. A reading journey that I will not forget for a long time.
A big thank-you to Colson Whitehead, Little, Brown Book Group UK, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.* English