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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
Picks up more or less where Pepper and Carney left off in the first book, with Carney getting sucked back into the underworld by a very mundane task for his kid.
It reads very much like Whitehead has been doing research on the 70s and wanted to hit stuff like the fires, avante garde Black film and stagflation and just wove the narrative through those gates to hit the stuff he wanted to talk about.
I was a little surprised we didn't get more about the Black revolutionaries which feel like the thing most particular to this time in Harlem, though they are there to a certain degree.
At the end of the day, the book read like Whitehead was having fun with these characters and any time an author of his caliber is having fun, generally it's a good time.
It reads very much like Whitehead has been doing research on the 70s and wanted to hit stuff like the fires, avante garde Black film and stagflation and just wove the narrative through those gates to hit the stuff he wanted to talk about.
I was a little surprised we didn't get more about the Black revolutionaries which feel like the thing most particular to this time in Harlem, though they are there to a certain degree.
At the end of the day, the book read like Whitehead was having fun with these characters and any time an author of his caliber is having fun, generally it's a good time.
SHould come as no surprise that this book is great. Whitehead is so observant, so witty. He must have a million different interesting sentences bouncing around in his head just waiting for the right story.
The middle story drags a bit. Carney's not really involved in it. The first and last are really terrific.
It will be great to see the final installment, to see how the whole trilogy comes together. It might even be worth rereading them all back to back.
The middle story drags a bit. Carney's not really involved in it. The first and last are really terrific.
It will be great to see the final installment, to see how the whole trilogy comes together. It might even be worth rereading them all back to back.
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Colson Whitehead is truly one of our finest. His writing continues to capture me and keep me captured. This sequel of sorts to Harlem Shuffle is an unsparing, funny, and sometimes tragic look at Harlem and NYC of the 60s and 70s - told most often through the eyes of Ray Carney - furniture salesman, father, husband, and sometimes fence. It feels like a love letter to the city with all its beautiful characters and all of their warts.
3.5 stars - Like in 'Harlem Shuffle', Whitehead brings 70s Harlem to life as its own vivid character, a gritty and fast-paced space containing a colorful cast. Since the prior novel, Ray Carney has attempted to go straight but quickly finds he can't escape the crooked when to keep his family happy and safe from crooked cops, mobsters, and greedy wannabe politicians. Despite Carney being the protagonist, Pepper continues to be the standout character to me, his silence and brawn covering his rich interior life, and I also appreciated Colson not sidelining women as there were multiple strong female entrepreneurs, like Elizabeth, Lucinda, and the fried chicken ladies. While people who experienced New York of the period praised the realism, my lack of context plus the satiric tone kept me detached from the story even when I was enjoying its cadence. The tone also prevented me from fully grasping the horrors in a story full of violence, even as I acknowledge how incisively it calls out the difficulty of breaking out or succeeding in an oppressive system. Whitehead is a compelling writer but I only liked, not loved this sequel, though I would return for another adventure with Carney and Pepper.
GU Book Club selection, January 2024.
GU Book Club selection, January 2024.
funny
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
'It was a glorious June morning. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the ambulances were screaming, and the daylight falling on last night’s crime scenes made the blood twinkle like dew in a green heaven.'
DNF at 70%. Maybe it’s the way the parts were broken into relatively discreet stories, but part 3 started and I just found that I didn’t care to read more. Pepper in part 2 was worth it, though.
dark
inspiring
medium-paced