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A review by thechanelmuse
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
4.0
"He hit the books. Not schoolbooks but dime novels: Strange Sisters, Violent Saturday, Her Name—Jezebel. Stories where no one was saved, not the guilty (killers and crooks) and not the innocent (orphans scooped up at bus stations, librarians inducted into worlds of vice). Each time he thought things would work out for them. They never did and he forgot that lesson each time he closed the covers."
From the moment I cracked Harlem Shuffle open, I was sucked into the bustling world of crime and grit set in 1960s Harlem. I almost felt like I was supposed to smoke a cigarette and position myself in a dimly lit sequestered corner with jazz tunes of the era filling the space.
Colson Whitehead splits this book into three parts: 1959, 1961, and 1964. Our main character, Ray Carney, tries to protect his family and balance his used furniture business on 125th Street that dips into the crooked side of things where fencing (knowingly buying stolen goods later to resell for profit) binds him to a number of figures, all while he aims to survive the underbelly and keep his cousin's head above water against the shaping of society (racism, classism, and colorism, as well as riots and civil rights protests).
Whitehead's writing is delightful; it's gritty, atmospheric, polished, clever, and even witty. The amount of research he poured into to tie in the vivid imagery of cultural references, notable people and places paid off. Harlem Shuffle is much more than just a historical fiction-crime novel; it's a character study.
From the moment I cracked Harlem Shuffle open, I was sucked into the bustling world of crime and grit set in 1960s Harlem. I almost felt like I was supposed to smoke a cigarette and position myself in a dimly lit sequestered corner with jazz tunes of the era filling the space.
Colson Whitehead splits this book into three parts: 1959, 1961, and 1964. Our main character, Ray Carney, tries to protect his family and balance his used furniture business on 125th Street that dips into the crooked side of things where fencing (knowingly buying stolen goods later to resell for profit) binds him to a number of figures, all while he aims to survive the underbelly and keep his cousin's head above water against the shaping of society (racism, classism, and colorism, as well as riots and civil rights protests).
Whitehead's writing is delightful; it's gritty, atmospheric, polished, clever, and even witty. The amount of research he poured into to tie in the vivid imagery of cultural references, notable people and places paid off. Harlem Shuffle is much more than just a historical fiction-crime novel; it's a character study.