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devitalise 's review for:
Harlem Shuffle
by Colson Whitehead
3.5
i’d been anticipating reading this book for over a year, so it’s just such a shame i didn’t love it like i thought i would.
for as immersive and grounding it is, the sentence structure felt so janky and jarring at times. carney reminiscing on the past and his childhood—whilst moving and an aspect of his characterisation approached with genuine care—was done in such a way that left me confused jumping from past to present. a lot of his thoughts never moved past where he was at the start of the book, even as his circumstances and harlem change around him. i don’t know.
it’s not all bad, though. harlem felt so alive and real, and the stakes at play had very real consequences, too.
i’d been anticipating reading this book for over a year, so it’s just such a shame i didn’t love it like i thought i would.
for as immersive and grounding it is, the sentence structure felt so janky and jarring at times. carney reminiscing on the past and his childhood—whilst moving and an aspect of his characterisation approached with genuine care—was done in such a way that left me confused jumping from past to present. a lot of his thoughts never moved past where he was at the start of the book, even as his circumstances and harlem change around him. i don’t know.
it’s not all bad, though. harlem felt so alive and real, and the stakes at play had very real consequences, too.