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A review by lalama
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
4.0
Overall enjoyed a lot of the aspects of this. Loved the little bits of history, the glimpses of Harlem, and Carney as a character.
Some reviews said Whitehead never makes Carney reckon with his own conceptualization of his crookedness - I understand this to *some* extent but I also think he forces the reader to consider Carney’s criminality (in his own words, “only slightly bent when it came to being crooked”) within the context of 50s/60s Harlem. Almost every character who “makes it” in the novel (maybe with the exception of Carney’s wife Elizabeth) does so while involved in some level of cheating/crookedness - from the fences & thieves, to the ‘talented tenth’-esque members of the Dumas club, to the ultra-rich Van Wyck family. There is something in here that felt to me reminiscent of or connected to Sister Carrie - a level of determinism or naturalism about the environment Carney came from: a racist system that may never allow a truly “honest” man to succeed.
In the end, how much do we really care that Carney never wrestles with his own criminality when it is clear that the real crooks of the story are the Van Wycks of the world - rich, white families who helped create white supremacist systems that universally criminalize Black bodies?
I guess a truly great novel might stick the landing a bit more smoothly: unpack Carney’s feelings more throughly, drive home the deterministic/systemic point, or do both. But honestly I still enjoyed this and found it thought provoking!
Some reviews said Whitehead never makes Carney reckon with his own conceptualization of his crookedness - I understand this to *some* extent but I also think he forces the reader to consider Carney’s criminality (in his own words, “only slightly bent when it came to being crooked”) within the context of 50s/60s Harlem. Almost every character who “makes it” in the novel (maybe with the exception of Carney’s wife Elizabeth) does so while involved in some level of cheating/crookedness - from the fences & thieves, to the ‘talented tenth’-esque members of the Dumas club, to the ultra-rich Van Wyck family. There is something in here that felt to me reminiscent of or connected to Sister Carrie - a level of determinism or naturalism about the environment Carney came from: a racist system that may never allow a truly “honest” man to succeed.
In the end, how much do we really care that Carney never wrestles with his own criminality when it is clear that the real crooks of the story are the Van Wycks of the world - rich, white families who helped create white supremacist systems that universally criminalize Black bodies?
I guess a truly great novel might stick the landing a bit more smoothly: unpack Carney’s feelings more throughly, drive home the deterministic/systemic point, or do both. But honestly I still enjoyed this and found it thought provoking!