Harlem Shuffle A Novel
Harlem Shuffle A Novel by Colson Whitehead is a 336-page work published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group on August 9, 2022. This novel presents the story of Ray Carney, a furniture salesman on 125th street in Harlem, who appears to lead a respectable life while grappling with his family’s criminal past. As he navigates the challenges of impending fatherhood and financial strain, he finds himself drawn into a world of crime when his cousin Freddie involves him in a heist that spirals out of control.
Readers will discover a narrative that intertwines elements of crime, race, and power within the vibrant backdrop of 1960s Harlem. The book explores Ray’s internal conflict between his aspirations for a normal life and the temptations of his heritage, revealing the complexities of his character as he interacts with a cast of shady figures, including gangsters and corrupt cops. Harlem Shuffle offers a multifaceted look at the social dynamics of the era while maintaining a blend of humor and tension throughout its engaging plot.
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, this gloriously entertaining novel is “fast-paced, keen-eyed and very funny … about race, power and the history of Harlem all disguised as a thrill-ride crime novel” (San Francisco Chronicle).
“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.
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