Colson Whitehead: Harlem Shuffle, Doubleday (Penguin Random House US) 9780385547758, large format paperback

I previously read Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize winning “The Underground Railroad” and was completely blown away by the power of the book, language and story in equal measures.  His latest novel “Harlem Shuffle” is far more lighthearted, a great portrait of Harlem life and that of small time crook and businessman Ray Carvey from 1959 to 1964.  Greatly enjoyed reading this unusual novel although I occasionally struggled with the slang specific of Harlem and the lingo gangsters used having to re-read sentences twice to catch the meaning.

Ray Carvey unlike most of the very colorful characters in the book is trying hard to be an upstanding citizen and businessman having started  his own business selling furniture to Harlem clientele.  His cousin Freddie however has opted for a career as a thief and unloading merchandise from suspicious sources at Carvey store is proving to be the extra business Ray needs to stay afloat with his start up.  When Freddie drags him into robbing the Hotel Theresa which of course does not go as planned, Ray’s career as a sometimes crook is propelled into another dimension. Shady cops, Harlem gangsters and lowlifes, jewelers who look the other way become part of his daily life.  At home he maintains the front of a caring father and businessman / husband although his father in law, not completely kosher himself, suspects that not all of Ray’s business is legal…

For me one of the great fun parts of the book was to see how Ray learns to use the curveballs that regularly land in his yard to his own advantage. There are several terrific characters that shape this book but Ray and his cousin Freddie stand out the most.  “Harlem Shuffle” is a terrific mix of a crime novel and a Harlem life saga of the early Sixties with the first race riots causing havoc and changing the social landscape not only of
New York.