Harlem Shuffle

📚📱 Pub Day BOOK REVIEW 📱📚

Title: Harlem Shuffle

Author: Colson Whitehead

Publisher: Doubleday Books

@doubledaybooks

Genre: Historical/Crime/Fiction

Thank you to @netgalley and @doubleday for sending me a copy of Harlem Shuffle. This was a highly anticipated read for me that I was thrilled to receive. I absolutely loved the main character Ray Carney, but I don’t know if it was the long chapters, keeping track of all the secondary characters, or the format of the three separate year sections, but I somehow got lost in the shuffle in this one! 😆

To his family and customers of his furniture store, Ray is an upstanding citizen. While his father was a crook, Ray has decided to make a decent living for his wife and two kids. But life in 1961 Harlem is tough and Ray finds himself on the receiving end of some odds and ends: such as jewelry, etc. that his cousin Freddie often drops off because Ray knows a guy he can go to behind closed doors to pawn it off too. This is a gray area Ray is ok with, but next thing he knows he gets in deeper and deeper with some unsavory characters. This sets up an internal struggle between Ray the provider for his family and Ray the crook. Harlem Shuffle spans the the early 1960s in Harlem as Ray navigates a double life of sorts.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I’m not sure if it was the point of the story or not, but for me this felt like an ethical study of morals. Which I enjoyed pondering throughout the story. It really got me thinking. Which is always a good thing! I also really enjoyed the main character, Ray. Unfortunately, overall, this one was tough for me to stay focused and engaged throughout. Maybe it was timing of the read? Maybe it was reading it on a digital format? This one is out today 9/14. And despite some of my struggles, I do still recommend it.