Harlem Shuffle

A Novel

By: Colson Whitehead

Narrated by: Dion Graham

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 listen to, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Colson Whitehead.

Look for Colson Whitehead’s new novel, Crook Manifesto, coming soon!

©2021 Colson Whitehead (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE NOMINEE • New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books of the Year • One of The Washington Posts 50 Notable Works of Fiction of the Year • TIME Magazine 100 Must Read Books of the Year • One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, Slate, Boston Globe, Town & Country, Vulture, and more • One of President Obama's Favorite Books of the Year • One of The New York Times Critics' Best Books of the Year

“A rich, wild book that could pass for genre fiction. It’s much more, but the entertainment value alone should ensure it the same kind of popular success that greeted his last two novels, The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys."—Janet Maslin, The New York Times

One of the Ten Best Books of 2021—Laura Miller, Slate

“Colson Whitehead has a couple of Pulitzers under his belt, along with several other awards celebrating his outstanding novels. Harlem Shuffle is a suspenseful crime thriller that's sure to add to the tally—it's a fabulous novel you must read.”—NPR.org

Suspenseful!

It started a little slow but picked up steam by the second part. I liked the characters and the way the stories touched on historical aspects. I was sorry at the end for the loss of one of the main characters but the ending closed all chapters with only a few questions to ponder at the end. Imagination! I liked it.

Colson Whitehead never disappoints.

I chose this as my first book of the new year because I had confidence in this author. I am tempted to buy a hard copy just so that I might savor his beautifully crafted turns of phrases & insights. I learned so much, too.
And, Dion Graham is the best. I’ll look for his performances!

Fast, Fun & roller coaster read

I love this book! The dialogue is engaging and entertaining. The story moves fast and completely engulfing. No surprise coming from such a fantastic writer. It’s nice to see him flex his more humorous and light writing muscles.

I cared about the characters and certainly found myself getting choked up over some. He does a great job of “illustrating the grey,” in a way you can’t say people are good or bad, necessarily. I also enjoyed the way he wrote about black experience and the oppression of the entire system and how it forces so many hands or holds so many people back. That message and story was the most important and powerful of the book, as a reader.

Starts out slow , but

The story started really slow-moving for me. So slow that I stopped listening for a couple of weeks. I got lost a few times trying to fully understand what was going on because I would zone out.
I gave the story another listen and eventually came to really enjoying it. The performance was almost perfect but he kept lowering his voice in certain situations in the story; I will assume it was for effect, however all that did was force me to increase my volume.
The story has humor, drama, and history. It let's you visualize Harlem, NY in ways you may never have thought of before and it got me to a point where I was on the edge of my seat.
I would recommend this listen.

Love the narration!

This story is full of culture. The narrator gave an excellent performance. I could see the characters and the places. Colson Whitehead is an exquisite story teller. There is so much detail in the character interactions. I loved the life - like mingling of whit and drama.

Colson, the great storyteller!

Nothing like a great story told by a great narrator. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Charlotte Bain

Not narrated, performed.

Dion Graham Is brilliant. Whitehead’s prose as performed by Graham is a total joy to experience. The story’s a little thin, but I never wanted to stop listening to that voice.

Honoring different times, a tale

An adventure that brings us through the 40s, 50s, and 60s, in Harlem. Carney is trying to find his way through life, trying to leave behind a legacy of a father who was not on the up and up, running a business to provide for his family. What is unvealed is a set of deep structural factors that make that easier said than done. The caste systems that determine who gets the business and who gets opportunity. More than that, what opportunities are afforded Black folk. A tale that explores early Black aristocracy and those who find themselves in an adjacent existence on strivers row. I loved the characters and look forward to other books by Whitehead.

Outstanding!

The most outstanding part of my experience listening to this book was the reader. His reading with intonation, emphasis when needed, and the raising and lowering of his voice at the right moments resulted in an outstanding performance. BRAVO!

Such a great story

This story was good. It kept me engaged. The narrator was flawless. I loved the intertwining of historical events with the fiction. You want the characters to win. I will definitely read the next and look for other stories narrated by D.G.