Harlem Shuffle: A Novel

Superb style, descriptions and characters. Takes you into Carney's life and Harlem experience. Learned a lot about history: Seneca Village, Dumas Club, Black Star Travel Agency.

This was a fun, very detailed story. It doesn't have a crazy plot or mind-blowing moments, it's just simply a story taking place in early 1960's New York, Mainly in Harlem.

It seems like it would be a very nostalgic read, for individuals personally familiar with that area during the same time period.

Often I will watch certain movies, that I will call " Just a good story" type of movie. As stated above, there isn't a lot of action, or twists and turns, it's just as if you're peering through a looking glass into someone's life, and watching an interesting story\situation unfold.

I'll also add, that I have a love for movies that take place during this time period, especially when it involves seeing what everyday life was like for blacks back then, so if this ever had the chance of being turned into a straight to streaming service movie, that would be awesome.

This book was a bit "meh" for me. I really enjoyed the rich descriptions of Harlem, but for some reason couldn't engage with the story - I'm not particularly into heists/action tales and I think that put me off. Couldn't finish it.

I whole-heartedly loved elements of this book but it's definitely a case of a book not being greater than the sum of its parts. I loved the rich descriptions of Harlem and what life was life there and really wanted more of the colourful characters that inhabited that world. I loved the crime caper aspects of the book but found they were a bit rushed through. I loved the biting commentary on racism and classism in America past and present, but again I wanted more of this because Whitehead does it so brilliantly. Trying to squeeze these three elements into the novel was ambitious but definitely within Whitehead's ability. Trying to squeeze these three elements across three different crimes / time periods was just too much in such a short novel. I needed this to be a series of three books where all the elements I loved had more time to breathe.

Book 49