An immersive novel with equal footings in voice and plot, “Harlem Shuffle” introduces us to the half-con world of Ray Carney in three segments covering 1959 to 1964.
Carney owns a furniture store in Harlem; his name is right above the window for anyone looking to find him, we’re often reminded. As the book begins, he’s still struggling to cover the rent and provide for his pregnant wife, Elizabeth, and their daughter, May.
He mostly plays things straight at the store, but he’s not above taking the odd piece of “lightly used” merchandise and placing it on the storeroom floor. He is the son of Bike Mike Carney, after all, a thug whose name still resonates years after Big Mike’s death by cop. Ray is haunted by his neglected childhood, but he knows there’s money to be made on the other side of the law. He needs it if he wants to get his family out of their scruffy apartment right over the train.
Ray gets in deeper than he intends, though, when his impulsive cousin Freddie mentions his name to help a crew clear some hot merchandise. And from there, Colson Whitehead engagingly explores the blurred lines between the crooked world and the straight, between Ray reading the literature on the latest lines of Arkesta recliners and the man installing a secret door for his after-hours business.
The narrative is gripping and tight. We flow through a series of scenes, through single-room occupancies and ritzy all-black social clubs as Ray tries to navigate both sides of his business. And business it is. Ray’s a classy guy, a family man. He mostly tries to stay on the up and up. But he can’t help but sink in a little deeper, especially where his cousin Freddie is involved.
As anyone who’s read “The Underground Railroad” knows, Whitehead is a beautiful writer. The lines here are evocative, blending metaphor and broken windows. Sometimes the writing can get a little too rich–you might have to reread a branching sentence when you just want to get through a scene–but on the whole it’s a pleasure.
The story is strong too. Ray is a complex figure, a man of secrets. My only complain is that the book’s resolution comes too easily, with a tidiness that seems unearned. The book sets up a real mess, and while part of me was glad Whitehead didn’t see it through, I couldn’t help but feel teased. But I’m glad to see he’s written a sequel, “Crook Manifesto,” as I’m eager to dive back into Ray’s world.
Quotes
“The husband shrank from the merchandise when he came too close to it, as if proximity plucked money out of his pockets. Carney remembered those days, everything too dear and too necessary at the same time, just him and Elizabeth making their way in the world as newlyweds.”
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“You hear people say, ‘Oh, when our boy came back from the war, he was <i>changed</i>. The war didn’t change Pepper, it completed him.”
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“In the end, he didn’t have to go into a big pitch at all. What you want in his trade, that most perfect thing, is a product that sells itself, an item of such craft and novelty that it renders the salesman superfluous. He had barely begun his spiel when it was clear that Fucking Over Duke, it turned out, sold itself.”