Author | Colson Whitehead |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | |
Set in | Harlem in 1959, 1961 and 1964 |
Publisher | Doubleday |
Publication date | September 14, 2021 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback), ebook, audiobook |
Pages | 336 |
ISBN | 978-0-385-54513-6 (first edition hardcover) |
OCLC | 1198988746 |
813/.54 | |
LC Class | PS3573.H4768 H37 2020 |
Followed by | Crook Manifesto |
Harlem Shuffle is a 2021 novel by American novelist Colson Whitehead. It is the follow-up to Whitehead's 2019 novel The Nickel Boys , which earned him his second Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It is a work of crime fiction and a family saga [1] that takes place in Harlem between 1959 and 1964. [2] It was published by Doubleday on September 14, 2021. [1]
A sequel entitled Crook Manifesto was published in July 2023. [3]
In 1959, Ray Carney lives in Harlem with his wife Elizabeth, with whom he is expecting a second child. Although descending from a criminal family, Ray makes his living working as an upstanding furniture salesman on 125th Street. However, he occasionally fences stolen goods through his furniture store, including those from his cousin Freddie. Whereas Ray has steered his way toward an honest living, Freddie is descending into Harlem's criminal underworld. Freddie orchestrates a robbery of the Hotel Theresa with his associates and volunteers Ray to fence what is stolen. The heist goes wrong and a cast of criminal figures enter Ray's life, forcing him into a personal struggle between aspects of his fractured self. The novel is divided in three parts and covers three separate capers, set in 1959, 1961, and 1964. It culminates with the Harlem riot of 1964.
Harlem Shuffle, Whitehead's eighth novel, was conceived and begun before he wrote The Nickel Boys (2019). [4] Whitehead spent years writing the novel, and ultimately finished it in "bite-sized chunks" during the months he spent in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. [5] Harlem Shuffle was published by Doubleday on September 14, 2021. [1]
The novel debuted at number three on The New York Times fiction best-seller list for the week ending September 18, 2021. [6]
According to Book Marks, the novel received a cumulative "rave" rating based on forty-four reviews: thirty-two "rave" reviews, ten "positive" reviews, one "mixed" review, and one "pan" review. [7] On Bookmarks November/December 2021 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews with a critical summary saying, "Crackling dialogue, immense knowledge of New York, and, not least, the joy with which Whitehead tells this story will not be forgotten". [8] [9]
In its starred review, Kirkus Reviews called it "as audacious, ingenious, and spellbinding as any of his previous period pieces" and praised the novel's "Dickensian array of colorful, idiosyncratic characters" and Whitehead's "densely layered, intricately woven rendering of New York City in the Kennedy era." [10] Publishers Weekly , in its starred review, praised its "superlative story" and Whitehead's depiction of an early 1960s Harlem "which lands as detailed and vivid as Joyce's Dublin." [11]
The novel was a finalist for the 2021 Kirkus Prize for Fiction. [12] Former United States President Barack Obama named Harlem Shuffle one of his favorite books of 2021. [13]
Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead is an American novelist. He is the author of nine novels, including his 1999 debut The Intuitionist; The Underground Railroad (2016), for which he won the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; and The Nickel Boys, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction again in 2020, making him one of only four writers ever to win the prize twice. He has also published two books of nonfiction. In 2002, he received a MacArthur Fellowship.
Apex Hides the Hurt is a 2006 novel by American author Colson Whitehead.
Sag Harbor is a 2009 novel by author Colson Whitehead.
The St. Nicholas Historic District, known colloquially as "Striver's Row", is a historic district located on both sides of West 138th and West 139th Streets between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is both a national and a New York City historic district, and consists of row houses and associated buildings designed by three architectural firms and built in 1891–93 by developer David H. King Jr. These are collectively recognized as gems of New York City architecture, and "an outstanding example of late 19th-century urban design":
Lincoln in the Bardo is a 2017 experimental novel by American writer George Saunders. It is Saunders's first full-length novel and was The New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller for the week of March 5, 2017.
The Underground Railroad is a historical fiction novel by American author Colson Whitehead, published by Doubleday in 2016. The alternate history novel tells the story of Cora, a slave in the Antebellum South during the 19th century, who makes a bid for freedom from her Georgia plantation by following the Underground Railroad, which the novel depicts as a rail transport system with safe houses and secret routes. The book was a critical and commercial success, hitting the bestseller lists and winning several literary awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Award for Fiction, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence. A TV miniseries adaptation, written and directed by Barry Jenkins, was released in May 2021.
Lost Children Archive is a 2019 novel by writer Valeria Luiselli. Luiselli was in part inspired by the ongoing American policy of separating children from their parents at the Mexican-American border. The novel is the first book Luiselli wrote in English.
The Nickel Boys is a 2019 novel by American novelist Colson Whitehead. It is based on the historic Dozier School, a reform school in Florida that operated for 111 years and was revealed as highly abusive. A university investigation found numerous unmarked graves for unrecorded deaths and a history into the late 20th century of emotional and physical abuse of students.
Quichotte is a 2019 novel by Salman Rushdie. It is his fourteenth novel, published on 29 August 2019 by Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom and Penguin Books India in India. It was published in the United States on 3 September 2019 by Random House. Inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's classic novel Don Quixote, Quichotte is a metafiction that tells the story of an addled Indian-American man who travels across America in pursuit of a celebrity television host with whom he has become obsessed.
Grand Union: Stories is a 2019 short story collection by Zadie Smith. It was published on 3 October 2019 by Hamish Hamilton, an imprint of Penguin Books.
The Dutch House is a 2019 novel by Ann Patchett. It was published by Harper on September 24, 2019. It tells the story of a brother and sister, Danny and Maeve Conroy, who grow up in a mansion known as the Dutch House, and their lives over five decades.
The Water Dancer is the debut novel by Ta-Nehisi Coates, published on September 24, 2019, by Random House under its One World imprint. It is a surrealist story set in the pre-Civil War South, concerning a superhuman protagonist named Hiram Walker who possesses photographic memory, but who cannot remember his mother, and, late in the novel, is able to transport people over long distances by using a power known as "conduction". This power is based in the power of memory and storytelling and can fold the Earth like fabric and allows him to travel across large areas via waterways.
Hamnet is a 2020 novel by Maggie O'Farrell. It is a fictional account of William Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, who died at age eleven in 1596, focusing on his parents' grief. In Canada, the novel was published under the title Hamnet & Judith.
Jack is a novel by Marilynne Robinson, published in September 2020.
The Committed is a 2021 novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen. It is his second novel and the sequel to his debut novel The Sympathizer (2015), which sold over one million copies and was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Committed was published by Grove Press on March 2, 2021.
Sanjena Anshu Sathian is an American novelist and journalist. Her debut novel, Gold Diggers, was published by Penguin Press in 2021.
The Death of Vivek Oji is a 2020 fiction novel by Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi. It was published on 4 August 2020 by Riverhead books, it narrates the life of Vivek Oji until his death. It is Emezi's second adult novel after Freshwater and the book received critical attention and was an instant New York Times best seller.
Blacktop Wasteland is a noir mystery novel written by S. A. Cosby and published in July 2020 by Flatiron Books.
Crook Manifesto is a 2023 novel by Colson Whitehead. It returns to the fictional world of his previous book, Harlem Shuffle. It is a work of crime fiction and a family saga that takes place in Harlem during three periods: 1971, 1973, and 1976, the year of the United States Bicentennial celebration.
The Splinter in the Sky is the debut novel of American novelist Kemi Ashing-Giwa. It was first published by Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in July 2023. It appeared on the USA Today Bestseller list and won the 2024 Compton Crook Award.