Reviews with content warning for Violence - Harlem Shuffle

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. The story had potential, but was not compelling in the way that, e.g., Deacon King Kong was, thinking about other literary writers turning to mid-century NYC for a crime caper genre. The stakes didn’t feel as high as I know they were supposed to, and it was hard to get into the characters’ motivations. The book got better generally as it went on—the third part was the best, but still not that good. This was shallow.

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bandysbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was just okay for me. I found it a bit repetitive and a little tedious at points. I loved the New York setting and the sort of Mafia type feel that it had going on, but I didn’t find the characters all that compelling and the other plot got a bit predictable.

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na_no's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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chasinash's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Starts slow and really picks up.

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cassielaj's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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skylaturner's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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badmom's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Whitehead’s writing is rich & engaging, blending historical details about Harlem & civil rights with the plights of his multi-layered fictional players. Even most of the side characters are vivid and meaningful, if only in helping the reader fully grasp the gravity of poverty + systemic racism in our society. The sparks of humor, sometimes dark and grim, remind us to appreciate the humanity in everyone we encounter.

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annasophie's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Plot wise not Whitehead’s strongest in my opinion, but his writing is always immaculate. He has a way with words that I personally enjoy very much, and it was lovely to read his prose in a less emotion heavy story after his last two novels. Overall I would say this book was a little all over the place for me though.

All of the characters felt underdeveloped to me; to the point where I really did not care where any of them ended up. The duality of the main character’s life and his almost split personality that occurs as he tries to navigate his crooked vs. upstanding personas could’ve been developed into a really interesting character study but sadly that’s never really explored. The mystery of the heists took away from the, what I think necessary, exploration of the character’s moral and ethical entanglements he’s undergoing as the story goes on. I can see why he wanted to write something a little more lighthearted after the last few years but he’s so good at hard hitting stories that this sadly just felt flat in comparison.

Whitehead’s idea of using furniture as take off point to describe the characters we meet in the story is incredibly interesting though, and I loved the way he explored the colors and architectural details of Harlem in the 60s. The first part was the strongest for me and I almost wish Whitehead left it at that and instead just turned the book into multiple short stories. Overall a 2.5 read for me but rounded it up to a 3.

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