Harlem Shuffle’s Lovable Anti-Hero Ray Carney

One Esplanade women’s book club continues to meet via Zoom. In December we discussed Harlem Shuffle, a fast read by Colson Whitehead. Winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, a National Book Award, and Guggenheim and MacArthur grants, Whitehead told Laura Miller (Slate, September 2021) that each project is usually “an antidote to the one before.” The Underground Railroad, historical novel about slavery (for which Whitehead won his first Pulitzer) was followed by The Nickel Boys, a tough book about troubled youth (Whitehead’s second Pulitzer). Whitehead said that for Harlem Shufflehe was more than ready to have fun creating a “heist novel” that explores the questionable bargains we sometimes strike as we seek a better life.

Harlem Shuffle is set in New York City in the 1960s. Uncivil race relations, criminal enterprise, and universal human striving are the taken-for-granted reality. Colorful characters from all walks of life cut corners and “bend” ethical principles to get ahead (including some who are desperately poor, some peacocks who flamboyantly display their new money, some quieter old money, and many characters who – like Ray – aspire to solid middle class lifestyle). The City is an important character; Whitehead knows many neighborhoods well and paints them vividly.

The reader meets Ray Carney in 1959. His notorious father, Big Mike Carney recently died, leaving Ray a sum of ill-gotten money -- sufficient for Ray to set up a store that sells high-end, mostly gently-used furniture. Ray’s wife Elizabeth grew up on pleasant Striver’s Row on 138th Street. Her father is a member of the exclusive Dumas Club, while Ray and Elizabeth live on shabby 127th Street. Ray, who dreams of moving up to Riverside Drive, becomes reluctantly embroiled in a series of problematic capers initiated by his lovable but crooked cousin Freddie.

By the mid-sixties. Ray’s furniture store serves as a convenient front for transactions involving various stolen goods. Ray still considers himself “bent but not crooked.” Soon, things take quite a turn when Ray is snubbed by a snobby Dumas Club member. You must read the book to find out what happens next! Prepare to laugh often, gasp occasionally, and possibly weep as you see Manhattan through Whitehead’s words and characters.

A few resources relevant to Harlem Shuffle:

·       Harlem Shuffle, the song by Bob and Earl (later covered by The Rolling Stones; both are easy to Google).

·       Terrific Washington Post review of the book: Google Ron Charles, Sept. 14, 2021.

·       Strivers’ Row, by Marjorie Cohen, March 1 2016:  Designed for Whites, it was later home to affluent Black doctors, musicians (including Eubie Blake, Bo Jangles Robinson, and Fletcher Henderson) and Congressman Adam Clayton Powell). See  www.brickunderground.com/blog/take_5-strivers_row . 

Janis Gogan