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\nBook Summary:
\nFrom the two-t ime Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \;The Underground Railroad \; and \;The Nickel Boys\, a gloriously entertaining novel of heists\, sh akedowns\, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s.
\n&ldquo\;Ray Ca rney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked&hellip\;&rdquo\; To his customers and neighbors on 125th street\, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture\, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second chil d\, and if her parents on Striver&rsquo\;s Row don&rsquo\;t approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks\, it&rsquo\;s st ill home.
\nFew people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks\, and that his faç\;ade of normalcy has more than a few c racks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time.
\nCash is tight\, especially with all those installment-plan sofas\, so if his cousi n Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace\, Ray doesn&rsqu o\;t ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who doe sn&rsquo\;t ask questions\, either.
\nThen Freddie falls in with a c rew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa&mdash\;the &ldquo\;Waldorf of Harlem &rdquo\;&mdash\;and volunteers Ray&rsquo\;s services as the fence. The hei st doesn&rsquo\;t go as planned\; they rarely do. Now Ray has a new client ele\, one made up of shady cops\, vicious local gangsters\, two-bit pornog raphers\, and other assorted Harlem lowlifes.
\nThus begins the inte rnal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates th is double life\, he begins to see who actually pulls the strings in Harlem . Can Ray avoid getting killed\, save his cousin\, and grab his share of t he big score\, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source fo r all your quality home furniture needs?
\nHarlem Shuffle&rsquo\;s i ngenious story plays out in a beautifully recreated New York City of the e arly 1960s. It&rsquo\;s a family saga masquerading as a crime novel\, a hi larious morality play\, a social novel about race and power\, and ultimate ly a love letter to Harlem.
\nBut mostly\, it&rsquo\;s a joy to read \, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award- winning Colson Whitehead.
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