Lino answers “is harlem shuffle more fun to read than...”

Fred Sweeny asked this question about Harlem Shuffle (Ray Carney, #1):

is harlem shuffle more fun to read than underground railroad and nickel boys?

Lino I am almost 50% through and also struggling to get to the finish line. My hope is that it will get better. Fingers crossed.

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Maine Mom keep going. last third is worth it...
Mar 05, 2022 07:34PM · flag

Lino My review:
“Perhaps on the street above, as in a story for children, the big black letters rearranged themselves into new names and words, and ten tho My review:
“Perhaps on the street above, as in a story for children, the big black letters rearranged themselves into new names and words, and ten thousand blinking lights expounded in an unseen, after-hours performance. Spelling out philosophical declarations. Statements of universal truth. Cries for help and understanding. And maybe among them, an affirmation intended for him and him alone: a perfect message of hate, inscribed upon the city itself.”
This is my second Colson Whitehead novel (Nickel Boys – the first). So, just based on that fact alone my bar was set high for “The Harlem Shuffle.” And quite frankly I was disappointed.
Now in baseball, a hitter is fortunate to hit a ball out of the ballpark. In general approximately 12.8% overall. Sometimes a batter will hit a baseball extremely high in the infield triggering the infield fly rule. What’s exciting about this play is that at times the opposing player will lose sight of a ball that 90% of the time is caught allowing the runner(s) to advance. My hope when reading Colson Whitehead’s novel was that at some point the ball would drop advancing the runner(s) but unfortunately, it was caught for the final out retiring the sides.
Throughout the novel’s three long parts the main character Ray Carney is drawn ever deeper into the underworld. It is in this social-realist mode that “Harlem Shuffle” most effectively frees itself from the constraints of the crime thriller; or rather uses those constraints to advance a vision of America.
In “Harlem Shuffle” the effect of Whitehead’s tendency to fall back and fill in is more obstructive, a buffering wheel just when things are getting exciting. Such lapses are all the more frustrating given the vividness on display elsewhere. When “Harlem Shuffle” springs to life, it does so with a controlled intensity that resonates beyond the immediate events of the novel.
From my perspective, this is not one of his best works but still earns a three-star rating. ...more
Mar 09, 2022 06:55PM · flag

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