Listen free for 30 days

Preview
  • Harlem Shuffle

  • A Novel
  • Written by: Colson Whitehead
  • Narrated by: Dion Graham
  • Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (69 ratings)

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Harlem Shuffle

Written by: Colson Whitehead
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.22

Buy Now for $26.22

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, this gloriously entertaining novel is “fast-paced, keen-eyed and very funny ... about race, power and the history of Harlem all disguised as a thrill-ride crime novel" (San Francisco Chronicle).

"Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked..." 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 child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home.

Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time.

Cash is tight, especially with all those installment-plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace, Ray doesn't ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who doesn't ask questions, either.

Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa—the "Waldorf of Harlem"—and volunteers Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they rarely do. Now Ray has a new clientele, one made up of shady cops, vicious local gangsters, two-bit pornographers, and other assorted Harlem lowlifes.

Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this 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 the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs?

Harlem Shuffle's ingenious story plays out in a beautifully recreated New York City of the early 1960s. It's a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem.

But mostly, it's a joy to listen to, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Colson Whitehead.

Look for Colson Whitehead’s new novel, Crook Manifesto, coming soon!

©2021 Colson Whitehead (P)2021 Random House Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What the critics say

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEARNATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE NOMINEE New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books of the Year • One of The Washington Posts 50 Notable Works of Fiction of the Year • TIME Magazine 100 Must Read Books of the Year • One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, Slate, Boston Globe, Town & Country, Vulture, and more • One of President Obama's Favorite Books of the Year • One of The New York Times Critics' Best Books of the Year

“A rich, wild book that could pass for genre fiction. It’s much more, but the entertainment value alone should ensure it the same kind of popular success that greeted his last two novels, The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys."—Janet Maslin, The New York Times

One of the Ten Best Books of 2021—Laura Miller, Slate

“Colson Whitehead has a couple of Pulitzers under his belt, along with several other awards celebrating his outstanding novels. Harlem Shuffle is a suspenseful crime thriller that's sure to add to the tally—it's a fabulous novel you must read.”—NPR.org

What listeners say about Harlem Shuffle

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    40
  • 4 Stars
    21
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    54
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    34
  • 4 Stars
    17
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Every line a poem

I went to dinner just as the final scene was coming together and I could not shut up about the tension! Which way will things go?! Favourite line: the fan nudging the air
(Approximately—i might have to buy the paper book so I can underline all the gems).
I think I downloaded this book having only heard that the protagonist practices a sort of two-sleep night, which I’d heard was “the natural” way to sleep (doze at dusk, wake in the wee hours for a few hours, then sleep again till morn). Fell inlove with the feeling and rhythm of 60s Harlem.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good stuff!!!

A storyteller and brilliant wordsmith at the top of his game. Every word of dialogue rings true.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Cinematic

Can’t wait for this to be shot for the screen. Well written, of course, and significantly more distance between its subjects and their traumas than the previous novel. Similar but nowhere near as outlandish as White Tiger: morally troubled protagonist in difficult circumstances as history whizzes past in the foreground.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Trip in time

Thoroughly enjoyed my third novel but first audible by Colson Whitehead. Well written and captivating. Great caper yarn that builds story and character over a time in the 60’s that offers insight and experience into life in the city during that period. . Dion Graham was the perfect narrator capturing the nuances of each character.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

FANTASTIC

FANTASTIC
I can't wait for the movie. A heist and love poem to Harlem post war.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great

I finally sat down to listen to Harlem Shuffle: A Novel by Colson Whitehead after having it on my shelf since its release day. I had no idea what to expect, and kind of went into this one with my eyes wide open. Can I just say that I loved this one and end my review there?

I think the easiest way to describe this one is a love letter to post-war Harlem. There was a cast of characters, that while I didn't get overly invested in any of them, helped to illustrate the changing times of the city around them. Some people call it progress, but it's nothing more than gentrification. It was smooth, lyrical, and flowing. With some minor adjustments, this novel set in the 1960s, could read like it is taking place today. Harlem Shuffle: A Novel is just timeless.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Great story; loved the writing; excellent narration

Loved it all. I’ll definitely keep listening to books in this series. The narrator brought the great writing to life.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great start to my 2024 listening!

Wonderful book, great characters, compelling story and the narration was superb. Easily five stars.. looking forward to part two.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!