Whatever Wednesday - Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead

 I love Colson Whitehead's writing, and I enjoyed his character, Ray Carney, introduced in Harlem Shuffle. Now Carney is back and trying to stay out of trouble in Crook Manifesto. 

1971 - Ray Carney is out of the  stolen goods business. His furniture store is thriving and life is good. But his daughter wants to see the Jackson 5. Carney checks in with an old police contact, a fixer. But Munson has his own  favors to ask of Carney and staying out of the game gets a lot more complicated - and deadly. (cover)

1973  Carney's best long time buddy, Pepper, takes on a side gig doing security for a Blaxploitation shoot in Harlem. It's a freaky world, and we follow  Pepper on a trip to the underbelly. Adversaries underestimate the seasoned crook - to their regret.   (cover)

1976  Our crooked duo, Carney and Pepper, have to battle their way through a crumbling metropolis run by the shady, the violent, and the utterly corrupted.  (cover)

Whitehead captures the era in Harlem. He writes with humor, his characters are loyal family/friend people, and you can't help but root for Carney to find his way. 

Finally Friday - Gift Suggestion - Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

 If you are still shopping for a great gift, here is a super read - Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead. 

I love this man's writing, and now he's written a hilarious novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s.  (cover blurb)

    Great opening line    Ray Carney was only slightly bent even when it came to being crooked...

Ray sells furniture, makes a decent living, loves his family. But few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his facade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. (cover blurb)

Ray gets pulled into a deal with his ne-er do well cousin Freddie. He senses this is going to blow up, and yet he could use some cash. Ray the striver versus Ray the crook. It's a double life and you are going along for the ride uptown and downtown, as Ray maneuvers between shady cops, local gangsters, two-bit pornographers, and a Harlem backdrop. 

Great writing. Rich characters. Humor. Hubris. Harlem.  Colson Whitehead with Harlem Shuffle has pulled off another winner.   p. 244 One thing I've learned in my job is that life is cheap, and when things start getting expensive, it gets cheaper still. 

Book Review - The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

I am a huge fan of Colson Whitehead's writing. The Underground Railroad blew me away. Now with The Nickel Boys, I think his writing is even better.

Elwood Curtis lives in the black area in segregated Tallahassee, but the Civil Rights movement is stirring and he's in awe of Martin Luther King's words. As a high school senior about to take classes at a local college, he's ready for the world. His grandmother has kept him on the straight and narrow.

cover blurb:  But for a black boy in the Jim Crow South of the early 1960s,  one innocent mistake is enough to destroy the future. 

Elwood finds himself at the Nickel Academy - its mission is to provide moral training. It's true goal - to break down the soul of "colored" delinquents.  Elwood tries to hold on to Dr.  King's words, but his friend Turner thinks that Elwood is worse than naive, that the world is crooked,  and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. (cover)

Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys is based off of a real life reform school in the South, where horrors came to the forefront. You'll root for Elwood's ideals and hope for the best. Twists and turns abound, and through it all the writing is stellar, the characters rich, and you'll shed a tear for the torment of tough times in the 1960s South.

the power of a book

I just finished Colson Whitehead's Sag Harbor and I'm ready to go down the shore. Those were the words my family used as we rattled around the basement digging up beach chairs, rummaged through cupboards for beach towels, and filled a bag full of summer reading material. We drove to Ocean City, New Jersey. Joan's family headed to Stone Harbor, Helen's to Avalon. Everyone had their family traditions and locations. No matter what, everybody spent at least one evening on the Wildwood boardwalk.


Sag Harbor is an extremely well written fictional memoir of a teen, Benji, who's family always spends summers in Sag Harbor, the beach enclave for African Americans. Set in 1985, with the Cosby show as background noise, Benji reflects on being age 15. He and his brother, Reggie, get their first jobs and are in charge of themselves during the week. Weekends bring the parents in from the city and Benji is aware of parental dynamics and mild dysfunction.

I enjoyed the fresh voice, the well written casual flow of action, and Benji's humor. As a private school attendee he reflects on what it's like to reconnect with old friends each summer, learn the latest lingo, hear the newest music, and emerge from a scholastically privileged world. Sag Harbor appreciates the ebb and flow of summer beach life and conjures a worthy cool yet awkward character in Benji (wanting to be called Ben). I highly recommend this book. Dig your toes in the sand and revel in a smooth read.


Like me, you'll yearn for a summer down the shore.

Joanne