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Ray Carney #2
Crook Manifesto
Colson Whitehead continues his Harlem saga in a novel that summons 1970s New York in all its seedy glory.
It's 1971. Trash piles up on the streets, crime is at an all-time high, the city is careening towards bankruptcy, and a shooting war has broken out between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army. Amidst this collective nervous breakdown furniture store owner and ex-fence Ray Carney tries to keep his head down and his business thriving. His days moving stolen goods around the city are over. It's strictly the straight-and-narrow for him -- until he needs Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter May and he decides to hit up his old police contact Munson, fixer extraordinaire. But Munson has his own favors to ask of Carney and staying out of the game gets a lot more complicated - and deadly.
1973. The counter-culture has created a new generation, the old ways are being overthrown, but there is one constant, Pepper, Carney's endearingly violent partner in crime. It's getting harder to put together a reliable crew for hijackings, heists, and assorted felonies, so Pepper takes on a side gig doing security on a Blaxploitation shoot in Harlem. He finds himself in a freaky world of Hollywood stars, up-and-coming comedians, and celebrity drug dealers, in addition to the usual cast of hustlers, mobsters, and hit men. These adversaries underestimate the seasoned crook - to their regret.
1976. Harlem is burning, block by block, while the whole country is gearing up for Bicentennial celebrations. Carney is trying to come up with a July 4th ad he can live with. ("Two Hundred Years of Getting Away with It!"), while his wife Elizabeth is campaigning for her childhood friend, the former assistant D.A and rising politician Alexander Oakes. When a fire severely injures one of Carney's tenants, he enlists Pepper to look into who may be behind it. Our crooked duo have to battle their way through a crumbling metropolis run by the shady, the violent, and the utterly corrupted.
It's 1971. Trash piles up on the streets, crime is at an all-time high, the city is careening towards bankruptcy, and a shooting war has broken out between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army. Amidst this collective nervous breakdown furniture store owner and ex-fence Ray Carney tries to keep his head down and his business thriving. His days moving stolen goods around the city are over. It's strictly the straight-and-narrow for him -- until he needs Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter May and he decides to hit up his old police contact Munson, fixer extraordinaire. But Munson has his own favors to ask of Carney and staying out of the game gets a lot more complicated - and deadly.
1973. The counter-culture has created a new generation, the old ways are being overthrown, but there is one constant, Pepper, Carney's endearingly violent partner in crime. It's getting harder to put together a reliable crew for hijackings, heists, and assorted felonies, so Pepper takes on a side gig doing security on a Blaxploitation shoot in Harlem. He finds himself in a freaky world of Hollywood stars, up-and-coming comedians, and celebrity drug dealers, in addition to the usual cast of hustlers, mobsters, and hit men. These adversaries underestimate the seasoned crook - to their regret.
1976. Harlem is burning, block by block, while the whole country is gearing up for Bicentennial celebrations. Carney is trying to come up with a July 4th ad he can live with. ("Two Hundred Years of Getting Away with It!"), while his wife Elizabeth is campaigning for her childhood friend, the former assistant D.A and rising politician Alexander Oakes. When a fire severely injures one of Carney's tenants, he enlists Pepper to look into who may be behind it. Our crooked duo have to battle their way through a crumbling metropolis run by the shady, the violent, and the utterly corrupted.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published July 18, 2023
About the author
Colson Whitehead
33 books16.9k followersCOLSON WHITEHEAD is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of eleven works of fiction and nonfiction, and is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, for The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad, which also won the National Book Award. A recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, he lives in New York City.
Harlem Shuffle is the first book in The Harlem Trilogy. The second, Crook Manifesto, will be published in 2023.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,846 reviews
May 21, 2023
It is hard to judge the second part of a trilogy, it's primary role is to connect the beginning of a story to the end. Its place as a transitional story can make it hard to talk about on its own. Especially when you don't know the end yet. I suspect I will have more to say about CROOK MANIFESTO when I have finished the set but for now we have the unsatisfying position of having only the first book to connect it to.
Now that I have complained about that and made it clear that I can't possibly give a totally full accounting, I think this book does what it needs to do. I reread HARLEM SHUFFLE not long before reading this and the books have much of the same pleasure. The ways in which this book is different I suspect will frustrate a lot of readers who would just like to have a redo of the last book. HARLEM SHUFFLE, whether originally planned as a series or not, has the easier position of being able to stand on its own, the story could have ended there and we all would have been satisfied. There is no satisfying way to make CROOK MANIFESTO feel like it also has a closed story, its role is the opposite. It has to reopen it, dig around, show us that there is more than we realized there was. It is a very heavy and difficult assignment, I think it acquits it beautifully.
CM keeps a lot and changes up what it needs to. Once again we have three different stories spaced out over several years. Each of these stories is devoted to one caper or crime. But they have a loose connection to each other and in CM even more than in HS, we see how everything is connected and how everything is shifting.
HS captured 60's Harlem but CM's 70's Harlem is even more fully drawn, the city at what many consider its lowest point. It feels like Rome in the midst of falling. And Whitehead smartly keeps that downward spiral at the center of these stories.
Several characters return. (I admit, I would have been livid if I didn't get Pepper in a significant role and I was so pleased with his even bigger part here.) And we have more flexibility in the point of view to move away from Ray when we need to, to see the larger networks he is working within, both on the legitimate and illegitimate sides of things.
And, unbelievably, there are even more heists and capers and stories here than in HS. Never has a book had such delightful tangents. There is a ***fried chicken heist*** in this book. (It was my favorite.)
Whitehead is also once again able to thread the needle of having the book feel fun and harrowing, the tone is still dry, still biting, still will often make you laugh out loud. He loves to throw a perfect sentence at you with no warning at all. We get to see a bigger set of stakes here, that the danger Ray encountered in the first book, that was nowhere near the truth of it.
I admit that at first I felt a little like maybe this wasn't as good of a novel, since it didn't have that contained perfection of HS. But the longer I've sat with it the more I see just how much more this book has to do, and it does it to perfection. Can't wait to see where we go next, even if my stomach drops at the thought of it.
Now that I have complained about that and made it clear that I can't possibly give a totally full accounting, I think this book does what it needs to do. I reread HARLEM SHUFFLE not long before reading this and the books have much of the same pleasure. The ways in which this book is different I suspect will frustrate a lot of readers who would just like to have a redo of the last book. HARLEM SHUFFLE, whether originally planned as a series or not, has the easier position of being able to stand on its own, the story could have ended there and we all would have been satisfied. There is no satisfying way to make CROOK MANIFESTO feel like it also has a closed story, its role is the opposite. It has to reopen it, dig around, show us that there is more than we realized there was. It is a very heavy and difficult assignment, I think it acquits it beautifully.
CM keeps a lot and changes up what it needs to. Once again we have three different stories spaced out over several years. Each of these stories is devoted to one caper or crime. But they have a loose connection to each other and in CM even more than in HS, we see how everything is connected and how everything is shifting.
HS captured 60's Harlem but CM's 70's Harlem is even more fully drawn, the city at what many consider its lowest point. It feels like Rome in the midst of falling. And Whitehead smartly keeps that downward spiral at the center of these stories.
Several characters return. (I admit, I would have been livid if I didn't get Pepper in a significant role and I was so pleased with his even bigger part here.) And we have more flexibility in the point of view to move away from Ray when we need to, to see the larger networks he is working within, both on the legitimate and illegitimate sides of things.
And, unbelievably, there are even more heists and capers and stories here than in HS. Never has a book had such delightful tangents. There is a ***fried chicken heist*** in this book. (It was my favorite.)
Whitehead is also once again able to thread the needle of having the book feel fun and harrowing, the tone is still dry, still biting, still will often make you laugh out loud. He loves to throw a perfect sentence at you with no warning at all. We get to see a bigger set of stakes here, that the danger Ray encountered in the first book, that was nowhere near the truth of it.
I admit that at first I felt a little like maybe this wasn't as good of a novel, since it didn't have that contained perfection of HS. But the longer I've sat with it the more I see just how much more this book has to do, and it does it to perfection. Can't wait to see where we go next, even if my stomach drops at the thought of it.
September 16, 2023
“Crook Manifesto,” the second book of a planned trilogy, is a paean to Harlem and the city surrounding it.Colson Whitehead portrays Harlem through a gritty, vibrant lens that is reminiscent of August Wilson’s marvelous recreation of Pittsburgh’s Hill District. In his ten play cycle, Mr Wilson created a world of interconnected characters and places that spoke to the generational struggles of a community functioning within an inhospitable society.Colson Whitehead’s Harlem novels are traveling along a similar path.His dialogue and language lovingly portray an area awash with memorable characters who venture down streets where danger and hope are locked in a contentious embrace.
The novel is constructed in three sections that cover the years 1971,1973 and 1976.Many of the characters populating “ Harlem Shuffle” are major players once again.Our protagonist,Ray Carney, has achieved the accoutrements of success. He lives in a brownstone on Strivers Row, Harlem’s most prestigious address. He owns the building that houses his furniture store.He has become a member of the Dumas Club, the preeminent social organization that trumpets its prestige while it avoids mixing with the hoi polloi.Ray is getting older and tells himself that he has put his criminal inklings behind him. But Harlem is a geographically constrained community defined by an intricate web of allegiances and territories. Ray can not avoid having his feet planted in both the criminal and respectable worlds. Both Harlem and New York City are changing and Ray sometimes struggles to keep up.His children are growing up and are bobbing their heads to a beat that Ray does not always understand.When his daughter asks Ray to get tickets to a Jackson Five concert,Ray can not get them through proper channels and reconnects with Detective Munson, a dirty cop with tentacles throughout the city.
This reunion initiates a series of events and missteps that highlight the turbulence of New York City in the seventies, leading to the decay and erosion of Harlem’s core institutions.An underlying theme of this novel is change and conflict, embodied in the dichotomy between Ray’s old school, hard boiled cynicism and his children’s almost utopian response to younger political groups that urged empowerment and pride at any cost.
Ray’s journey through these three time periods recreates a sizzling tipping point in Harlem’s history.Seventh Avenue had yet to become Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and foreshadow the changes coming in the decades ahead.The tags of Taki183 and other graffiti artists adorned the exteriors of subway cars.Abandoned buildings and storefronts burned with regularity.As the reader joins in this journey, he might realize that this novel is not necessarily about plot.Instead, the reader becomes immersed in a meticulously observed environment where criminal and legal stride side by side with a synchronized cadence that has political and historical reverberations.
The novel is constructed in three sections that cover the years 1971,1973 and 1976.Many of the characters populating “ Harlem Shuffle” are major players once again.Our protagonist,Ray Carney, has achieved the accoutrements of success. He lives in a brownstone on Strivers Row, Harlem’s most prestigious address. He owns the building that houses his furniture store.He has become a member of the Dumas Club, the preeminent social organization that trumpets its prestige while it avoids mixing with the hoi polloi.Ray is getting older and tells himself that he has put his criminal inklings behind him. But Harlem is a geographically constrained community defined by an intricate web of allegiances and territories. Ray can not avoid having his feet planted in both the criminal and respectable worlds. Both Harlem and New York City are changing and Ray sometimes struggles to keep up.His children are growing up and are bobbing their heads to a beat that Ray does not always understand.When his daughter asks Ray to get tickets to a Jackson Five concert,Ray can not get them through proper channels and reconnects with Detective Munson, a dirty cop with tentacles throughout the city.
This reunion initiates a series of events and missteps that highlight the turbulence of New York City in the seventies, leading to the decay and erosion of Harlem’s core institutions.An underlying theme of this novel is change and conflict, embodied in the dichotomy between Ray’s old school, hard boiled cynicism and his children’s almost utopian response to younger political groups that urged empowerment and pride at any cost.
Ray’s journey through these three time periods recreates a sizzling tipping point in Harlem’s history.Seventh Avenue had yet to become Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and foreshadow the changes coming in the decades ahead.The tags of Taki183 and other graffiti artists adorned the exteriors of subway cars.Abandoned buildings and storefronts burned with regularity.As the reader joins in this journey, he might realize that this novel is not necessarily about plot.Instead, the reader becomes immersed in a meticulously observed environment where criminal and legal stride side by side with a synchronized cadence that has political and historical reverberations.
October 9, 2023
4.5 stars, rounded up
Having loved Harlem Shuffle, I went into Crook Manifesto blind. So, I didn’t understand that it wasn’t one coherent story. Instead, it’s three interconnected stories.
In the first, Ray Carney has gone straight. But then, his daughter desperately wants to see the Jackson Five. And Ray contacts Munson, police detective and fixer, to see if he can obtain tickets. From there, the reader gets to watch the bloody dominoes fall.
Jump forward three years and a Blaxploitation film is being filmed in the neighborhood (including a scene in Ray’s store). Pepper, one of Ray’s former partners in crime, has signed on as “security”. When the female star goes missing, Pepper springs into action.
The third story takes place in 1976, right before the BiCentennial, when NYC was on the brink of bankruptcy. This time around, the criminals are white collar, landlords looking to cash in on insurance money. But when a little boy is hurt; a boy that was the son of one of his tenants, Ray takes umbrage.
The book does not progress in a straight line. The story meanders at times. It’s a testament to Whitehead’s writing that I was so invested in his storytelling. Every little side story held my interest. There are some truly fascinating characters here, even those that only appear on a few pages.
Whitehead has also totally given us a sense of 1970s New York - the bleakness of those years. His strength is definitely in his ability to capture a scene or a character. It’s so easy to envision it all.
There’s a great mix of dark comedy, intertwined with the action, violence and social drama.
This is the middle book of a planned trilogy. It will be interesting to see how Whitehead wraps it all up.
I listened to this and Dion Graham was perfect as the narrator. A fantastic match up of voice and story.
Having loved Harlem Shuffle, I went into Crook Manifesto blind. So, I didn’t understand that it wasn’t one coherent story. Instead, it’s three interconnected stories.
In the first, Ray Carney has gone straight. But then, his daughter desperately wants to see the Jackson Five. And Ray contacts Munson, police detective and fixer, to see if he can obtain tickets. From there, the reader gets to watch the bloody dominoes fall.
Jump forward three years and a Blaxploitation film is being filmed in the neighborhood (including a scene in Ray’s store). Pepper, one of Ray’s former partners in crime, has signed on as “security”. When the female star goes missing, Pepper springs into action.
The third story takes place in 1976, right before the BiCentennial, when NYC was on the brink of bankruptcy. This time around, the criminals are white collar, landlords looking to cash in on insurance money. But when a little boy is hurt; a boy that was the son of one of his tenants, Ray takes umbrage.
The book does not progress in a straight line. The story meanders at times. It’s a testament to Whitehead’s writing that I was so invested in his storytelling. Every little side story held my interest. There are some truly fascinating characters here, even those that only appear on a few pages.
Whitehead has also totally given us a sense of 1970s New York - the bleakness of those years. His strength is definitely in his ability to capture a scene or a character. It’s so easy to envision it all.
There’s a great mix of dark comedy, intertwined with the action, violence and social drama.
This is the middle book of a planned trilogy. It will be interesting to see how Whitehead wraps it all up.
I listened to this and Dion Graham was perfect as the narrator. A fantastic match up of voice and story.
March 16, 2023
A man has a hierarchy of crime, of what is morally acceptable and what is not, a crook manifesto, and those who subscribe to lesser codes are cockroaches. Are nothing.
The sequel to Harlem Shuffle, Crime Manifesto revisits Ray Carney — son of a notorious criminal, trying to make it straight with his increasingly successful furniture store — and as with the previous novel, this one is divided into three sections: set in the years 1971, 1973, and the big Bicentennial year, 1976. As NYC, and Harlem in particular, get ever seedier — with corruption, murder, and arson out of control and the Mayor responding by laying off first responders — Carney watches as it churns, seeking out stability and opportunity. Once again, Colson Whitehead has written a highly entertaining piece of social commentary — African-American history disguised as a crime novel — and once again, I was thoroughly immersed in the setting, cared about the characters, and recognised the truth of the story Whitehead was telling. You really couldn’t ask for more. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
It was his own fault. He had been on the straight and narrow for four years, but slip once and everybody is glad to help you slip hard. Crooked stays crooked and bent hates straight. The rest is survival.
As the novel begins, Carney has been “retired” as a fence for four years — not only has the furniture showroom expanded into the former bakery next door, but Carney has bought the entire building and is now a landlord to the apartments upstairs as well; business is good — but when his teenage daughter begs him to find tickets for the upcoming Jackson Five concert at Madison Square Gardens, Carney reaches out to a crooked cop he used to know, and finds himself dragged back into the criminal underworld. One thing leads to another that plays out over the following five years. On the surface, this reads a bit like old-fashioned noir fiction — consider lines like She had an hourglass figure, not in its shape but in the melancholy reminder that time is running short and there are things on this Earth you’ll never experience. Or:Crime isn’t a scourge, people are. Crime is just how folks talk to each other sometimes. — but by loading in details of actual people and events, Whitehead has crafted a story both entertaining and realistic.
As with Harlem Shuffle, I found an interesting device in Crook Manifesto that I want to put behind a spoiler tag:
Churn.Carney’s word for the circulation of goods in his illicit sphere, the dance of TVs and diadems and toasters from one owner to the next, floating in and out of people’s lives on breezes and gusts of cash and criminal activity. But of course churn determined the straight world too, memorialized the lives of neighborhoods, businesses. The movement of shop owners in and out of 383 West 125th Street, the changing entities on the deeds downtown in the hall of records, the minuet of brands on the showroom floor.
What I interpreted as the “shuffle” of the first book’s title, Whitehead explicitly calls “churn” in this one. Not only does Carney call his sideline as a fence a churn, but he also uses the word to refer to the corruption behind “urban renewal” — mysteriously overinsured tenements burning down and rebuilt shoddily by crooked developers with state funds — and with everyone from the fire inspectors to the politicians skimming a piece of the pie, it’s poor folks looking for a place to live who get lost in the churn every time. There are things you’ll do and things you won’t — the crook’s manifesto — and at midlife, Carney is defining himself in these terms. I understand this is going to be a trilogy, and I can’t wait to see what happens to Carney, and Harlem, in the years to come.
July 18, 2023
Another excellent outing for Ray Carney still trying to leave the criminal world behind and walk the straight-and-narrow on the streets of 70s Harlem, striving for an honest living selling furniture to its residents. As with the earlier Harlem Shuffle Colson Whitehead’s narrative’s episodic, as much about the history and culture of the city as it is Ray. Characters from the earlier novel weave in and out of the story, as the sometimes-hapless Ray is drawn into a series of nefarious plots despite his every attempt to steer away. As always, Whitehead’s work’s brilliantly researched, hard-boiled yet tender this is a marvellous recreation of a turbulent era that takes in everything from the Jackson 5 and Blaxploitation cinema to police corruption, urban unrest and the slow death of traditional communities. This is another wonderfully-written, fluid and deeply compelling story featuring the irresistible, all-too-believable Carney, I can’t wait for the next instalment.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Fleet for an ARC
Rating: 4.5
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Fleet for an ARC
Rating: 4.5
September 25, 2023
It was the Jackson 5 after all who put Ray Carney back in the game following four years on the straight and narrow.
…
What else was an ongoing criminal enterprise complicated by periodic violence for, but to make your wife happy?
…
Crooked stays crooked.
…
A man has a hierarchy of crime, of what is morally acceptable and what is not, a crook manifesto, and those who subscribe to lesser codes are cockroaches. Are nothing.
…
If you know what the future holds, what it will look like, you can buy it cheap, today.
Crook Manifesto is the second book in Colson Whitehead’s Harlem saga. The first book, Harlem Shuffle, was set in the years 1959 to 1964, when Ray Carney was still striving, trying to carve out his own slice of the American Dream. Crook Manifesto moves forward a decade, covering the years 1971 to 1975, after Ray has arrived. His furniture store is thriving, and he owns a couple of apartment buildings too, so he hasn’t done any of his criminal fencing side work for four years.
As with the first book, Crook Manifesto is a good ol’ fashioned crime noir, told in three linked short stories. In the first part, in 1971, Ray’s desperation to get tickets for his daughter to the Jackson 5 concert at Madison Square Garden causes him to reach out to some of his old criminal contacts, and before he knows it, he’s in the middle of a deadly feud between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army. Then in 1973, Ray’s old partner in crime, Pepper, takes a job providing security for a Blaxploitation film being made in Harlem and, before Pepper knows it, he’s in the sights of Harlem’s crime boss. Finally, in 1976, Ray asks Pepper to try to find out who set fire to a nearby apartment building and—are you sensing a theme here?—before they know it, they are both being targeted by the powers that be, both criminal and political.
Crook Manifesto is another slice of entertainment set in vintage Harlem, a fun story populated with memorable characters. Mr. Whitehead is one of our greatest living writers, so rest assured that there are quotable observations seemingly on every page. As with Harlem Shuffle, race is an ever-present element here, with a running question about whether reform from the inside or revolution from the outside would be better for African-Americans. Harlem and NYC are evolving as the Harlem Saga continues, and I can’t wait to see what happens to Ray and Pepper and the rest of characters in the 1980s. Recommended.
August 13, 2023
Fun, steamy summer read set in bicentennial New York City. Second in Whitehead’s trilogy featuring Ray Carney. I have enjoyed both books thus far but with back to school coming this week, I can’t say when I’ll get to a full review. Summer reading was great this summer as I caught up on a lot but once I flip the switch to teacher mode I would rather spend my little free time reading rather than writing. Hoping to squeeze in more reading before the first day but if not peace out summer 2023 reading.
August 22, 2023
Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead is the the second in the Ray Carney Harlem Saga.it is divided into three loosely interconnected novellas all set in Harlem a few years apart in the ‘70s.
1971 - Ray Carney owns a furniture store and has given up his life of crime…mostly. But when his daughter wants to see the Jackson 5, he gets in touch with an old contact in search of tickets and soon finds himself caught up in a whole world of trouble.
1973 - Times have changed and crime just ain’t what it used to be so Pepper, Carney’s dad’s old partner, has taken a security job on the set of a Blaxploitation film. When the leading lady goes missing, it is up to Pepper to find her.
1976 - As the country gets set for the Bicentennial celebration, someone is setting Harlem on fire. When the son of one of his tenants is injured in one of these fires, Carney hires Pepper to find the arsonist responsible.
I have to admit I have not read Harlem Shuffle, the first book in the series but it didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of Crooked Manifesto. And I did enjoy it a lot. By dividing the book into three parts, Whitehead shows the changes that affected New York and specifically Harlem during the ‘70s culturally as well as economically, politically, and generationally. The book is well-written and as always, Whitehead infuses the stories with a sly sense of black humour while never glossing over the hardships and struggles of his main characters making the reader root for them regardless of their actions. Overall, a very compelling read and one of my favourites so far this year.
I received an arc of this book from Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review
1971 - Ray Carney owns a furniture store and has given up his life of crime…mostly. But when his daughter wants to see the Jackson 5, he gets in touch with an old contact in search of tickets and soon finds himself caught up in a whole world of trouble.
1973 - Times have changed and crime just ain’t what it used to be so Pepper, Carney’s dad’s old partner, has taken a security job on the set of a Blaxploitation film. When the leading lady goes missing, it is up to Pepper to find her.
1976 - As the country gets set for the Bicentennial celebration, someone is setting Harlem on fire. When the son of one of his tenants is injured in one of these fires, Carney hires Pepper to find the arsonist responsible.
I have to admit I have not read Harlem Shuffle, the first book in the series but it didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of Crooked Manifesto. And I did enjoy it a lot. By dividing the book into three parts, Whitehead shows the changes that affected New York and specifically Harlem during the ‘70s culturally as well as economically, politically, and generationally. The book is well-written and as always, Whitehead infuses the stories with a sly sense of black humour while never glossing over the hardships and struggles of his main characters making the reader root for them regardless of their actions. Overall, a very compelling read and one of my favourites so far this year.
I received an arc of this book from Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review
July 24, 2023
Everybody's research when you're crooked, another variable in a setup down the line.
Whitehead presents another trilogy of tales centered around Ray Carney, furniture salesman, and occasional crook.
The first story takes place in 1971, and involves Carney, a good dad who'll do whatever it takes to score Jackson 5 tickets for his baby girl, even if it involves being taken hostage by a crooked cop. In the second tale, Carney takes a seat while Pepper, my favorite character searches for an AWOL actress.
Pepper needed some scratch for operating expenses, sure, but more than anything he was bored. It had been a long time since he had beat a man senseless.
The book concludes nicely in 1976. While America celebrates the Bicentennial, Harlem is on fire, and some of Carney's past crimes are coming back to haunt him.
Another fine novel by one of our best authors. I'm looking forward to the next book.
Crime isn't a scourge, people are. Crime is just how folks talk to each other sometimes.
A big thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for the chance to read this.
Whitehead presents another trilogy of tales centered around Ray Carney, furniture salesman, and occasional crook.
The first story takes place in 1971, and involves Carney, a good dad who'll do whatever it takes to score Jackson 5 tickets for his baby girl, even if it involves being taken hostage by a crooked cop. In the second tale, Carney takes a seat while Pepper, my favorite character searches for an AWOL actress.
Pepper needed some scratch for operating expenses, sure, but more than anything he was bored. It had been a long time since he had beat a man senseless.
The book concludes nicely in 1976. While America celebrates the Bicentennial, Harlem is on fire, and some of Carney's past crimes are coming back to haunt him.
Another fine novel by one of our best authors. I'm looking forward to the next book.
Crime isn't a scourge, people are. Crime is just how folks talk to each other sometimes.
A big thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for the chance to read this.
June 16, 2023
I'll open by acknowledging what a number of reviewers have observed: Crook Manifesto is very clearly the second in what will be a three-volume sequence, and being a middle volume, like being a middle child, can be tricky. You're not the first, doted upon, and received with enthusiasm. You're not the last, where things get wrapped up and a kind of completion emerges. Middle volumes have to straddle the distance between first and last, and often serve purposes in support of those other volumes, so their identity comes out less well defined. If you haven't read Harlem Shuffle, pick up a copy of that before moving on to Crook Manifesto.
That said, I want to assert my enthusiastic response to Crook Manifesto. Once you've finished Harlem Shuffle, don't delay; head right into Crook Manifesto. Yes, I had to do a bit of work to remember some characters and some events that occurred or were related in Harlem Shuffle, but that investment was worthwhile, particularly because the characters continue to develop. Reminding myself of who they were in volume one doesn't tell me who they will be by the end of volume two.
*** This isn't a full-on spoiler alert, but what follows below includes more summary than I usually include in reviews. I don't reveal how things end, but I do describe specific narrative arcs. Read or don't read, as you prefer.***
Crook Manifesto reads more like a set of novellas than a single novel, a structure that works well, pulling different figures to the forefront. The first "novella" recounts the end of a crooked cop's career, into which Ray Carney (the main character from volume one) is pulled and from which he may not be able to extricate himself in one piece.
The second "novella" involves the filming of a blacksploitation film, Code Name: Nefertiti, with some scenes shot in Carney's furniture store. Here, the focus is on a generational switch in Harlem. Old bosses are aging out, younger men are trying to force their way in—a switch that's illustrated by by the film that's being shot and by a new character, a Black comic, who is speaking truths that would only have been whispered five or ten years earlier.
"Novella" three is built around the politics and the profits they make possible. Buildings in Harlem are being destroyed by arson, which benefits almost everyone except those living in the buildings, whose lives are at stake. Building owners profit from payment of padded insurance claims. The burned properties can be sold on the cheap to developers who profit. And city officials who turn a blind eye to the arson and its consequences find that they can easily turn to those not prosecuted when running campaigns or trying to push through pet projects.
To indulge in a high-falutin' comparison of sorts, Crook Manifesto is where the DNA of Harlem Shuffle is split apart into multiple strands, ready to be recombined in the finale of the series.
If you can approach Crook Manifesto in that spirit—anticipating both construction and deconstruction—you'll find yourself deeply satisfied. Colson Whitehead knows how to tell a compelling story in ways that have readers rooting for characters they might have less sympathy for if their stories were told by a less able writer.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
That said, I want to assert my enthusiastic response to Crook Manifesto. Once you've finished Harlem Shuffle, don't delay; head right into Crook Manifesto. Yes, I had to do a bit of work to remember some characters and some events that occurred or were related in Harlem Shuffle, but that investment was worthwhile, particularly because the characters continue to develop. Reminding myself of who they were in volume one doesn't tell me who they will be by the end of volume two.
*** This isn't a full-on spoiler alert, but what follows below includes more summary than I usually include in reviews. I don't reveal how things end, but I do describe specific narrative arcs. Read or don't read, as you prefer.***
Crook Manifesto reads more like a set of novellas than a single novel, a structure that works well, pulling different figures to the forefront. The first "novella" recounts the end of a crooked cop's career, into which Ray Carney (the main character from volume one) is pulled and from which he may not be able to extricate himself in one piece.
The second "novella" involves the filming of a blacksploitation film, Code Name: Nefertiti, with some scenes shot in Carney's furniture store. Here, the focus is on a generational switch in Harlem. Old bosses are aging out, younger men are trying to force their way in—a switch that's illustrated by by the film that's being shot and by a new character, a Black comic, who is speaking truths that would only have been whispered five or ten years earlier.
"Novella" three is built around the politics and the profits they make possible. Buildings in Harlem are being destroyed by arson, which benefits almost everyone except those living in the buildings, whose lives are at stake. Building owners profit from payment of padded insurance claims. The burned properties can be sold on the cheap to developers who profit. And city officials who turn a blind eye to the arson and its consequences find that they can easily turn to those not prosecuted when running campaigns or trying to push through pet projects.
To indulge in a high-falutin' comparison of sorts, Crook Manifesto is where the DNA of Harlem Shuffle is split apart into multiple strands, ready to be recombined in the finale of the series.
If you can approach Crook Manifesto in that spirit—anticipating both construction and deconstruction—you'll find yourself deeply satisfied. Colson Whitehead knows how to tell a compelling story in ways that have readers rooting for characters they might have less sympathy for if their stories were told by a less able writer.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
July 30, 2023
Ten stars. Five are inadequate.
July 31, 2023
Crook Manifesto is the continuation of Ray Carney’s story from Harlem Shuffle. The story picks up in the early 1970s — Carney still owns his furniture store but isn’t involved in the same transactions he used to be. When his daughter wants Jackson 5 tickets, he feels like he may not have a choice though.
The story continues with Pepper in 1973, who’s finding that it’s not as easy to put together a crew for a job as it once was. Pepper might need to get creative now. In part 3 of the story, set in 1976, Harlem is burning, literally, and corruption across NY is high.
The time and place in Crook Manifesto are well-done, I felt like I was there. I listened to this audiobook, narrated by one of my favorites, Dion Graham. As with Harlem Shuffle, the audio enhanced my enjoyment of the story. If Colson Whitehead continues this Harlem series, I’ll continue reading/ listening.
The story continues with Pepper in 1973, who’s finding that it’s not as easy to put together a crew for a job as it once was. Pepper might need to get creative now. In part 3 of the story, set in 1976, Harlem is burning, literally, and corruption across NY is high.
The time and place in Crook Manifesto are well-done, I felt like I was there. I listened to this audiobook, narrated by one of my favorites, Dion Graham. As with Harlem Shuffle, the audio enhanced my enjoyment of the story. If Colson Whitehead continues this Harlem series, I’ll continue reading/ listening.
August 9, 2023
Whitehead must have great fun doing research. He uses his craft to give us a crafty tale where every angle is an opportunity in the making. With the single turn of a card the game changes and 'poof' the tables turn and new guys are on top. Good start for my first Colson Whitehead,
His main protagonist is New York, unperfumed and unadorned, greasy and sleazy, a city out to get you at every turn. But like Cavafy's The City, it's the axle of those that live there. The book is divided into three stories, loosely connected, giving a well rounded overview of how the city, the system, presses down on the lives of it's dwellers and the resultant push and pull. Cause and effect, everything is then grinded in and becomes part of the system. We have Ray jonesing for a 'crooked' hit and Pepper with his own set of rules that make his world go round.
I now have to go and read Harlem Shuffle as after reading this I found out I should have read that first.
An ARC kindly provided by author/publisher via Netgalley.
His main protagonist is New York, unperfumed and unadorned, greasy and sleazy, a city out to get you at every turn. But like Cavafy's The City, it's the axle of those that live there. The book is divided into three stories, loosely connected, giving a well rounded overview of how the city, the system, presses down on the lives of it's dwellers and the resultant push and pull. Cause and effect, everything is then grinded in and becomes part of the system. We have Ray jonesing for a 'crooked' hit and Pepper with his own set of rules that make his world go round.
I now have to go and read Harlem Shuffle as after reading this I found out I should have read that first.
An ARC kindly provided by author/publisher via Netgalley.
June 28, 2023
4.5
So we come to the second part of the Harlem Shuffle trilogy. This time we follow Carney as he negotiates his way through the 70s - a time of upheaval and change in Harlem and for Carney who finds himself back off the straight and narrow without much trouble.
Thankfully he has the invaluable Pepper at his side and we learn much more about Pepper's life as he has to go in search of a missing actress in the second third of the book.
In the final third we follow Carney and Pepper in their endeavour to discover which arsonist is responsible for almost killing a child (one of Carney's tenants).
I found the first part of Crook Manifesto really slow and considered shelving it but I'm glad I continued because once Pepper takes over the action speeds up and the story really gets interesting. The final part is much more Harlem Shuffle and true to the original Carney - ducking, diving and getting one over on anyone who tries to get the better of him.
I still think these books are far weaker than either Underground Railroad or Nickel Boys but I am still looking forward to the final part of the trilogy which, I assume will bring Carney up to the present day. Whitehead is still a master storyteller exploring his craft so I can forgive him a little waffling and circuitous rambling for the rest of these novels.
Highly recommended. Not sure if you could read this without having read Harlem Shuffle first but Shuffle is well worth the read anyway so read them both.
So we come to the second part of the Harlem Shuffle trilogy. This time we follow Carney as he negotiates his way through the 70s - a time of upheaval and change in Harlem and for Carney who finds himself back off the straight and narrow without much trouble.
Thankfully he has the invaluable Pepper at his side and we learn much more about Pepper's life as he has to go in search of a missing actress in the second third of the book.
In the final third we follow Carney and Pepper in their endeavour to discover which arsonist is responsible for almost killing a child (one of Carney's tenants).
I found the first part of Crook Manifesto really slow and considered shelving it but I'm glad I continued because once Pepper takes over the action speeds up and the story really gets interesting. The final part is much more Harlem Shuffle and true to the original Carney - ducking, diving and getting one over on anyone who tries to get the better of him.
I still think these books are far weaker than either Underground Railroad or Nickel Boys but I am still looking forward to the final part of the trilogy which, I assume will bring Carney up to the present day. Whitehead is still a master storyteller exploring his craft so I can forgive him a little waffling and circuitous rambling for the rest of these novels.
Highly recommended. Not sure if you could read this without having read Harlem Shuffle first but Shuffle is well worth the read anyway so read them both.
July 26, 2023
I loved Harlem Shuffle, but found this sequel slightly less convincing. Crime capers really require a strong and clever plot, but tthe middle sections of Crook Manifesto are really quite slow and tedious. The plot appears to suffer from having to follow a predefined set of topics (blaxploitation movies, arson in New York) even when they don't fit very well.
But the good atmosphere and evocative descriptions of 1970s Harlem are still there. There is still excellent writing, some brilliant one-liners and the joy of research and writing is evident throughout. I lalso oved some of the (returning) characters, especially Pepper.
The beginning and end were thrilling. At the start, our hero and small-time crook Ray Carney getting mixed up in a small job with a dirty cop that gets horribly out of hand. The ending follows a similar pattern.
But as said, the middle sections feel artificial, almost as if - in doing his research - the author became determined to address certain topics and cared less about how/whether they fit into the narrative.
I would definitely recommend starting with Harlem Shuffle before starting with Crook Manifesto.
4 stars because even a mediocre Whitehead is still very good.
Will I still read the third instalment? Absolutely!
But the good atmosphere and evocative descriptions of 1970s Harlem are still there. There is still excellent writing, some brilliant one-liners and the joy of research and writing is evident throughout. I lalso oved some of the (returning) characters, especially Pepper.
The beginning and end were thrilling. At the start, our hero and small-time crook Ray Carney getting mixed up in a small job with a dirty cop that gets horribly out of hand. The ending follows a similar pattern.
But as said, the middle sections feel artificial, almost as if - in doing his research - the author became determined to address certain topics and cared less about how/whether they fit into the narrative.
I would definitely recommend starting with Harlem Shuffle before starting with Crook Manifesto.
4 stars because even a mediocre Whitehead is still very good.
Will I still read the third instalment? Absolutely!
July 24, 2023
The Ray Carney series is not for me.
I mistakenly requested this from NetGalley not realizing it was the sequel to Harlem Shuffle. This is my own mistake.
My issues with Crook Manifesto are the same as Harlem Shuffle. I find the book descriptions incredibly interesting. The writing is so dense and filled with side characters, back stories, and minute details that I have trouble following the plot. I gave this book a good try but decided to DNF at 40% because I was having too difficult of a time following what was happening.
I mistakenly requested this from NetGalley not realizing it was the sequel to Harlem Shuffle. This is my own mistake.
My issues with Crook Manifesto are the same as Harlem Shuffle. I find the book descriptions incredibly interesting. The writing is so dense and filled with side characters, back stories, and minute details that I have trouble following the plot. I gave this book a good try but decided to DNF at 40% because I was having too difficult of a time following what was happening.
October 11, 2023
What an evocative book by Colson Whitehead. I have been a huge fan of this author since I first read two of his Pulitzer Prize winning books, The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys. And for all of us readers and apparently the author as well, he needed to step away and write about something less searing, hence The Harlem Shuffle. But now finishing the second book of The Harlem Trilogy, I am left reeling once again by his writing skills. But I think that with Crook Manifesto, we are back in the words of Ray Carney, Churn baby. churn.
And so begins Crook Manifesto, as we see Ray Carney, a reputable businessman in Harlem and sometimes fence, lapse back into his former life of crime as he tries to procure tickets to see the Jackson Five with his daughter, May. It is 1971 and Ray Carney is led back into the jewel fencing game. It is the time of the Knapp Commission formed to investigate police corruption. This is a book that screams about our social history, and we must pay attention.
And Part Two is about Pepper being drawn into the movie scene in 1973 as he is retained to find the missing star of the movie, Nefertiti T.N.T. It was in this segment that we learned of the importance of Pepper to Ray Carney and to his family because of his alliance with Ray's father, Mike Carney.
And Part Three brings us to 1976 in Harlem, the bicentennial year of the United States with hallmarks of the upcoming celebration everywhere. But it also is a time when Harlem was burning.
And I must say that I am truly awed by the expanse of these books exploring the history of Harlem at such a volatile time in our history. And Mr. Whitehead, may I say, that I think that you have an American epic at your fingertips. And I will be anticipating the third book of this sobering but wonderful trilogy of life in Harlem.
"From then on whenever he heard the song he heard the song he thought of the death of Munson. It was the Jackson 5 after all who put Ray Carney back in the game following four years on the straight and narrow. The straight and narrow--it described a philosophy and a territory, a neighborhood with borders and local customs. Sometimes when he crossed Seventh Avenue on the way to work he mumbled the words to himself like a rummy trying not to weave across the sidewalk on the way home from the bars."
And so begins Crook Manifesto, as we see Ray Carney, a reputable businessman in Harlem and sometimes fence, lapse back into his former life of crime as he tries to procure tickets to see the Jackson Five with his daughter, May. It is 1971 and Ray Carney is led back into the jewel fencing game. It is the time of the Knapp Commission formed to investigate police corruption. This is a book that screams about our social history, and we must pay attention.
"Another bad omen. Too many to count. Harlem wasn't the same. Crooks these days had no code and less class."
And Part Two is about Pepper being drawn into the movie scene in 1973 as he is retained to find the missing star of the movie, Nefertiti T.N.T. It was in this segment that we learned of the importance of Pepper to Ray Carney and to his family because of his alliance with Ray's father, Mike Carney.
"In the midst of the daily Jim Crow tribulations and humiliations, Lady Betsey's family had assembled the instructions for an eternal feast. A refreshing scorpion spike of heat lay hidden in the collards, and the mac and cheese was a symphony of competing textures, but the chicken was divine, fried in the very skillet of heaven. The house dredge was no mere spicy dusting of cornmeal but a crispy concoction of buttermilk, flour, and dream stuff. To penetrate that wall of batter and gain the meat inside was to storm the keep of pleasure. Local politicians and famous songsmiths posed with the owner in photographs, amid framed citations and plaques from the spectrum of Harlem organizations--the big, the small, and the spurious."
And Part Three brings us to 1976 in Harlem, the bicentennial year of the United States with hallmarks of the upcoming celebration everywhere. But it also is a time when Harlem was burning.
"He was here tonight because a boy he didn't know was caught in a fire, and a spark had caught Carney's sleeve. To avenge--who? The boy? To punish bad men? Which ones--there were too many to count. The city was burning. It was burning not because of sick men with matches and cans of gas but because the city itself was sick, waiting for fire, begging for it. Every night you heard the sirens. Pierce blamed years of misguided policy, but Carney rejected that narrow diagnosis. From what he understood about human beings, today's messes and cruelties were the latest versions of the old ones. Same flaws, different face. All of it passed down."
And I must say that I am truly awed by the expanse of these books exploring the history of Harlem at such a volatile time in our history. And Mr. Whitehead, may I say, that I think that you have an American epic at your fingertips. And I will be anticipating the third book of this sobering but wonderful trilogy of life in Harlem.
September 3, 2023
Only a writer with Colson Whitehead's skill could bring the seventies to life so evocatively. It's all here, the City in one of its backward swings of the pendulum, with corruption and filth, fires rampant, and an initial McGuffin being tickets to see the Jackson Five at Madison Square Garden. Ray Carney has been making an honest living for the past four years, selling bedroom sets and not pursuing his second "job." Also, only someone of Whitehead's caliber could present such scenes of violence and somehow make them hilarious. As this is the middle incarnation of a promised trilogy, I look forward to the resolution, sorry that I have to wait maybe a year for it.
August 14, 2023
I truly appreciate the descriptive quality of Colson Whitehead's writing such as:
"Psychedelic noodling, heavy on the sitar, emerged from the hi-fi."
"Psychedelic noodling, heavy on the sitar, emerged from the hi-fi."
Shelved as 'did-not-finish'
January 3, 2023I cannot believe I'm DNFing a book by Colson Whitehead but here we are. Nobody tell him, please.
March 30, 2024
Crook Manifesto is the second book in Colson Whitehead's Harlem saga, the first being Harlem Shuffle.
Set in 1970's New York, the story continues with furniture salesman Ray Carney, but adds a few other interesting characters.
After being involved in criminal activity Ray decides to stay on the straight and narrow which is ultimately short-lived when he desperately attempts to get tickets for his daughter to see The Jackson Five. Staying out of the game becomes a lot more complicated and deadly.
I enjoyed this second book in the series.
Set in 1970's New York, the story continues with furniture salesman Ray Carney, but adds a few other interesting characters.
After being involved in criminal activity Ray decides to stay on the straight and narrow which is ultimately short-lived when he desperately attempts to get tickets for his daughter to see The Jackson Five. Staying out of the game becomes a lot more complicated and deadly.
I enjoyed this second book in the series.
August 21, 2023
Ray Carney: son of notorious thief and roughhouser Big Mike Carney, and owner/operator of Carney’s Furniture on 125th and Morningside Avenue in the heart of Harlem. It’s not easy to make it in New York in the 1970s, with crime, devastation, and corruption on the rise, but Ray tries to do right by his family every day.
But does doing right include doing wrong? Or walking the thin line between dark and light? Because it seems that just when he thinks he’s left his “fencing” days behind him, cashing in stolen goods lent to him for a little profit, something happens to bring him back into the criminal fold.
I’ve said it before, in my reviews of Underground Railroad and Harlem Shuffle: I just don’t like the writing style. Too many fragments, too many intra-paragraph flashbacks, too much jargon without explanation. Easy reading it ain’t.
But once I walked away from this text, I figured it out: it’s a lot like New York. It doesn’t care what you think. It just is what it is, and you either get into it or get out of the way. It says, “Hey, whaddya lookin’ at?” Nobody says, “They did a deal,” because it’s grammatically incorrect and clunky, but you either go with it or you don’t. Kinda like taking the #1 train on the weekend: you either get on the awful shuttle bus that replaces half the line because of construction, or you just don’t get to Van Cortlandt Park. And if you don’t like it, hit the bricks.
I was born in ’72 and raised for the most part in Yonkers, abutting the Bronx, so my memories of the hellhole that was the Fiery Apple of the time are hazy at best. But wow, does Whitehead nail it. The rubble left behind by arson, the runaway crime, the racism, the corruption, and above all, the bleakness. Where today, the lyric “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere” connotes a high income to survive the soaring rents, back then it was a physical fight for survival, especially if you’re non-white and living in Harlem. Phenomenally described by a master artist.
I might have titled this, “The Pepper Show,” since the three vignettes feature Ray’s crook guardian angel, the criminal partner to Big Mike. Think a crooked Gandalf: wise, cool under pressure, powerful. We find out he’s not invincible, but he’s the craftiest dude in Harlem, and always seems to get his man. You’ll forgive the irony if I say he “steals” the show.
All three short stories are interesting, compelling, thrilling. Yes, they get bogged down a bit at the beginning, as the compressed exposition makes for frenetic, confusing reading. We need to get to know characters and scenarios in a very short time, and if you’re not careful you can get frustrated. But eat your literary vegetables so you can get to dessert: each story is jam-packed with action, drama, thrills. Each ends with a very cool resolution. Not sure which I liked the best, but the inclusion of a blaxploitation film in #2 was an interesting touch.
And Ray. Yeah, a great character that can live on for many, many upcoming novels. Torn between an instinct to support his loved ones and the quick but dangerous benefits brought about by crime. I loved the premise of story #3: a kid gets injured in one of his buildings, so he uses his criminal influences to make it right, and it all goes pear-shaped. His store seems so real, and all the characters are exceptionally well-defined. And even though Ray lived long ago (which seems not that long ago to me; see my year of birth above), he’s a character from whom I’d like to hear more.
So, even though I’ll need to gear myself up each time for this unusual and stubborn writing style, I hope Whitehead does the right thing and brings Ray and Pepper back again and again. Crook Manifesto is just as worthy as his other works for the rewards he’s won.
But does doing right include doing wrong? Or walking the thin line between dark and light? Because it seems that just when he thinks he’s left his “fencing” days behind him, cashing in stolen goods lent to him for a little profit, something happens to bring him back into the criminal fold.
I’ve said it before, in my reviews of Underground Railroad and Harlem Shuffle: I just don’t like the writing style. Too many fragments, too many intra-paragraph flashbacks, too much jargon without explanation. Easy reading it ain’t.
But once I walked away from this text, I figured it out: it’s a lot like New York. It doesn’t care what you think. It just is what it is, and you either get into it or get out of the way. It says, “Hey, whaddya lookin’ at?” Nobody says, “They did a deal,” because it’s grammatically incorrect and clunky, but you either go with it or you don’t. Kinda like taking the #1 train on the weekend: you either get on the awful shuttle bus that replaces half the line because of construction, or you just don’t get to Van Cortlandt Park. And if you don’t like it, hit the bricks.
I was born in ’72 and raised for the most part in Yonkers, abutting the Bronx, so my memories of the hellhole that was the Fiery Apple of the time are hazy at best. But wow, does Whitehead nail it. The rubble left behind by arson, the runaway crime, the racism, the corruption, and above all, the bleakness. Where today, the lyric “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere” connotes a high income to survive the soaring rents, back then it was a physical fight for survival, especially if you’re non-white and living in Harlem. Phenomenally described by a master artist.
I might have titled this, “The Pepper Show,” since the three vignettes feature Ray’s crook guardian angel, the criminal partner to Big Mike. Think a crooked Gandalf: wise, cool under pressure, powerful. We find out he’s not invincible, but he’s the craftiest dude in Harlem, and always seems to get his man. You’ll forgive the irony if I say he “steals” the show.
All three short stories are interesting, compelling, thrilling. Yes, they get bogged down a bit at the beginning, as the compressed exposition makes for frenetic, confusing reading. We need to get to know characters and scenarios in a very short time, and if you’re not careful you can get frustrated. But eat your literary vegetables so you can get to dessert: each story is jam-packed with action, drama, thrills. Each ends with a very cool resolution. Not sure which I liked the best, but the inclusion of a blaxploitation film in #2 was an interesting touch.
And Ray. Yeah, a great character that can live on for many, many upcoming novels. Torn between an instinct to support his loved ones and the quick but dangerous benefits brought about by crime. I loved the premise of story #3: a kid gets injured in one of his buildings, so he uses his criminal influences to make it right, and it all goes pear-shaped. His store seems so real, and all the characters are exceptionally well-defined. And even though Ray lived long ago (which seems not that long ago to me; see my year of birth above), he’s a character from whom I’d like to hear more.
So, even though I’ll need to gear myself up each time for this unusual and stubborn writing style, I hope Whitehead does the right thing and brings Ray and Pepper back again and again. Crook Manifesto is just as worthy as his other works for the rewards he’s won.
October 1, 2023
On the surface this is a wonderfully written crime novel with fantastic characters, but nothing is surface-level with Colson Whitehead. He manages to also spotlight issues such as race, the corruption of those in power, and the strength of the human spirit into a novel that's a blast to read. 1970's Harlem is brought fully to life here in Whitehead's prose. Can't wait for the third installment in the Ray Carney saga.
December 21, 2022
(Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley)
It was a joy to see all the familiar faces from Harlem Shuffle again, and to meet a new group of eclectic characters. However, what I loved in particular was what made the first book in the saga such a delight - the way it so deeply immersed me within a past Harlem and a past New York. This time around, instead of the city in the 1960’s roaring to life through Colson’s words, it was the troublesome 70s that was vividly painted in my mind - a city on edge, a city that is seemingly falling apart at the seams, a city whose neighborhoods are bursting into flames - but like the core characters of the book, despite the chaos and the deterioration, is still resiliently going, despite the uncertainty that lies ahead in abundance.
Whitehead could comfortably conclude here and leave it as a solid two-part series. Frankly though, I’m hoping that he’ll be able to transport us to 80’s Harlem within the next few years.
It was a joy to see all the familiar faces from Harlem Shuffle again, and to meet a new group of eclectic characters. However, what I loved in particular was what made the first book in the saga such a delight - the way it so deeply immersed me within a past Harlem and a past New York. This time around, instead of the city in the 1960’s roaring to life through Colson’s words, it was the troublesome 70s that was vividly painted in my mind - a city on edge, a city that is seemingly falling apart at the seams, a city whose neighborhoods are bursting into flames - but like the core characters of the book, despite the chaos and the deterioration, is still resiliently going, despite the uncertainty that lies ahead in abundance.
Whitehead could comfortably conclude here and leave it as a solid two-part series. Frankly though, I’m hoping that he’ll be able to transport us to 80’s Harlem within the next few years.
November 13, 2023
Colson Whitehead's "Crook Manifesto" (the second of his Ray Carney books) is a peculiar experience because the book is never boring and Whitehead has a knack for great bits of dialogue. However, the book didn't grab me. It's a fine book, but it could have been so much better.
I think the main problem is that there's too much of "Now, I'm going to give you the history of this character" embedded in Whitehead's storytelling. Every time we meet another character, Whitehead provides us with that character's background and motivation for his present-day actions. It becomes oppressive after a while so that I kept saying, "Oh please don't introduce another character." This method slows down any narrative progress. Since the novel is told in sections, this exacerbates the problem.
I wanted to like this more than I did.
I think the main problem is that there's too much of "Now, I'm going to give you the history of this character" embedded in Whitehead's storytelling. Every time we meet another character, Whitehead provides us with that character's background and motivation for his present-day actions. It becomes oppressive after a while so that I kept saying, "Oh please don't introduce another character." This method slows down any narrative progress. Since the novel is told in sections, this exacerbates the problem.
I wanted to like this more than I did.
September 8, 2023
Ray Carney is back! I really enjoyed this book because of characters and the way behave and talk. The author describes the cities in a way that you can see and feel them, sometimes even smell them. Haha. The conversations will make you laugh and cringe. It was an easy to follow story line with several surprise moments and a crazy ending.
August 12, 2023
It is hard to be the second book in a trilogy. On the one hand, book 2 is the center, the part that holds the story together, on the other hand, it has no beginning or end that is not dependent on another book. Though the first book, Harlem Shuffle, ended on a bit of a cliffhanger it still stood on its own as a complete story. This, IMO does not. That said, it sets us up for what appears to be a rollocking book 3 and I am here for that. We have ridden in the sidecar as Ray has gone from rags to riches to rags to riches in all manner of ways, legal and illegal. I don't think it is a spoiler to say we leave Ray in a moment of transition for him and for the city at large. (Harlem remains the co-lead of the story, as much a character as any human here.) I like where Whitehead took the story (or really stories, there is more than one), but the book just does not stand on its own. Also, most of the side characters in this one were a little less colorful than those in the first book. That volume was for me a high 4, and this is a lower 4, but still a 4 and I am feeling pretty sure that the third book is going to be a barnburner.
One note: While reading this I kept thinking of the Don Winslow Danny Ryan trilogy which is on the same publishing timetable as this one - book 2 of that series, City of Dreams, came out a few months ago. That series starts with a traditional crime family, but in book 2 it turns into something less formal and very close to the loose confederation of conmen who show up in Whitehead's books. Ray Carney and Danny Ryan live in different cities, but in many ways they are similar. Criminals trying to be good men, and good men trying to be criminals. Also, in the second volume in both trilogies there is a subplot where the MCs get involved in making a film. Honestly the books in both series have been some of my favorite reads over the last few years so this is not a complaint, it is just really interesting that these two very different writers are treading on similar ground, though the resulting products are very different. When the final volumes of both come out I will be looking to see if they end up in different places.
One note: While reading this I kept thinking of the Don Winslow Danny Ryan trilogy which is on the same publishing timetable as this one - book 2 of that series, City of Dreams, came out a few months ago. That series starts with a traditional crime family, but in book 2 it turns into something less formal and very close to the loose confederation of conmen who show up in Whitehead's books. Ray Carney and Danny Ryan live in different cities, but in many ways they are similar. Criminals trying to be good men, and good men trying to be criminals. Also, in the second volume in both trilogies there is a subplot where the MCs get involved in making a film. Honestly the books in both series have been some of my favorite reads over the last few years so this is not a complaint, it is just really interesting that these two very different writers are treading on similar ground, though the resulting products are very different. When the final volumes of both come out I will be looking to see if they end up in different places.
June 19, 2023
I was not sure what to expect from this book but I have to admit I was disappointed.
Set in 1970's Harlem centring around Ray Carney's furniture store this book is in three parts. In part one we meet Ray a former fence turned legit businessman. However, in the quest to secure Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter, Ray finds himself being drawn back into the underworld. He soon finds himself mixed up with a crooked policeman and gangland crime that he feels out of his depth with soon leaving a trail of murder, blood and mayhem behind them.
Part 2 focuses on Pepper, hired muscle working as security for a blaxploitation film being filmed in Carney's furniture store. Before long the leading actress has disappeared and Pepper is being employed to find her at all costs. Heading through her contacts Pepper sets out on his mission to find her, preferring to punch first and ask questions later.
Part 3 focuses on Pepper and Ray together, this time trying to find the fire starter who burnt down a building that had a young child inside who ends up in hospital. As they try to work out who is responsible, Pepper leads with his fists and ends up bringing trouble to their doorstep.
I struggled to get into the book and I struggled with the slow pace of the stories. I found that I didn't care that much for the characters either and that made the book something that I struggled to finish reading.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Set in 1970's Harlem centring around Ray Carney's furniture store this book is in three parts. In part one we meet Ray a former fence turned legit businessman. However, in the quest to secure Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter, Ray finds himself being drawn back into the underworld. He soon finds himself mixed up with a crooked policeman and gangland crime that he feels out of his depth with soon leaving a trail of murder, blood and mayhem behind them.
Part 2 focuses on Pepper, hired muscle working as security for a blaxploitation film being filmed in Carney's furniture store. Before long the leading actress has disappeared and Pepper is being employed to find her at all costs. Heading through her contacts Pepper sets out on his mission to find her, preferring to punch first and ask questions later.
Part 3 focuses on Pepper and Ray together, this time trying to find the fire starter who burnt down a building that had a young child inside who ends up in hospital. As they try to work out who is responsible, Pepper leads with his fists and ends up bringing trouble to their doorstep.
I struggled to get into the book and I struggled with the slow pace of the stories. I found that I didn't care that much for the characters either and that made the book something that I struggled to finish reading.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
July 31, 2023
I loved the writing, the whip-smart banter, and the Harlem 1970s setting. Some of the sentences are so clever that I either laughed at loud or shook my head in wonder. I knew this was Book 2 in a trilogy going in, and I hadn't read Book 1. Because of this, I feel like I was missing a connection to the characters because of this, but since I really wanted to connect with them, I'm going to go back to Book 1 and see if that makes me change my rating.
February 14, 2024
If you loved the first one, you'll feel right at home. It's more crazy scenarios with even wilder characters. Add in a pinch of properly timed humor and it's quite enjoyable. The book is broken up into 3 stories all revolving around Carney with Pepper playing a major supporting role. It's a light read and can be easily consumed even if you haven't read Harlem Shuffle.
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