Harlem Shuffle Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Harlem and the End of the Civil Rights Era and our BookBrowse Review of Harlem Shuffle.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

The questions, discussion topics, and other material that follow are intended to enhance your group's conversation about Pulitzer Prize−winning author Colson Whitehead's Harlem Shuffle, a story of New York in the 1960s and how one neighborhood in Harlem learns to navigate the shadows and gleaming lights of a city on the brink of revolution, even as one man confronts the ghosts of his, and Harlem's, beautiful and tragic past.

1. Carney is described as being "only slightly bent when it came to being crooked, in practice and ambition" (page 31)—suggesting a more nuanced understanding of seemingly criminal activity. How does his placement on the crooked spectrum change throughout the course of the novel? How does his crookedness compare to others he does business with?
2. As much as the people in the novel embody their environment, New York City is a formidable character itself that evolves with its inhabitants. Which changes more, the city or the people, and how do the scenes of New York in the novel compare to those of the present day?
3. What do the Riverside Drive apartments represent to Carney? What did you make of his change of heart about Strivers' Row at the end of the novel? Consider Freddie's comment that on Riverside, "There's us, there's water, and then there's more land, we're all a part of the same thing. But Park Avenue, with those big old buildings facing one another, full of old white people, there's none of that feeling, right? It's a canyon. And the two sides don't give a shit about you. If they wanted, if they so decided, they could squeeze together and crush you. That's how little you are" (page 268).

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Anchor Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.