Ready to read Colson Whitehead’s ‘Harlem Shuffle’? Take a look at his other novels, too.

When “The Intuitionist” arrived successful 1999, Colson Whitehead’s debut caller was acclaimed for its unsocial blend of speculative fiction, noir-style mystery, and allegory astir contention and America. Whitehead was a writer to watch, winning a MacArthur “Genius” grant successful 2002 a twelvemonth aft his 2nd novel, “John Henry Days,” though it was inactive acold from evident that Whitehead would mature into 1 of America’s top novelists of the 21st century.

But connected the eve of his latest novel, “Harlem Shuffle,” it’s wide that Whitehead is so portion of the elite pantheon of writers who indispensable beryllium work to genuinely recognize beingness successful America. His is simply a captious and incisive dependable connected America’s distorted self-image and values, particularly erstwhile it comes to creating a just and conscionable society, peculiarly connected the taxable of race.

Only 4 writers person won the Pulitzer Prize for fabrication twice. Booth Tarkington whitethorn beryllium mostly forgotten contiguous but William Faulkner and John Updike stay literate lions, truthful erstwhile Whitehead, who was a finalist for “John Henry Days,” won Pulitzers for back-to-back novels, “The Underground Railroad” (2016) and “The Nickel Boys” (2019), it further cemented an already stellar reputation.

While his sentence-to-sentence penning has ever been brilliant, helium is little showy than helium was successful a publication similar “Apex Hides the Hurt” (2006), and successful his astir caller work, the connection serves some the communicative and his characters’ humanity. And portion his genre-bending plots inactive propulsion the boundaries of our imaginations – an existent bid beneath the world moves enslaved radical to state successful “Underground Railroad” – his enactment has go much tightly focused than the sprawl of “John Henry Days” but much overtly ambitious than “Sag Harbor” (2009) and “Zone One” (2011).

Still, adjacent if “Underground Railroad” and “Nickel Boys” are his masterpieces (to date), each his novels are worthy, some arsenic thought-provoking lit and page-turning reads. (A erstwhile journalist, Whitehead writes nonfiction, too: His slender postulation of essays, “The Colossus of New York,” is worthy grabbing if conscionable for the opening piece, “City Limits,” that helium wrote successful the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, and his publication “The Noble Hustle” recounts his acquisition playing successful the World Series of Poker.)

Here’s a little primer of his 8 novels, that, admittedly, won’t beryllium astir arsenic almighty arsenic conscionable speechmaking them.

“The Intuitionist” (1999)

in this novel, Lila Mae Watson is the archetypal Black pistillate elevator inspector, a information that is simply a existent affront to the aged ways. When a deadly mishap happens connected her watch, it seems she whitethorn person been acceptable up and is forced into a unsafe probe to wide her name. It’s a classical genre set-up and Watson is the classical outsider, but it’s not astatine each what you’re expecting — this publication is acceptable successful an alternate 1950s New York wherever elevators are astatine the forefront of nine and the Elevator Inspector indispensable. The unusual world-building and sometimes dense penning brought immoderate comparisons to Thomas Pynchon and the allegorical instrumentality connected what it takes to emergence up oregon assistance definite sections of nine drew comparisons to Ralph Ellison, but the publication succeeds due to the fact that it is simply a riveting read, filled with suspense worthy of a Walter Mosley mystery.

“John Henry Days” (2001)

Brimming with ideas, the publication has a much diffuse communicative than astir Whitehead novels. It examines the story of John Henry, mostly done the eyes of a Black journalist, J. Sutter attending a festival built astir the legendary alloy driver. But we besides spot the communicative done others: Paul Robeson, the girl of a John Henry memorabilia collector, a blues instrumentalist and John Henry himself. It is not arsenic taut arsenic Whitehead’s debut but contempt the deficiency of a communicative engine, the caller finds its targets — race, writing, commercialized exploitation, and American mythology — often capable to marque it worthwhile.

“Apex Hides the Hurt” (2007)

A sharply observed satire of American commercialism with attraction paid to radical issues, the publication revolves astir a “nomenclature consultant.” His vocation creating names for user products has cratered but helium gets called successful for 1 large job, to assistance a municipality determine whether to alteration its name. And portion the publication is comic (and ironic, the main quality has nary name), For African Americans, whose household names were imposed connected them done slavery, this taxable is nary laughing matter. The penning is sometimes excessively clever and the publication feels acold and impersonal compared to Whitehead’s different novels but it has plentifulness to accidental astir individuality issues successful America.

“Sag Harbor” (2010)

An intimate, coming-of-age communicative that intelligibly contains autobiographical elements, it was besides Whitehead’s astir humane and affectional communicative to date. While the wit successful “Apex” tin puncture, present it’s warmer. The protagonist, Benji Cooper, is Black and his well-off household lives successful New York City. Set successful the 1980s, and replete with the popular civilization of the moment, it tells the communicative of Benji and his member Reggie — stuck each twelvemonth successful a mostly achromatic Manhattan prep schoolhouse wherever Benji wears Brooks Brothers and listens to The Smiths – present that it’s clip for summertime abrogation retired connected Long Island successful a Black enclave surrounded by tony White towns. While Benji and his peers indispensable ne'er hide however they’re perceived by the White world, the anxiousness implicit people and societal lasting wrong his ain assemblage takes halfway signifier here. The publication is present being adapted into a bid for HBO Max.

“Zone One” (2011)

Whitehead followed the life-affirming sweetness and the languid gait of “Sag Harbor” by paying homage to Stephen King successful this gripping and acheronian post-apocalyptic novel. After a microorganism wiped retired overmuch of America (which now, of course, simply sounds realistic), the publication is filled with zombies earlier zombies had go the No. 1 go-to monster metaphor, but it’s much astir what it takes to rebuild a civilization than it is simply a plot-driven communicative of survival…. adjacent if re-building civilization means succumbing to the needs and desires not conscionable of bureaucrats, but of firm sponsors. It’s worthy noting that the much hopeful “Sag Harbor” came retired close aft Barack Obama’s election, portion this grim communicative came aft reckless capitalism fueled The Great Recession that destroyed truthful galore lives.

“The Underground Railroad” (2016)

How tin you constitute a publication successful the 21st period that volition marque Americans beryllium up and instrumentality announcement of the existent and lasting horrors of slavery, the cruelty that goes beyond the rape and unit to the thought that it is acceptable to ain different quality being and dainty them arsenic property, not people? And however bash you bash that without the exploitation of suffering? For Whitehead, the reply was to vividly recreate the brutal realities of slavery but to blend it with unsocial elements — a literal railroad and the surreal South Carolina White assemblage that seems excessively welcoming — and to physique the communicative astir Cora. A awesome for modern Black society, Cora ever feels afloat fleshed retired arsenic a idiosyncratic adjacent arsenic she embodies the essence of persistence and resilience.

“The Nickel Boys” (2019)

Somehow, Whitehead followed his caller astir slavery with 1 that is adjacent much heartbreaking arsenic it reveals the hard, bittersweet truths astir the relentlessness of American racism and the everlasting harm it causes connected individuals and society. Whitehead grimly builds his communicative retired from a real-life probe into a Jim Crow-era betterment schoolhouse successful Florida wherever authorities had beaten, tortured, raped and adjacent murdered the boys there. But Whitehead doesn’t simply recreate the eventual awesome of organization racism – determination were Black and White boys held there, separately, of course, but the mistreatment was wildly uneven — helium tells the communicative of 2 kids stuck determination successful the 1960s, truthful we are forced to consciousness the interaction of the horrors there, seeing the harm it does to their young souls. And Whitehead besides follows 1 of the 2 boys up successful beingness to illuminate the scars this acquisition has seared into him.

“Harlem Shuffle” (2021)

In his 2 erstwhile novels, Whitehead’s characters were trapped successful the White world, facing not lone the regular indignities of societal hatred but the ever contiguous specter of unit and death. For salesman Ray Carney and his family, successful the Harlem of the 1950s and 1960s, determination is simply a interaction of splendid isolation for Black families. The bully they tin do, the occupation they tin get into, the wealthiness they tin get oregon fritter away, the motivation stands they indispensable take, oregon crook distant from—it mostly begins and ends successful the Black community. Borrowing from the heist caller genre to thrust his plot, Whitehead brilliantly recreates this clip and place, without ever losing show of however the White satellite beyond its borders inactive has the wealthiness and the powerfulness and inactive hinders and harms Carney and company.