Book 57 - Colson Whitehead "Harlem Shuffle"

Colson Whitehead "Harlem Shuffle" (Fleet)




This is Whitehead's take on a heist novel, set in Harlem in the early 1960s. We don't get in on the execution of the event itself, as our protagonist, Ray Carney is an involuntary participant on the periphery of the action. Ray has a retail furniture store, selling some pretty nice stuff, supporting his family well enough, and dreaming of a better apartment in a nicer neighborhood one day. OK, maybe some of his "second-hand" furniture might have fallen off a truck, or come from a source he'd rather not know about. Aaand, he's not averse to fencing a few pieces of jewelry and other smallish valuables his god-help-me cousin Freddie brings by from time to time. The extra cash is useful. But by and large, Ray would like to think of himself as a legitimate businessman who has risen out of the criminal circles his father was known to inhabit. Of course, he's learned a lot by association, and he understands how the underworld of Harlem works. So when

Freddie gets involved in an overly ambitious heist of safe deposit box contents from the so-called "Waldorf of Harlem", it's no surprise that he volunteers his cousin Ray to move the stuff. The trouble is, Ray had previously told Freddie he wanted no part of this ridiculous scheme, and now he is stuck between the gang and the cops, with no apparent means of escape. The novel is not high on narrative tension, but it is gripping in another way, as Ray and the reader explore the nuances of "doing the right thing", family loyalties, and all kinds of other issues that truly cannot be reduced to "black and white" simplicity. The setting is irresistible, and rendered with the love of NYC in general, Harlem in particular, which was so beautifully displayed in Whitehead's The Colossus of New York. This is how you make us understand what there is to love about a place that is home despite its dangers.

Book 58 - Meg Mason "Sorrow And Bliss"

Meg Mason "Sorrow And Bliss" (W&N Books)




This book showed up on a best of list and I decided that it seemed interesting so I tried it and I was very impressed. Mason is an excellent writer and the book that deals with mental illness is full of humor but deals well with a serious subject. The book takes place in London and Oxford. We meet Martha a 40 year old married woman with no children just as her husband Patrick is leaving her. From there we are told Martha's story through her first person narrative.

I always have a slight problem with books in the first person because I can never trust their assessment of the other characters in the book but in this case it is best told this way. Martha has been dealing with depression and long episodes of it since she was 17 but over the years she has gone from doctor to doctor and medicine to medicine with no firm diagnosis or cure. Along the way we meet the people in her life including her husband Patrick and her sister Ingrid. Each character brings a unique voice to the book and Martha's exchanges with her sister are where most of the humor comes from. This is a serious book but one that deals with so many issues of family relationships which are always difficult but even more so given Martha's mental illness. This was an excellent book and at 330 pages it was just the right length. For anyone who has ever struggled with mental illness or has a close relationship with someone in this situation, this book is a must read.