調書をとる／予約する Review: Colson Whitehead pens entertaining, uneven sequel to 2021 bestseller 'Harlem Shuffle'
"Crook Manifesto" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
In his bestselling 2021 罪，犯罪 novel "Harlem Shuffle," Colson Whitehead introduced the 複雑にするd character of Ray Carney, a 黒人／ボイコット furniture 蓄える／店 owner and small-time 盗品故買者 clawing his way into the middle class while resisting the 勧める to follow in the footsteps of his thuggish father. That novel played out in Harlem during the civil 権利s struggles of the 早期に 1960s, and the city itself was a major character.
Now he´s written a sequel. When "Crook Manifesto" opens, it is 1971, Carney has been on the straight and 狭くする for four years, and 市民の harmony is in short 供給（する）, "like honest 市長s and playgrounds 解放する／自由な of nodding junkies and broken 瓶／封じ込めるs."
Carney´s 願望（する） to 得点する／非難する／２０ impossible-to-get Jackson 5 tickets for his ますます aloof teenage daughter 誘発するs him to 捜し出す out the corrupt 警官，（賞などを）獲得する and fixer he used to do 商売／仕事 with - and all hell breaks loose. With Carney 支援する in the game, Whitehead proceeds to show us "the invisible 障壁 that separated his city from the white city" in a １０年間 when the Bronx was 燃やすing and the Daily News blared "Ford to City: 減少（する） Dead."
The novel is broken into three parts loosely connected through the storylines of Carney, his family, and a handful of other characters, 含むing Pepper, a hardcore 犯罪の who is surprisingly endearing. The second section, 始める，決める in 1973, 回転するs around the 狙撃 of a blaxploitation movie on 場所 in Harlem, 含むing at Carney´s furniture 蓄える／店. The third part takes place in 1976, when the son of one of Carney´s tenants is 厳しく 負傷させるd in an 放火（罪） 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and Carney can´t wo rk up much enthusiasm for the nation´s bicentennial 祝賀s. As a 蓄える／店 owner, he is 推定する／予想するd to jump on the 愛国的な advertising bandwagon - "a ドーム of red, white, and blue smog" - but the only スローガン about America that sounds 権利 to him is "200 years of getting away with it."
As he did in "Harlem Shuffle," Whitehead mixes noir 罪，犯罪 tropes and social history to 現在の a slant, 冷笑的な 見解（をとる） of New York as a 完全に rotten Big Apple, only occasionally redeemed by individual 行為／法令／行動するs of love, 忠義 and 親切. Whenever Carney´s wife wants something that´s going to cost serious money, and Carney realizes he doesn´t have it, he says to himself, "What else was an 現在進行中の 犯罪の 企業 複雑にするd by periodic 暴力／激しさ for, but to make your wife happy?"
This cover image 解放（する）d by Doubleday shows "Crook Manifesto" by Colson Whitehead. (Doubleday 経由で AP)
Whitehead´s sly sense of humor and encyclopedic knowledge of the city make "Crook Manifesto" an entertaining read, but as 出来事/事件 after 出来事/事件 piles up, you just want it to be over.
