Crook Manifesto
August 9, 2023 3:09 PM - Subscribe
"From then on whenever he heard the song he thought of the death of Munson." With these words, Ray Carney--furniture salesman and semi-retired jewel fence--is back in Colson Whitehead's newest book, Crook Manifesto, the sequel to his 2021 crime novel, Harlem Shuffle.
Ray is a mostly upstanding furniture salesman who's been out of the jewel fencing game for a few years. But when his daughter wants impossible-to-find tickets to see the Jackson 5, he reaches out to a contact from the bad old days: Munson, a crooked white cop. That simple request kicks off a series of events in Harlem in the early 1970s that will eventually include the Black Liberation Army, a commission investigating police corruption, gun theft, insurance scams, arson-for-hire, Blaxploitation movies, celebrities, bent politicians, kickbacks, kidnapping, and murder.
The second novel in a planned trilogy, Crook Manifesto is a literary crime novel, social history, and (under)worldbuilding at the same time.
Kirkus: "Whitehead’s gift for sudden, often grotesque eruptions of violence is omnipresent, so much so that you almost feel squeamish to recognize this book for the accomplished, streamlined, and darkly funny comedy of manners it is."
Fresh Air (audio/with transcript), Colson Whitehead channels the paranoia and fear of 1970s NYC in 'Crook Manifesto': "I had a system where the first book would be about the '60s and the second about the '70s, and I'm trying to find moments that - of opportunity, you know, for storytelling that speak to Carney's dilemma in this world. What's next for him? Which way is he going to jump? The same way the Panthers are at this moment of inflection. Where is the city going? Crime is at an all-time high. We're looking down at a fiscal crisis that's coming down the pike. So New York is in this place of change, as well. And so I picked 1971, 1973 and 1976 because each offers a different sort of opportunity to drop Carney and his supporting cast in a different place."
The New Yorker Radio Hour (audio/with transcript), Colson Whitehead on “Crook Manifesto”: "I'm exploring different ways of being a criminal and trying to think about who actually is bad. I think Ray Carney has this secret self, this criminal self, but I think all of us have these different uncivilized impulses in us that we have to tame in order to function in society. I think when people connect with Carney, part of that connection is recognizing their own secret life in him."
Ray is a mostly upstanding furniture salesman who's been out of the jewel fencing game for a few years. But when his daughter wants impossible-to-find tickets to see the Jackson 5, he reaches out to a contact from the bad old days: Munson, a crooked white cop. That simple request kicks off a series of events in Harlem in the early 1970s that will eventually include the Black Liberation Army, a commission investigating police corruption, gun theft, insurance scams, arson-for-hire, Blaxploitation movies, celebrities, bent politicians, kickbacks, kidnapping, and murder.
The second novel in a planned trilogy, Crook Manifesto is a literary crime novel, social history, and (under)worldbuilding at the same time.
Kirkus: "Whitehead’s gift for sudden, often grotesque eruptions of violence is omnipresent, so much so that you almost feel squeamish to recognize this book for the accomplished, streamlined, and darkly funny comedy of manners it is."
Fresh Air (audio/with transcript), Colson Whitehead channels the paranoia and fear of 1970s NYC in 'Crook Manifesto': "I had a system where the first book would be about the '60s and the second about the '70s, and I'm trying to find moments that - of opportunity, you know, for storytelling that speak to Carney's dilemma in this world. What's next for him? Which way is he going to jump? The same way the Panthers are at this moment of inflection. Where is the city going? Crime is at an all-time high. We're looking down at a fiscal crisis that's coming down the pike. So New York is in this place of change, as well. And so I picked 1971, 1973 and 1976 because each offers a different sort of opportunity to drop Carney and his supporting cast in a different place."
The New Yorker Radio Hour (audio/with transcript), Colson Whitehead on “Crook Manifesto”: "I'm exploring different ways of being a criminal and trying to think about who actually is bad. I think Ray Carney has this secret self, this criminal self, but I think all of us have these different uncivilized impulses in us that we have to tame in order to function in society. I think when people connect with Carney, part of that connection is recognizing their own secret life in him."
I also liked it better than Harlem Shuffle. I looove when the book just spends time in the furniture store.
posted by lizard music at 8:00 PM on August 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by lizard music at 8:00 PM on August 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
Yeah, the details of the saleable furniture of that time and place really added to the story. Ray's musings on furniture interrupting his crime-related plans and encounters helped make him a believable and well-rounded character.
posted by Agave at 6:09 AM on August 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Agave at 6:09 AM on August 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
I just bought this as part of a planned Colson Whitehead binge and then realized that it's the 2nd book in a trilogy. I was going to pick up Harlem Shuffle this weekend, but do I need to? Or should I just get started with Crook Manifesto?
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:12 AM on August 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:12 AM on August 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
ActingTheGoat, I recommend reading Harlem Shuffle first, because it gives you Ray Carney's deep background in a way that the second book does not. His childhood experiences and his life before the furniture store are important to understanding where he is now and his attitude toward his criminal self.
(Spoilers below)
I liked Crook Manifesto quite a bit, but maybe not as much as I liked Harlem Shuffle? It made clear to me that Ray--as wonderful a character as he is--is only one entrance point into this world, and that Whitehead's vision is kaleidoscopic, because his subject matter demands it. This isn't just Ray's story; it's Harlem's. Pepper and Zippo are necessary because they add to ways of seeing the world, and even if I like Zippo a little less than Ray, even if Pepper is more about action than words, they are needed to ground the story of Harlem life across time, generations, and social worlds. It came to me that a comparison point is The Wire: a core group of characters, plus a revolving cast, whose stories highlight different aspects of a city's systems. The focus here being the dynamic between the day world and the underworld, and how their secret exchanges shape the lives of everyone without most of them ever knowing it.
Crook Manifesto is, yes, a middle book, but it does the work of broadening Whitehead's vision, and does it with style. The descriptions of the furniture! The clothes! Black celebrity and self-invention! I thought it was all excellent and loving, without being sentimental. And oh, the recipe heist!!! I imagine Whitehead thinking to himself, "You know what would be a funny interlude?" and just running with it. (On the other hand, I felt like the fire at the end was telegraphed too clearly. The final murder, though...) Whitehead does action so well that I don't mind reading it, and I regularly skip sections about war, fights, and violence. His command of genre is so good! His writing is wonderful! It's like Harlem is conjured up, magically, because Whitehead does details and speech patterns and things the characters notice so well. I recently talked to a woman who complained that Harlem Shuffle wasn't as good as Nickel Boys or The Underground Railroad because of the heist genre aspect...but I think that Whitehead's writing is so strong that the Ray Carney books are literary fiction and social history successfully masquerading as crime fiction, and that's an impressive trick.
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:51 PM on August 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
(Spoilers below)
I liked Crook Manifesto quite a bit, but maybe not as much as I liked Harlem Shuffle? It made clear to me that Ray--as wonderful a character as he is--is only one entrance point into this world, and that Whitehead's vision is kaleidoscopic, because his subject matter demands it. This isn't just Ray's story; it's Harlem's. Pepper and Zippo are necessary because they add to ways of seeing the world, and even if I like Zippo a little less than Ray, even if Pepper is more about action than words, they are needed to ground the story of Harlem life across time, generations, and social worlds. It came to me that a comparison point is The Wire: a core group of characters, plus a revolving cast, whose stories highlight different aspects of a city's systems. The focus here being the dynamic between the day world and the underworld, and how their secret exchanges shape the lives of everyone without most of them ever knowing it.
Crook Manifesto is, yes, a middle book, but it does the work of broadening Whitehead's vision, and does it with style. The descriptions of the furniture! The clothes! Black celebrity and self-invention! I thought it was all excellent and loving, without being sentimental. And oh, the recipe heist!!! I imagine Whitehead thinking to himself, "You know what would be a funny interlude?" and just running with it. (On the other hand, I felt like the fire at the end was telegraphed too clearly. The final murder, though...) Whitehead does action so well that I don't mind reading it, and I regularly skip sections about war, fights, and violence. His command of genre is so good! His writing is wonderful! It's like Harlem is conjured up, magically, because Whitehead does details and speech patterns and things the characters notice so well. I recently talked to a woman who complained that Harlem Shuffle wasn't as good as Nickel Boys or The Underground Railroad because of the heist genre aspect...but I think that Whitehead's writing is so strong that the Ray Carney books are literary fiction and social history successfully masquerading as crime fiction, and that's an impressive trick.
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:51 PM on August 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
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posted by synecdoche at 7:21 PM on August 9, 2023 [1 favorite]