Confusion in Haarlem

Colson Whitehead

To his clients and neighbors in Haarlem, Ray Carney is an honest man, a shopkeeper who does everything he can to support himself and his family. Few people know that this showcase of regularity is full of cracks.

Cracks that start to grow bigger when Ray's petty cousin Freddie gets involved in the Theresa Hotel robbery.

Surprised, Ray discovers that he is easily acclimatized to the Harlem underworld, and his new clientele consists of corrupt police officers, violent gangsters, five-man pornographers and other scum. Thus begins the internal struggle between the honest Ray and the rogue Ray, who as he acrobatizes between his two selves, realizes who is really moving the threads in Haarlem.

Will Ray manage not to kill himself, save Freddie and get his share of the big booty, but also accept who he really is? Colson Whitehead, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, takes us to New York in the 1960s, combining a family saga, a detective novel, a comedy, a social commentary on race and power, and a love confession to Haarlem, with an impetuous narrative that captivates the reader.

The book topped The New York Times best-sellers, the 100 most important books of the year according to TIME magazine and the list of Barack Obama's favorite books for 2021.