Colson Whitehead, in his nonfiction work The Colossus of New York (2003), reflects on the importance of cherishing former residences in the ever-changing landscape of New York City. He encourages one to pause and honor these places as they symbolize one’s personal transformations over time.
The same theme of nostalgia runs through Whitehead’s novel Cool Machine, the last installment in his Harlem crime series. The series’ central character, Ray Carney, often finds himself gazing at city apartments, absorbed in thoughts of past and present lives within them.
Ray, a furniture salesman in Harlem with the motto “Nice furniture for nice people,” ponders the lives of people who might own his products. He imagines his luxurious loungers providing comfort or families gathering around his dining sets. His reflections depict him as both a family man and someone who intermittently participates in the city’s darker economic dealings.
Nostalgia weaves through his moments of looking up at those apartments. Whitehead captures the essence of how every experience in this city turns into a nostalgia-driven journey after years of living there.
The narrative of Cool Machine similarly evokes nostalgia. The reason isn’t a somber or subdued tone in Whitehead’s writing. Instead, it is the realization that this novel marks the final chapter for these quirky characters that readers have come to know and appreciate.