тАЬAn incisive and necessaryтАЭ (Roxane Gay) debut for fans of Get Out and Paul BeattyтАЩs The Sellout, about a fatherтАЩs obsessive quest to protect his sonтАФeven if it means turning him white
тАЬStunning and audacious . . . at once a pitch-black comedy, a chilling horror story and an endlessly perceptive novel about the possible future of race in America.тАЭтАФNPR
LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD, THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE, THE PEN/OPEN BOOK AWARD, AND THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD тАв┬аNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR AND┬аTHE WASHINGTON POST
тАЬYou can be beautiful, even more beautiful than before.тАЭ This is the seductive promise of Dr. NzingaтАЩs clinic, where anyone can get their lips thinned, their skin bleached, and their nose narrowed. A complete demelanization will liberate you from the confines of being born in a black bodyтАФif you can afford it.
In this near-future Southern city plagued by fenced-in ghettos and police violence, more and more residents are turning to this experimental medical procedure. Like any father, our narrator just wants the best for his son, Nigel, a biracial boy whose black birthmark is getting bigger by the day. The darker Nigel becomes, the more frightened his father feels. But how far will he go to protect his son? And will he destroy his family in the process?
This electrifying, hallucinatory novel is at once a keen satire of surviving racism in America and a profoundly moving family story. At its center is a father who just wants his son to thrive in a broken world. Maurice Carlos RuffinтАЩs work evokes the clear vision of Ralph Ellison, the dizzying menace of Franz Kafka, and the crackling prose of Vladimir Nabokov. We Cast a Shadow fearlessly shines a light on the violence we inherit, and on the desperate things we do for the ones we love.