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We Cast a Shadow
“An incisive and necessary� (Roxane Gay) debut for fans of Get Out and Paul Beatty’s The Sellout, about a father’s obsessive quest to protect his son—even if it means turning him white
“You can be beautiful, even more beautiful than before.� This is the seductive promise of Dr. Nzinga’s 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 body—if 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 Ruffin’s 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.
“You can be beautiful, even more beautiful than before.� This is the seductive promise of Dr. Nzinga’s 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 body—if 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 Ruffin’s 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.
323 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 29, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 876 reviews
July 30, 2018
Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s debut novel, We Cast A Shadow, is an incisive and necessary work of brilliant satire. Set in the post-post-racial South, We Cast a Shadow tells the story of a man, one of the few black men at his law firm, desperate to pay for his biracial son to undergo demelanization, desperate to “fix� what he sees as his son’s fatal flaw. It is this desperation that drives this novel, that haunts this novel and in this desperation, we see just how pernicious racism is, how irrevocably it can alter how a man sees the world, himself, those he loves. In that, We Cast a Shadow is not so much a work of satire. Instead, it is a chilling, unforgettable cautionary tale, and one we should all read and heed.
March 6, 2019
3.75 thought-provoking stars for this racially charged work of satirical fiction!
Set in a satirical future south, We Cast a Shadow tells the racially fueled dystopian story of a black man desperate to pay for his biracial son's demelanization process. In this future world race is still an issue of injustice. The only way to truly level the playing field is for black Americans to undergo an expensive procedure which turns them white - on the cellular level.
Does that sound far fetched to you? The entire book takes everything past and current related to race and turns it on its head, elevating it to a whole new level. Ruffin's writing was at times devastatingly painful and uncomfortable to read but it was also undeniably thought provoking and clever.
The main characters are a father and his bi-racial son Nigel. Though a successful lawyer, the narrator (who chose to remain nameless) is plagued with the fear that he doesn't measure up because of his skin color. He desperately wants more for his son and believes the only way to achieve that would be to turn him white.
"I don't have to tell you that this is an unjust planet. A dark-skinned child can expect a life of diminished light. This is truth anywhere in the world and throughout most of history."
I have very complicated feelings about some of the plot twists in this book. The relationship between the narrator and his son was tumultuous and fraught with heartbreak due to his zealot desire to turn him white. As a parent you can understand his desire to protect his son. Yet, where does protection end and harm begin?
It was devastating to read how much racism had affected the narrator's life, destroying his self-worth and his soul. Taking that journey with him, as the story progresses was difficult and just plain sad. I couldn't help but root for Nigel through it all. I fiercely wanted things to be different for this boy.
This is a very strong debut from Maurice Carlos Ruffin. The middle lagged a bit for me but I was invested in the story and never doubted seeing it through. I'll definitely be watching out for this author in the future.
Thank you to Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Random House Publishing and NetGalley for an advance reader copy of this book to review.
Set in a satirical future south, We Cast a Shadow tells the racially fueled dystopian story of a black man desperate to pay for his biracial son's demelanization process. In this future world race is still an issue of injustice. The only way to truly level the playing field is for black Americans to undergo an expensive procedure which turns them white - on the cellular level.
Does that sound far fetched to you? The entire book takes everything past and current related to race and turns it on its head, elevating it to a whole new level. Ruffin's writing was at times devastatingly painful and uncomfortable to read but it was also undeniably thought provoking and clever.
The main characters are a father and his bi-racial son Nigel. Though a successful lawyer, the narrator (who chose to remain nameless) is plagued with the fear that he doesn't measure up because of his skin color. He desperately wants more for his son and believes the only way to achieve that would be to turn him white.
"I don't have to tell you that this is an unjust planet. A dark-skinned child can expect a life of diminished light. This is truth anywhere in the world and throughout most of history."
I have very complicated feelings about some of the plot twists in this book. The relationship between the narrator and his son was tumultuous and fraught with heartbreak due to his zealot desire to turn him white. As a parent you can understand his desire to protect his son. Yet, where does protection end and harm begin?
It was devastating to read how much racism had affected the narrator's life, destroying his self-worth and his soul. Taking that journey with him, as the story progresses was difficult and just plain sad. I couldn't help but root for Nigel through it all. I fiercely wanted things to be different for this boy.
This is a very strong debut from Maurice Carlos Ruffin. The middle lagged a bit for me but I was invested in the story and never doubted seeing it through. I'll definitely be watching out for this author in the future.
Thank you to Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Random House Publishing and NetGalley for an advance reader copy of this book to review.
August 11, 2021
upping my review for the amazing We Cast A Shadow because it deserves more readers, and because Maurice Ruffin's new story collection, will be out in five days and I'm going to be reading it--
original review:
I don't know if it's fair to compare anything at all to Invisible Man but I can't think of another novel that includes the same mix of high satire and terrifying truth as does this debut from Maurice Carlos Ruffin.
Ellison is clearly on Ruffin's mind here. Ruffin's opening sentences pay homage to the first lines of Invisible Man--only, Ruffin's opening is far more cynical and without hope about the health of black identity within a white-majority culture.
Here is Ellison:
I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms...I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
and Ruffin:
My name doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I'm a phantom, a figment...
Ellison's unnamed protagonist knows he is a man and not a ghost--he is asserting his personhood even though white people consistently try to erase him. Ruffin's unnamed protagonist, in contrast, insists he is a ghost--he has accepted and embraced his lack of personhood and has bought into these racist ideas of the white culture he lives in.
What follows is satire so close to the truth that it hurts to laugh. The satirical jabs here cause pain even when they are extraordinarily funny. And at first they are funny, the way only the most true satire can be. But then at some point the novel stops being funny. Maybe it's right around the time when the unnamed narrator daubs his son with skin bleach that burns like battery acid while telling his son that it's for his own good. You discover that you've been led through a landscape that you only mistook for satire, and what you're reading now is an unrelenting indictment of the caustic affects of racism on a black man's selfhood and dignity.
Some works tackle the subject of racism in a way that allows white people to feel really good about themselves in the end. Others don't leave space for white readers to reasonably separate themselves from the racism depicted in their pages, or to come away with "I'm one of the good guys" feelings, because in real life there are no white-people exceptions to systemic racism. This novel is the second kind of achievement. It may sell fewer books because of it, but it's a braver book because of it.
We Cast a Shadow is not as tightly perfect as Invisible Man but for me it had more human heartbreak in it.
original review:
I don't know if it's fair to compare anything at all to Invisible Man but I can't think of another novel that includes the same mix of high satire and terrifying truth as does this debut from Maurice Carlos Ruffin.
Ellison is clearly on Ruffin's mind here. Ruffin's opening sentences pay homage to the first lines of Invisible Man--only, Ruffin's opening is far more cynical and without hope about the health of black identity within a white-majority culture.
Here is Ellison:
I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms...I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
and Ruffin:
My name doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I'm a phantom, a figment...
Ellison's unnamed protagonist knows he is a man and not a ghost--he is asserting his personhood even though white people consistently try to erase him. Ruffin's unnamed protagonist, in contrast, insists he is a ghost--he has accepted and embraced his lack of personhood and has bought into these racist ideas of the white culture he lives in.
What follows is satire so close to the truth that it hurts to laugh. The satirical jabs here cause pain even when they are extraordinarily funny. And at first they are funny, the way only the most true satire can be. But then at some point the novel stops being funny. Maybe it's right around the time when the unnamed narrator daubs his son with skin bleach that burns like battery acid while telling his son that it's for his own good. You discover that you've been led through a landscape that you only mistook for satire, and what you're reading now is an unrelenting indictment of the caustic affects of racism on a black man's selfhood and dignity.
Some works tackle the subject of racism in a way that allows white people to feel really good about themselves in the end. Others don't leave space for white readers to reasonably separate themselves from the racism depicted in their pages, or to come away with "I'm one of the good guys" feelings, because in real life there are no white-people exceptions to systemic racism. This novel is the second kind of achievement. It may sell fewer books because of it, but it's a braver book because of it.
We Cast a Shadow is not as tightly perfect as Invisible Man but for me it had more human heartbreak in it.
January 26, 2019
3+ stars
We Cast a Shadow is a dystopian satire � if there is such a genre. Intellectually, I thought it was brilliant. But I must admit that I didn’t love reading it. It was a question of genre and style rather than content. Set at some point in the future in the US, life for African Americans has become an exaggeration of what it is today. Levels of surveillance and incarceration are very high. There are fenced ghettos. Etc... The narrator identifies himself as one of the 10% lucky enough to avoid the fate of most African American men. He is lawyer in a large firm. But he is obsessed with the precariousness of his situation and especially with his 13 year old son’s vulnerability. As far as he’s concerned, the solution is a “treatment� increasing in popularity that will make his son white. The idea underlying this novel is clever, the topic is timely and there are many inspired details. But I’m not a great fit for the genre. While I appreciate what Ruffin has achieved, I felt a bit under-engaged as I read this one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
We Cast a Shadow is a dystopian satire � if there is such a genre. Intellectually, I thought it was brilliant. But I must admit that I didn’t love reading it. It was a question of genre and style rather than content. Set at some point in the future in the US, life for African Americans has become an exaggeration of what it is today. Levels of surveillance and incarceration are very high. There are fenced ghettos. Etc... The narrator identifies himself as one of the 10% lucky enough to avoid the fate of most African American men. He is lawyer in a large firm. But he is obsessed with the precariousness of his situation and especially with his 13 year old son’s vulnerability. As far as he’s concerned, the solution is a “treatment� increasing in popularity that will make his son white. The idea underlying this novel is clever, the topic is timely and there are many inspired details. But I’m not a great fit for the genre. While I appreciate what Ruffin has achieved, I felt a bit under-engaged as I read this one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
February 7, 2019
As I began to write this review, I asked myself: how do I write this review in such a way that I don’t offend white people?
And then the irony of that question hit me like a punch in the gut.
In We Cast a Shadow, our main character and most black Americans have spent their lives not only trying not to offend white people, but trying to amuse them, cater to them, and, yes, be them. You see in our near future tale, those with money enough can have a series of procedures to become white. Why do they want to be white? Because in our author’s world, racism and segregation are very much back as part of the American Landscape. And to be honest, simply watching the Barbeque Beckys and torch-bearing White Nationalists of today, the author’s world isn’t quite so implausible.
For a black person to succeed in this America, they need to act the minstrel, be perfectly inoffensive, and make absolutely sure that whites don’t see them as a threat.
Our main character is desperate for his bi-racial son to be white and only white. And he’ll act the fool and be the perfect Uncle Tom in order to make this happen.
Even as his world starts falling apart, that pale skin is the only thing he strives for.
The book is enormously painful. Oddly, though, it’s not the white people laughing at, controlling, or demeaning the non-whites that is the most painful.
It’s our main character and his absolute lack of pride or respect.
The author does an amazing job of getting the reader to truly understand why our character is the way he is. His behavior isn’t any more palatable, but we get it, and in getting it we feel a bit complicit.
The book is uncomfortable � and from the first page to the last it doesn’t get less so.
Not a happy book, but a relevant one � and I’m glad I read it.
*ARC Provided via NetGalley
And then the irony of that question hit me like a punch in the gut.
In We Cast a Shadow, our main character and most black Americans have spent their lives not only trying not to offend white people, but trying to amuse them, cater to them, and, yes, be them. You see in our near future tale, those with money enough can have a series of procedures to become white. Why do they want to be white? Because in our author’s world, racism and segregation are very much back as part of the American Landscape. And to be honest, simply watching the Barbeque Beckys and torch-bearing White Nationalists of today, the author’s world isn’t quite so implausible.
For a black person to succeed in this America, they need to act the minstrel, be perfectly inoffensive, and make absolutely sure that whites don’t see them as a threat.
Our main character is desperate for his bi-racial son to be white and only white. And he’ll act the fool and be the perfect Uncle Tom in order to make this happen.
Even as his world starts falling apart, that pale skin is the only thing he strives for.
The book is enormously painful. Oddly, though, it’s not the white people laughing at, controlling, or demeaning the non-whites that is the most painful.
It’s our main character and his absolute lack of pride or respect.
The author does an amazing job of getting the reader to truly understand why our character is the way he is. His behavior isn’t any more palatable, but we get it, and in getting it we feel a bit complicit.
The book is uncomfortable � and from the first page to the last it doesn’t get less so.
Not a happy book, but a relevant one � and I’m glad I read it.
*ARC Provided via NetGalley
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June 3, 2021I like the cover.
=M=
=M=
February 9, 2023
“We Cast a Shadow� by Maurice Carlos Ruffin is a powerful novel exploring racism through a satirical format. Can racism even be satirical? Yes, in Ruffin’s expert prose.
An unnamed narrator is happily married, with a son he loves to bits, in a job with upward potential. This narrator is black, married to a white lady with a “trans-racial� son, in a law firm with few blacks. He and his wife send their sweet boy to “the school with no walls� because public school is atrocious for black children. Their son, Nigel, has a birthmark on his face which bothers no one but our narrator. The narrator will go to great lengths to rid Nigel of his birthmark. But he doesn’t stop there.
This is a futuristic sort of novel where black people are going to great lengths to surgically alter their appearance to look less “African�. Noses, lips, cheek bones, all are altered. A new procedure has allowed the “demelanization� of skin. The procedure is very costly, and our narrator goes into a dark world to find the funds. This is a father who loves his son so much, that he will do anything to make him white. Why would that be far off when we live in a climate where wealthy parents are giving schools massive amounts of money to get their children into top tier schools?
Ruffin sets a scene that, sadly, seems plausible in the current world. Ruffin’s scene is one in which the police force rules with no rules and racism is rampant. It’s a dark novel, one that is uncomfortable in that our world could be headed this way. Yet Ruffin writes some of his funniest scenes that are almost slapstick funny yet horrifying.
This is a novel that I hope gets far more press that it’s received. It’s better than 5 stars.
I listened to the Amazon Audible production performed by Dion Graham. Graham’s performance is outstanding.
An unnamed narrator is happily married, with a son he loves to bits, in a job with upward potential. This narrator is black, married to a white lady with a “trans-racial� son, in a law firm with few blacks. He and his wife send their sweet boy to “the school with no walls� because public school is atrocious for black children. Their son, Nigel, has a birthmark on his face which bothers no one but our narrator. The narrator will go to great lengths to rid Nigel of his birthmark. But he doesn’t stop there.
This is a futuristic sort of novel where black people are going to great lengths to surgically alter their appearance to look less “African�. Noses, lips, cheek bones, all are altered. A new procedure has allowed the “demelanization� of skin. The procedure is very costly, and our narrator goes into a dark world to find the funds. This is a father who loves his son so much, that he will do anything to make him white. Why would that be far off when we live in a climate where wealthy parents are giving schools massive amounts of money to get their children into top tier schools?
Ruffin sets a scene that, sadly, seems plausible in the current world. Ruffin’s scene is one in which the police force rules with no rules and racism is rampant. It’s a dark novel, one that is uncomfortable in that our world could be headed this way. Yet Ruffin writes some of his funniest scenes that are almost slapstick funny yet horrifying.
This is a novel that I hope gets far more press that it’s received. It’s better than 5 stars.
I listened to the Amazon Audible production performed by Dion Graham. Graham’s performance is outstanding.
December 2, 2019
A black father loves his son very much, which is why he does everything to turn his kid white so he won't be subjected to racist oppression - this is pretty much the disturbing premise of this painful satire. Maurice Carlos Ruffin finds haunting words and images to illustrate the alienation and suffering that racism causes, how people are forced to choose between their pride and their safety, and how dignity and compassion get crushed in an inhumane, white supremacist society. What makes this text stand out is the dark sarcasm it employs to describe the cynic dynamics of structural racism, thus highlighting its absurdity and the maze-like logic of a hate that connects melanin levels to the value of a human being.
In a dystopian future that doesn't seem all too distant, segregation, discrimination and the injustice of the prison-industrial complex are getting even worse, so our narrator subjects his biracial son Nigel to an experimental demelanization treatment - against his wife's and Nigel's will, but with the intent to protect Nigel. To pay for the potions and the upcoming final procedure, the unnamed narrator, who works at a law firm (!), agrees to act as living proof for the company's commitment to diversity - the whole thing is of course a ruse to win clients. He knows that this is degrading, but he feels like he owes it to his son. At the same time, the narrator is devoured by (self-)hatred when he sees the poverty of the black community or visits his unjustly incarcerated father: He seems torn between blaming them and acknowledging that the system is specifically designed to let black people fail. His own drug addiction is a testament to his mental state.
The whole story slowly becomes more and more surreal, but the phenomena it discusses are very real indeed. Our narrator is fighting windmills: He can't win, no matter what he does. To try and destroy his son's racial identity is of course despicable, but it is the perverted system that makes him feel like the harm he does is better than the harm Nigel would have to endure otherwise - what he does is wrong, but it is rooted in love and pain. The narrator does not strife for money, fame, and success - he goes to these extremes because he dreams of a sense of normalcy for his son: "The world is a centrifuge that patiently waits to separate my Nigel from his basic human dignity." He wants to protect Nigel from "(a)ll the things that would eat away at his soul and make him wonder why we ever brought him into his world. All the things that would make him me."
As the story progresses, there is a heightened sense of entrapment, of claustrophobia and suffocation - and ultimately, this is a book about the loss of identity, brought about by a society designed to marginalize and criminalize black identity. Maurice Carlos Ruffin talks about the effects of living under these circumstances, and what (self-)alienation can do to a person. Not an easy read, and not always perfect, but the narrative approach is unusual and fascinating.
In a dystopian future that doesn't seem all too distant, segregation, discrimination and the injustice of the prison-industrial complex are getting even worse, so our narrator subjects his biracial son Nigel to an experimental demelanization treatment - against his wife's and Nigel's will, but with the intent to protect Nigel. To pay for the potions and the upcoming final procedure, the unnamed narrator, who works at a law firm (!), agrees to act as living proof for the company's commitment to diversity - the whole thing is of course a ruse to win clients. He knows that this is degrading, but he feels like he owes it to his son. At the same time, the narrator is devoured by (self-)hatred when he sees the poverty of the black community or visits his unjustly incarcerated father: He seems torn between blaming them and acknowledging that the system is specifically designed to let black people fail. His own drug addiction is a testament to his mental state.
The whole story slowly becomes more and more surreal, but the phenomena it discusses are very real indeed. Our narrator is fighting windmills: He can't win, no matter what he does. To try and destroy his son's racial identity is of course despicable, but it is the perverted system that makes him feel like the harm he does is better than the harm Nigel would have to endure otherwise - what he does is wrong, but it is rooted in love and pain. The narrator does not strife for money, fame, and success - he goes to these extremes because he dreams of a sense of normalcy for his son: "The world is a centrifuge that patiently waits to separate my Nigel from his basic human dignity." He wants to protect Nigel from "(a)ll the things that would eat away at his soul and make him wonder why we ever brought him into his world. All the things that would make him me."
As the story progresses, there is a heightened sense of entrapment, of claustrophobia and suffocation - and ultimately, this is a book about the loss of identity, brought about by a society designed to marginalize and criminalize black identity. Maurice Carlos Ruffin talks about the effects of living under these circumstances, and what (self-)alienation can do to a person. Not an easy read, and not always perfect, but the narrative approach is unusual and fascinating.
August 3, 2024
Jonathan Swift meets A Confederacy of Dunces meets [redacted as a spoiler]—this phrase popped into my mind as I neared the book’s end and I thought maybe that would be my whole review. But that might've make me sound glib and a work that deserves a reread doesn’t deserve that.
I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that after a tumultuous event comes some of the best writing, lyrical and affecting, probably my favorite section (along with the ending).
Completely coincidentally, I’d started reading this before I was completely finished and I was struck by a similar theme within each: that of a parent who treats their dark-skinned child a certain way in an attempt to help them survive a world that will judge them by that color.
4.5
I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that after a tumultuous event comes some of the best writing, lyrical and affecting, probably my favorite section (along with the ending).
Completely coincidentally, I’d started reading this before I was completely finished and I was struck by a similar theme within each: that of a parent who treats their dark-skinned child a certain way in an attempt to help them survive a world that will judge them by that color.
4.5
March 19, 2019
Review Edit: 3/19/19:
Maybe this was the point given the narrator's use of drugs, but I felt like I needed to be on drugs while reading this. It's like that scene in the Leonardo DiCaprio/Claire Danes version of Romeo & Juliet, where Romeo takes ecstasy and everything is spinning? That's how the prose in this was for me. It was just all over the place and it couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Such a missed opportunity. I didn't get "the brilliance" and I really wanted to.
This is a story about a father and son. The father (a black man) wants to prevent his son (who is biracial) from falling victim to this near-future world where racism has been dealt with by either having surgery to "become white" or living in fenced in neighborhoods, being incarcerated for the smallest infraction and all the way up to neighborhood patrols to detect black people by body temperature/heart rate. (If the heart rate is too high, they could be up to trouble and need to be questioned.) Essentially, racism is so outwardly present and obvious that the father has convinced himself that he must do whatever is necessary to be able to afford this experimental surgery for his son. All this with great risk to his relationships with his wife (who is White) and son.
I am really struggling with how to rate and review this book. On one hand, there were moments where this was so chilling and I was enthralled. At other times, it was disjointed and really went off script. The satire was almost completely lost on me where I found myself wondering if this book was even meant for me. I've read other reviews where readers had said they wanted to love this book so much, but just couldn't make a connection. I felt exactly that way. The moments between the father and his son were crystal clear, where it was immensely sad and even frightening. The father's love for his son and his wishes to protect him caused physical and emotional pain that I could never understand. Reading it made my heart break. Unfortunately, those parts were fewer and more far between that I would have liked and it was bogged down by so much else that by the time the story came around again in the last third of the book - I was already lost. I too (like others) also lacked a good grasp on the world the author had created and it wasn't for lack of trying.
Ultimately, I would recommend giving this a try because not everyone had the same experience I did. Maybe I missed the point, but I did my best.
Maybe this was the point given the narrator's use of drugs, but I felt like I needed to be on drugs while reading this. It's like that scene in the Leonardo DiCaprio/Claire Danes version of Romeo & Juliet, where Romeo takes ecstasy and everything is spinning? That's how the prose in this was for me. It was just all over the place and it couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Such a missed opportunity. I didn't get "the brilliance" and I really wanted to.
This is a story about a father and son. The father (a black man) wants to prevent his son (who is biracial) from falling victim to this near-future world where racism has been dealt with by either having surgery to "become white" or living in fenced in neighborhoods, being incarcerated for the smallest infraction and all the way up to neighborhood patrols to detect black people by body temperature/heart rate. (If the heart rate is too high, they could be up to trouble and need to be questioned.) Essentially, racism is so outwardly present and obvious that the father has convinced himself that he must do whatever is necessary to be able to afford this experimental surgery for his son. All this with great risk to his relationships with his wife (who is White) and son.
I am really struggling with how to rate and review this book. On one hand, there were moments where this was so chilling and I was enthralled. At other times, it was disjointed and really went off script. The satire was almost completely lost on me where I found myself wondering if this book was even meant for me. I've read other reviews where readers had said they wanted to love this book so much, but just couldn't make a connection. I felt exactly that way. The moments between the father and his son were crystal clear, where it was immensely sad and even frightening. The father's love for his son and his wishes to protect him caused physical and emotional pain that I could never understand. Reading it made my heart break. Unfortunately, those parts were fewer and more far between that I would have liked and it was bogged down by so much else that by the time the story came around again in the last third of the book - I was already lost. I too (like others) also lacked a good grasp on the world the author had created and it wasn't for lack of trying.
Ultimately, I would recommend giving this a try because not everyone had the same experience I did. Maybe I missed the point, but I did my best.
January 25, 2019
Release date January 29th!
We Cast a Shadow is a debut novel by Maurice Carlos Ruffin that takes place in the near future. Still plagued by racial discrimination blacks now have the option to achieve ultimate assimilation.
The story follows an unnamed African American male narrator who seems to have risen above his natal station in life. Working as a lawyer in a prestigious law firm he is willing to do anything to placate his superiors, even masquerade as typical stereotypes to advance his career. His motivation is to raise funds for his son's demelaninization process. A painful process likened to chemotherapy, demelaninization not only strips the bearer of their color but is supposed to reconfigure their genes so that their offspring also come out looking white. Alongside this procedure clients also undergo rhinoplasty and lip thinning to appear more Caucasian. In his mind this is the only way to save his son. His experience has told him that even though he is moderately successful, married to a white woman and lives outside the confines of the ghetto that he is not safe. His color holds him hostage to the prejudicial whims of society. After all, like every other Black man in America, he still has a police officer assigned to “check up� on him regularly “for his own good�.
We Cast a Shadow is a biting satire that goes where others fear to tread � self-hatred in the Black community. With the primary focus aimed at this unnamed narrator Ruffin underscores the idea that our protagonist doesn’t even see himself. When he says ”My name doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I am a phantom, a figment, a man who was mistaken.", he really has forgotten who he is and where he comes from. He has disconnected from his past. He is struggling but blind to the impact that his behavior is having on those closest to him. Although dealing with some weighty topics, Ruffin uses humor here and skillfully tackles them all.
We Cast a Shadow is a very solid debut. I will definitely be revisiting Maurice Carlos Ruffin in the future.
Special thanks to NetGalley, Random House OneWorld publishing group and Maurice Carlos Ruffin for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
We Cast a Shadow is a debut novel by Maurice Carlos Ruffin that takes place in the near future. Still plagued by racial discrimination blacks now have the option to achieve ultimate assimilation.
The story follows an unnamed African American male narrator who seems to have risen above his natal station in life. Working as a lawyer in a prestigious law firm he is willing to do anything to placate his superiors, even masquerade as typical stereotypes to advance his career. His motivation is to raise funds for his son's demelaninization process. A painful process likened to chemotherapy, demelaninization not only strips the bearer of their color but is supposed to reconfigure their genes so that their offspring also come out looking white. Alongside this procedure clients also undergo rhinoplasty and lip thinning to appear more Caucasian. In his mind this is the only way to save his son. His experience has told him that even though he is moderately successful, married to a white woman and lives outside the confines of the ghetto that he is not safe. His color holds him hostage to the prejudicial whims of society. After all, like every other Black man in America, he still has a police officer assigned to “check up� on him regularly “for his own good�.
We Cast a Shadow is a biting satire that goes where others fear to tread � self-hatred in the Black community. With the primary focus aimed at this unnamed narrator Ruffin underscores the idea that our protagonist doesn’t even see himself. When he says ”My name doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I am a phantom, a figment, a man who was mistaken.", he really has forgotten who he is and where he comes from. He has disconnected from his past. He is struggling but blind to the impact that his behavior is having on those closest to him. Although dealing with some weighty topics, Ruffin uses humor here and skillfully tackles them all.
We Cast a Shadow is a very solid debut. I will definitely be revisiting Maurice Carlos Ruffin in the future.
Special thanks to NetGalley, Random House OneWorld publishing group and Maurice Carlos Ruffin for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
January 24, 2020
Shortlisted for the 2020 TOB.
Let’s cut to the chase, this is a book about a black father, whose name we are never given, who wants his son to be white. That sentence describes the narrative, but the book explores why he wants his son to be white. He believes that turning his son white will save him from the oppressive, dominant, racist white society.
The novel is set in the future, but just how far in the future we are never told. What we do know, and the author brings up repeatedly is that racism has gotten worse.
Some dystopian futures seem light years away from our current existence, civilization destroyed, the planet on its knees gasping its last breath. But, similar to Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale�, Ruffin’s future seems to be, although distant, at least a possibility.
The police now have the technology to drive past houses and scan the heart rate of the occupants. Low heart rate indicates drug use, elevated heart rate, fights or struggles. However, it seems that the police only employ this technology on the black neighbourhoods.
In another instance we hear that one of the states has made it mandatory for all black people to have tracking devices surgically implanted.
The father’s reasoning is heavily influenced by his own childhood and he does not want his son to experience the same oppression.
The father quotes,
“But when it came to the basics of walking through life as prey, she had no idea. It wasn’t just that Nigel would make an appetizing target for some zombie with a badge and a gun. It was all the little things that were obvious to me. The woman switching from one side of the road to the other. The store owner following him around. The increased scrutiny from anyone with power over his freedom or happiness. All the things that would eat away at his soul and make him wonder why we ever brought him into this world. All the things that would make him me.�
After reading the father’s thoughts you can start to see, that to him, his actions are not ludicrously overreacting. From his thoughts we can start to picture what it must have been like for him growing up, and that he is a father who wants the best possible childhood and life for his son. A childhood and life nothing like his own. A childhood and life in which one would not have to think before each action, an action that could be mistaken and lead to lethal consequences. A childhood and life in which one is not stopped, questioned, and searched just because of the colour of their skin.
The narrative takes the form of a dark satire and is told from the father’s perspective, at times speaking directly to the reader. However, as you get further into the story, the satirical elements seem fewer and fewer and you realise that this is a powerful book about racial identity and conformity.
I have never read any of Ruffin’s other books, but I must say that I love his metaphorical style of writing,
“He seemed impossibly small compared to the man of memory, small-shouldered, small-bodied, small-boned, vulnerable, infinitely vulnerable, like a child on a tricycle during an earthquake.�
And,
“For the first time I realised that his mind was a planet unto itself. During our years together, I’d only caught brief glimpses of that distant world with my telescope.�
This story starts off slowly but quickly picks up pace and gets better and better the deeper you get into the narrative. It builds to a wonderful, and for me, unexpected ending.
The book is all about the father. A father who is trying to provide the best possible life for his son. A father who struggles with his own demons, his own self-loathing, along with a loathing for a discriminatory society, rampant with racism. A society that he knows he cannot change, so his solution is to change himself and his son to conform. But does his son want or need to change?
I think it is impossible for a middle class white person living in modern civilization to truly feel like what it must be like living in the father’s shoes, but Ruffin gives it a red hot go!
Wonderful book. 4 Stars!
I have linked a wonderful interview from the PARIS REVIEW on my blog here -
Let’s cut to the chase, this is a book about a black father, whose name we are never given, who wants his son to be white. That sentence describes the narrative, but the book explores why he wants his son to be white. He believes that turning his son white will save him from the oppressive, dominant, racist white society.
The novel is set in the future, but just how far in the future we are never told. What we do know, and the author brings up repeatedly is that racism has gotten worse.
Some dystopian futures seem light years away from our current existence, civilization destroyed, the planet on its knees gasping its last breath. But, similar to Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale�, Ruffin’s future seems to be, although distant, at least a possibility.
The police now have the technology to drive past houses and scan the heart rate of the occupants. Low heart rate indicates drug use, elevated heart rate, fights or struggles. However, it seems that the police only employ this technology on the black neighbourhoods.
In another instance we hear that one of the states has made it mandatory for all black people to have tracking devices surgically implanted.
The father’s reasoning is heavily influenced by his own childhood and he does not want his son to experience the same oppression.
The father quotes,
“But when it came to the basics of walking through life as prey, she had no idea. It wasn’t just that Nigel would make an appetizing target for some zombie with a badge and a gun. It was all the little things that were obvious to me. The woman switching from one side of the road to the other. The store owner following him around. The increased scrutiny from anyone with power over his freedom or happiness. All the things that would eat away at his soul and make him wonder why we ever brought him into this world. All the things that would make him me.�
After reading the father’s thoughts you can start to see, that to him, his actions are not ludicrously overreacting. From his thoughts we can start to picture what it must have been like for him growing up, and that he is a father who wants the best possible childhood and life for his son. A childhood and life nothing like his own. A childhood and life in which one would not have to think before each action, an action that could be mistaken and lead to lethal consequences. A childhood and life in which one is not stopped, questioned, and searched just because of the colour of their skin.
The narrative takes the form of a dark satire and is told from the father’s perspective, at times speaking directly to the reader. However, as you get further into the story, the satirical elements seem fewer and fewer and you realise that this is a powerful book about racial identity and conformity.
I have never read any of Ruffin’s other books, but I must say that I love his metaphorical style of writing,
“He seemed impossibly small compared to the man of memory, small-shouldered, small-bodied, small-boned, vulnerable, infinitely vulnerable, like a child on a tricycle during an earthquake.�
And,
“For the first time I realised that his mind was a planet unto itself. During our years together, I’d only caught brief glimpses of that distant world with my telescope.�
This story starts off slowly but quickly picks up pace and gets better and better the deeper you get into the narrative. It builds to a wonderful, and for me, unexpected ending.
The book is all about the father. A father who is trying to provide the best possible life for his son. A father who struggles with his own demons, his own self-loathing, along with a loathing for a discriminatory society, rampant with racism. A society that he knows he cannot change, so his solution is to change himself and his son to conform. But does his son want or need to change?
I think it is impossible for a middle class white person living in modern civilization to truly feel like what it must be like living in the father’s shoes, but Ruffin gives it a red hot go!
Wonderful book. 4 Stars!
I have linked a wonderful interview from the PARIS REVIEW on my blog here -
February 18, 2019
in the new york times does a great job of summarizing this book, so i for a sense of what this novel is about.
for me, reading this novel felt like having a hard meeting with despair. look, this is satirical, on a level, so some of it may be funny, but there is nothing funny in the world ruffin presents. somewhere in the south the american racism we all know and hate has scope-creeped into laws and regulations that restrict black life to an extent we would immediately consider unacceptable, but that ruffin presents, it seems to me, as a logical extension of the anti-black abominations that have been occurring in the US forever, and the racist abominations that are occurring for other groups under our current, hateful regime. if we are okay (cuz we are, even tho we say we are not) with concentration camps for children, why should we not be be okay, if and when it happens, with a return to segregation and jim crow? and: remember the muslim ban? remember those airports that were occupied all over the country? that was great, wasn't it? well, the muslim ban is still in operation and no one is occupying anything.
ruffin kicks us in the ass with a brutal look at the world we live in under the guise of creating a dystopian world in which things are much worse than they are now. and he does so with world-building, plotting, and language skills that are quite phenomenal. this is a book by a mature writer, for sure.
the trick of this cowardly new world is that something exists that is called demelanization. black people can undergo a biochemical procedure that will eliminate the melanin from their skin and expunge the melanin-creating genetic material from their bodies, so that both they and their children will be to all intents and purposes white. plastic surgery that modifies noses and lips is of course also available.
except, only for those who can afford it.
our nameless narrator is hell bent on getting the procedure for his son, the offspring of a mixed marriage and thus not a dark child to start with (except for some crucial birthmarks). it is essential to him that his son get the procedure. nothing can dissuade him.
there are quite a few subplots and set pieces that make this book so very reminiscent of Invisible Man, another great satire. but We Cast a Shadow is entirely its own book, a dispassionate t*mp-era nightmare.
as i said, reading this book plunged me into heartbreak and despair. there is no right or wrong that is easily visible here -- not to me, not to the narrator. the narrator is fully aware of the dangers of racism, white supremacy, and black self-hatred, but he feels he doesn't have a choice. he is moved by a love that is bigger than his own dignity, his self-respect, and the respect he owes others. i suspect readers will be very divided re: what he should do/have done. this is not my province. i'm white. but i'll certainly listen.
for me, reading this novel felt like having a hard meeting with despair. look, this is satirical, on a level, so some of it may be funny, but there is nothing funny in the world ruffin presents. somewhere in the south the american racism we all know and hate has scope-creeped into laws and regulations that restrict black life to an extent we would immediately consider unacceptable, but that ruffin presents, it seems to me, as a logical extension of the anti-black abominations that have been occurring in the US forever, and the racist abominations that are occurring for other groups under our current, hateful regime. if we are okay (cuz we are, even tho we say we are not) with concentration camps for children, why should we not be be okay, if and when it happens, with a return to segregation and jim crow? and: remember the muslim ban? remember those airports that were occupied all over the country? that was great, wasn't it? well, the muslim ban is still in operation and no one is occupying anything.
ruffin kicks us in the ass with a brutal look at the world we live in under the guise of creating a dystopian world in which things are much worse than they are now. and he does so with world-building, plotting, and language skills that are quite phenomenal. this is a book by a mature writer, for sure.
the trick of this cowardly new world is that something exists that is called demelanization. black people can undergo a biochemical procedure that will eliminate the melanin from their skin and expunge the melanin-creating genetic material from their bodies, so that both they and their children will be to all intents and purposes white. plastic surgery that modifies noses and lips is of course also available.
except, only for those who can afford it.
our nameless narrator is hell bent on getting the procedure for his son, the offspring of a mixed marriage and thus not a dark child to start with (except for some crucial birthmarks). it is essential to him that his son get the procedure. nothing can dissuade him.
there are quite a few subplots and set pieces that make this book so very reminiscent of Invisible Man, another great satire. but We Cast a Shadow is entirely its own book, a dispassionate t*mp-era nightmare.
as i said, reading this book plunged me into heartbreak and despair. there is no right or wrong that is easily visible here -- not to me, not to the narrator. the narrator is fully aware of the dangers of racism, white supremacy, and black self-hatred, but he feels he doesn't have a choice. he is moved by a love that is bigger than his own dignity, his self-respect, and the respect he owes others. i suspect readers will be very divided re: what he should do/have done. this is not my province. i'm white. but i'll certainly listen.
February 2, 2019
A Necessary Read!
A brilliantly unsettling tale set in the not-so-distance future southern state, a Black father seeks to ensure that his biracial son lives his life to his fullest potential, which means not to be identified as a Black man.
A well-thought out plot skillfully executed as every action and character shines on the reality that society fully endorses oppression of Blacks through containment, violence, and poverty.
I was compulsively turning the pages as I felt the this near-future creeping into reality and deeply eliciting uncomfortable feeling.
I enjoyed how the author effectively blended the use of dark humor, mystery, and love of family in this vibrant and rich tale.
The cover, the title, and the use of an unnamed narrator are fine touches that adds to the ambience of this timely and though-provoking novel.
Definitely will be one of my top reads for 2019!
A brilliantly unsettling tale set in the not-so-distance future southern state, a Black father seeks to ensure that his biracial son lives his life to his fullest potential, which means not to be identified as a Black man.
A well-thought out plot skillfully executed as every action and character shines on the reality that society fully endorses oppression of Blacks through containment, violence, and poverty.
I was compulsively turning the pages as I felt the this near-future creeping into reality and deeply eliciting uncomfortable feeling.
I enjoyed how the author effectively blended the use of dark humor, mystery, and love of family in this vibrant and rich tale.
The cover, the title, and the use of an unnamed narrator are fine touches that adds to the ambience of this timely and though-provoking novel.
Definitely will be one of my top reads for 2019!
February 23, 2019
I confess. I laughed at racially insensitive jokes. I don’t know how Ruffin does it. He takes satire to a whole new level. The exaggeration of our southern culture’s insidious racial prejudice barely misses being over the top, staying well within the range of hilarious. Some of the dialogue is jaw-dropping, like when Jo Jo’s girlfriend holds out her hand to the unnamed protagonist’s half-black child and says, “Come with me my little chimpanzee.� How does Ruffin get away with that?
The protagonist, whom I’ll call The Lawyer, marries red-headed activist Penny. They have a son, Nigel. But The Lawyer believes Nigel is born with a defect, a “stain.� Nigel has a birthmark the color of his father’s skin on his eye that begins to grow to where it covers half his face by the time he’s a teenager. The Lawyer believes this discoloration, of which there are several on Nigel’s body as well, will ruin Nigel’s life. He sneaks bleaching creams to Nigel behind Penny’s back while he does morally questionable work at his law firm so he can make partner. His desire to make partner is driven by his quest to get melanin-reducing surgery for Nigel to hide his darkness.
It seems The Lawyer is uncomfortable with his own identity, and we can see why. His boss at work refers to him as “boy.� [p.9] This same boss discourages him from entering the firm party dressed as a Roman soldier. Instead, she encourages him to make everyone comfortable with how they expect to see black people. The other two black associates dressed up as a prisoner and a waiter. So The Lawyer changes into a headdress, bone necklace, and loincloth to the firm’s great delight.
We know The Lawyer is uncomfortable with his identity because he says, in reference to one of the other black associates, “he was too black to be pretty.� (p.4) He overlooks his boss’s overt racism. He likes her and he refers to her as one of the good ones. This is after she confesses to him when drunk that
He’s hyperaware of racism at his firm and in the South. He refuses to step foot on a plantation for his whole life. Regarding where he lives,
The firm needs The Lawyer to convince a certain client of their diversity outreach in the community. In comes The Lawyer. How far will he go to become partner in the face of a blatantly racist environment? How much will he Uncle Tom himself?
Ruffin turns the typical black man’s struggle against racism on its head. What would black parents do if they could make their black children white? Is this ethical? Is this admitting moral superiority of one race over another?
Ruffin tests your opinions on racial identify in a full-frontal assault—one that will have you holding your stomach laughing, then later wondering if The Lawyer is as crazy as you first thought. He doesn’t waste any time beating us with racial tropes. On page 3, he spots his fellow black associate “who got white-girl drunk at every firm function�.�
Ruffin’s delivery of the themes of racial injustice and identity is extraordinary. On top of the satire, he sprinkles in slapstick. Like when his office door swings into him from behind in front of his boss and he smashes his face into the mirror. Or he’s walking with his boss through the firm’s offices and he trips on the rug right in the lobby. Or when an éclair crumb attaches to the corner of his mouth during a speech and he eats it. You need to be able to laugh at these topics to keep reading; otherwise, they’re simply too painful to bear.
The protagonist, whom I’ll call The Lawyer, marries red-headed activist Penny. They have a son, Nigel. But The Lawyer believes Nigel is born with a defect, a “stain.� Nigel has a birthmark the color of his father’s skin on his eye that begins to grow to where it covers half his face by the time he’s a teenager. The Lawyer believes this discoloration, of which there are several on Nigel’s body as well, will ruin Nigel’s life. He sneaks bleaching creams to Nigel behind Penny’s back while he does morally questionable work at his law firm so he can make partner. His desire to make partner is driven by his quest to get melanin-reducing surgery for Nigel to hide his darkness.
It seems The Lawyer is uncomfortable with his own identity, and we can see why. His boss at work refers to him as “boy.� [p.9] This same boss discourages him from entering the firm party dressed as a Roman soldier. Instead, she encourages him to make everyone comfortable with how they expect to see black people. The other two black associates dressed up as a prisoner and a waiter. So The Lawyer changes into a headdress, bone necklace, and loincloth to the firm’s great delight.
We know The Lawyer is uncomfortable with his identity because he says, in reference to one of the other black associates, “he was too black to be pretty.� (p.4) He overlooks his boss’s overt racism. He likes her and he refers to her as one of the good ones. This is after she confesses to him when drunk that
she sometimes fantasized about wearing blackface and going on a crime spree…[She would wipe it off and be] content in the knowledge that the authorities would pin her deeds on some thug who actually had it coming.(p.6)
He’s hyperaware of racism at his firm and in the South. He refuses to step foot on a plantation for his whole life. Regarding where he lives,
the entire South beyond my hometown was just one sprawling countryside of ectoplasmic Colonel Sanderses on horseback chasing runaway spirits until the Rapture.[p. 44] He understands what they are though, in part because of a fifth-grade classmate’s Gone with the Wind poster board. ..[The kid] “hung a Mammy/golliwog/gorgon from the board. How could he not win?� [p. 44] Yet he goes when his firm has a retreat at a plantation. One of the first things he notices is that the bell hop, who is black, had his lips de-plumped. (This is a theme throughout the book. Black people have surgery to take on white people’s characteristics.) Then he’s offended by the plantation’s “mascot icon—a dark-skinned man in tatters.� (p. 49)
The firm needs The Lawyer to convince a certain client of their diversity outreach in the community. In comes The Lawyer. How far will he go to become partner in the face of a blatantly racist environment? How much will he Uncle Tom himself?
Ruffin turns the typical black man’s struggle against racism on its head. What would black parents do if they could make their black children white? Is this ethical? Is this admitting moral superiority of one race over another?
Ruffin tests your opinions on racial identify in a full-frontal assault—one that will have you holding your stomach laughing, then later wondering if The Lawyer is as crazy as you first thought. He doesn’t waste any time beating us with racial tropes. On page 3, he spots his fellow black associate “who got white-girl drunk at every firm function�.�
Ruffin’s delivery of the themes of racial injustice and identity is extraordinary. On top of the satire, he sprinkles in slapstick. Like when his office door swings into him from behind in front of his boss and he smashes his face into the mirror. Or he’s walking with his boss through the firm’s offices and he trips on the rug right in the lobby. Or when an éclair crumb attaches to the corner of his mouth during a speech and he eats it. You need to be able to laugh at these topics to keep reading; otherwise, they’re simply too painful to bear.
February 25, 2019
I thought it would be a very long time before I could say of a new book, "If you enjoyed how uncomfortable THE SELLOUT made you feel, have I got a book for you!" But here we are, and WE CAST A SHADOW is that book.
This is a book that is going to pull at every single thing you know about race, especially about whiteness and blackness, and no matter who you are, it is going to make you squirm. Sometimes it's the sharp social satire, the novel is set in a near-future world where every little revelation of what it's like feels like you've been hit in the head with a brick. But a lot of what makes this novel so hard is that it's not just about satire, it's about self-loathing. And that cuts against any humor, that this is a more painful novel than a funny one.
The is a novel tightly plotted with sharp prose, but its structure and form is surprisingly loose. It leaves the reader always a little off kilter, never quite sure what is next. It is definitely the kind of book where you never know what is going to happen next (except that it probably won't be good).
A real punch-in-the-face of a book. It leaves a mark.
This is a book that is going to pull at every single thing you know about race, especially about whiteness and blackness, and no matter who you are, it is going to make you squirm. Sometimes it's the sharp social satire, the novel is set in a near-future world where every little revelation of what it's like feels like you've been hit in the head with a brick. But a lot of what makes this novel so hard is that it's not just about satire, it's about self-loathing. And that cuts against any humor, that this is a more painful novel than a funny one.
The is a novel tightly plotted with sharp prose, but its structure and form is surprisingly loose. It leaves the reader always a little off kilter, never quite sure what is next. It is definitely the kind of book where you never know what is going to happen next (except that it probably won't be good).
A real punch-in-the-face of a book. It leaves a mark.
January 6, 2023
I really appreciated the themes of the story but I didn't love how it was told. I'm not going to go into detail about this one because I don't have particularly strong feelings one way or another for it. I will pick up another story written by Ruffin. It may simply be that I don't enjoy satire as a means of telling a story since I didn't enjoy The Sellout much either.
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November 18, 2018
This is the latest novel to explain and deal with the issue of racism in America employing fantasy, magic realism, dystopian concepts, call it what you will. From Underground Railway, to White Tears, to Underground Airlines, to Sing Unburied Sing, among others, authors have eschewed reality because the subject matter is too painful to deal with and offer alternative worlds in which to address the subject. Mostly, as here, they are satirical, thusly carrying an undercurrent of rage, quite appropriate especially here. This particular novel has been compared to Get Out and The Sellout, both of which apply. The well meaning father here is trying to help his bi-racial son avoid the pain of being Black in America by seeking a bleaching treatment. I found myself alternately appalled and enraged at a world that would make such a solution desirable. A very timely book given the national atmosphere with hate crimes increasing.
June 25, 2019
This book was so hard to get through. I found the writing clunky and the plot unremarkable. I was looking forward to a sophisticated, provocative and insightful take on racism in America but all I got from We Cast a Shadow was a mishmash of exaggerated tropes. However, if even one white person reads this book and realizes how their actions or inaction contribute, in big and small ways, to the dehumanization of people of colour all over the world then do your thing Maurice. This book may not have been for me but someone out there needs your commentary on how white supremacy distorts our perception of reality and breeds a particularly dangerous kind of self-loathing. We Cast a Shadow did that. Thanks Maurice.
September 5, 2018
(Spoiler-free, as much as possible)
Maurice Ruffin performs writer magic in We Cast a Shadow. As the book opens, the reader is settled comfortably into a clever and biting satirical world where race plays a sharpened role in the butcher's shop of office politics of an old-line law firm. The time could be now, and we don't get the sense that if it's not now that it's too far off in the future. The cultural referents and the social/political critiques come fast and furious, as you would expect in satire. Think Confederacy of Dunces, but the dunces are smarter and the scenery is updated. The magic is that the cleverness and bitingness of the satire settles the reader into understanding the all-too-familiar world of the novel, while an incredibly tender humanity slips into the book almost unnoticed. You start off laughing at (and sometimes with) the characters, slapping your head at the situations, but before you know it you're feeling their various pains and frustrations and sadnesses. Where you begin the book by thinking of the main character's foolishness in his plans for Nigel, and rooting for Penny, by the middle of the book you're sympathizing with his plan and maybe even starting to root for his plan to work, and then you catch yourself rooting for him and feel doubt about your own beliefs. Ruffin has done it--he's pulled you, the reader, or at least your emotions, into the book as their very own set of characters, and your allegiances shift from page to page, shifting the book from page to page. Here's one fairly spoiler-free example of what I mean: In the first half of the book, I found myself actually annoyed at the main character for referring to Nigel as "kid" in a very blithe and seemingly unfeeling way. I thought this was a flaw endemic to the satirical voice, of trying to sublimate real emotion in service of the cleverness of the satire. But by the end of the book I (reader) understood all too well that this emotional distance was part of the fabric of the main character's self-defenses, his attempt to mediate his role as father to Nigel in a world intent on destroying his essence. Without that "hey kid" treatment at the beginning, the ending would be punchless. But with that magic--the holding others at a distance as a means of underscoring the intimate closeness of parents and children--Ruffin creates something that would otherwise be unachievable. Look, I know you want to know more about the book than this. You want to know that the plot will have you turning pages relentlessly; it will. You want to know that the world imagined in the book will make you look more closely at the world around you, in ways that don't just confirm your own biases but make you challenge your accepted and en-bubbled norms; lord, it will. You want to know that the book will make you feel; yes, a thousand times yes--you will laugh and you will cry and you will feel angry and you will even feel happy. This book will do things for you as a reader that most books don't even dare and even fewer achieve. It's released January 29, 2019. Pre-order it now.
Maurice Ruffin performs writer magic in We Cast a Shadow. As the book opens, the reader is settled comfortably into a clever and biting satirical world where race plays a sharpened role in the butcher's shop of office politics of an old-line law firm. The time could be now, and we don't get the sense that if it's not now that it's too far off in the future. The cultural referents and the social/political critiques come fast and furious, as you would expect in satire. Think Confederacy of Dunces, but the dunces are smarter and the scenery is updated. The magic is that the cleverness and bitingness of the satire settles the reader into understanding the all-too-familiar world of the novel, while an incredibly tender humanity slips into the book almost unnoticed. You start off laughing at (and sometimes with) the characters, slapping your head at the situations, but before you know it you're feeling their various pains and frustrations and sadnesses. Where you begin the book by thinking of the main character's foolishness in his plans for Nigel, and rooting for Penny, by the middle of the book you're sympathizing with his plan and maybe even starting to root for his plan to work, and then you catch yourself rooting for him and feel doubt about your own beliefs. Ruffin has done it--he's pulled you, the reader, or at least your emotions, into the book as their very own set of characters, and your allegiances shift from page to page, shifting the book from page to page. Here's one fairly spoiler-free example of what I mean: In the first half of the book, I found myself actually annoyed at the main character for referring to Nigel as "kid" in a very blithe and seemingly unfeeling way. I thought this was a flaw endemic to the satirical voice, of trying to sublimate real emotion in service of the cleverness of the satire. But by the end of the book I (reader) understood all too well that this emotional distance was part of the fabric of the main character's self-defenses, his attempt to mediate his role as father to Nigel in a world intent on destroying his essence. Without that "hey kid" treatment at the beginning, the ending would be punchless. But with that magic--the holding others at a distance as a means of underscoring the intimate closeness of parents and children--Ruffin creates something that would otherwise be unachievable. Look, I know you want to know more about the book than this. You want to know that the plot will have you turning pages relentlessly; it will. You want to know that the world imagined in the book will make you look more closely at the world around you, in ways that don't just confirm your own biases but make you challenge your accepted and en-bubbled norms; lord, it will. You want to know that the book will make you feel; yes, a thousand times yes--you will laugh and you will cry and you will feel angry and you will even feel happy. This book will do things for you as a reader that most books don't even dare and even fewer achieve. It's released January 29, 2019. Pre-order it now.
February 24, 2019
This debut novel explores racism in the United States through an unknown black man. He is one of very few blacks that works there. At the opening of the book he attends a costume work party at one of the partners' home in hopes of maybe impressing them to get a promotion. He wants the promotion so that he can finally afford to pay for a demelanization operation for his mixed race son Nigel. As we read in we discover the horrible ways minorities in particular black people are treated. His only desire is that his son Nigel not have to live under such harsh conditions. The demelanizartion proves will not only change his skin color but his facial features as well. My actual rating of this book is 3,5 stars. Click the link to here more of my thoughts:
January 14, 2019
Thank you to One World and Random House for providing a free copy via Netgalley.
This beautifully written book is thought provoking and very timely given the society we are living in today. I thought it gave a scary insight into what we could become if we leave the racism in today's society unchecked. I really enjoyed that the story was told from the father's perspective. I loved seeing how far he was willing to go to protect his son even when it was questionable. My favorite part was the reunion between Nigel and his father where Nigel was able to tell his dad exactly what he believed and how his father's actions had affected him. This will definitely be on my favorites list for this year and I highly recommend this to everyone!
This beautifully written book is thought provoking and very timely given the society we are living in today. I thought it gave a scary insight into what we could become if we leave the racism in today's society unchecked. I really enjoyed that the story was told from the father's perspective. I loved seeing how far he was willing to go to protect his son even when it was questionable. My favorite part was the reunion between Nigel and his father where Nigel was able to tell his dad exactly what he believed and how his father's actions had affected him. This will definitely be on my favorites list for this year and I highly recommend this to everyone!
March 12, 2019
3.5 rounded down
July 8, 2019
I am a unicorn. I can read and write. I have all my teeth. I’ve read Plato, Woolf, Nikki Giovanni, and Friend. I’ve never been to jail. I’ve voted in every election since I was eighteen. I finished high school. I finished college. I finished law school. I pay taxes. I don’t have diabetes, high blood pressure, or the itis. If you randomly abduct a hundred black men from the streets of the City and deposit us into a gas chamber, I will be the only one who fits this profile.
If you enjoyed Get Out I think you will enjoy this debut novel. Set in the future or 2019, depending on how you look at it, in We Cast A Shadow we meet an unnamed African American narrator who wants the best for his biracial sun Nigel whose got a black birthmark that started off as a dot but seems to be growing larger as he ages. Nigel father did everything he needed to assimilate, but he just cannot seem to crack the wall that blocks the black man's progress. He doesn't want the same for his son so he is doing whatever he can so save enough for Nigel to have a surgery that will turn him fully white.
This book dives head in on what it means to be a black person in America and they things they need to do to survive racism. If you are looking for a guide to survive racism in American this might be it. Ruffin's look at this subject is biting and other times a big hilarious but overall a caution tale.
I did enjoy read this book but I felt it was entirely too long and would have benefitted from 60-100 pages less. I also couldn't keep up with the timing of the book, so I was thrown off at some points but overall I would recommend this read.
If you enjoyed Get Out I think you will enjoy this debut novel. Set in the future or 2019, depending on how you look at it, in We Cast A Shadow we meet an unnamed African American narrator who wants the best for his biracial sun Nigel whose got a black birthmark that started off as a dot but seems to be growing larger as he ages. Nigel father did everything he needed to assimilate, but he just cannot seem to crack the wall that blocks the black man's progress. He doesn't want the same for his son so he is doing whatever he can so save enough for Nigel to have a surgery that will turn him fully white.
This book dives head in on what it means to be a black person in America and they things they need to do to survive racism. If you are looking for a guide to survive racism in American this might be it. Ruffin's look at this subject is biting and other times a big hilarious but overall a caution tale.
I did enjoy read this book but I felt it was entirely too long and would have benefitted from 60-100 pages less. I also couldn't keep up with the timing of the book, so I was thrown off at some points but overall I would recommend this read.
January 18, 2019
3.5 stars. We Cast a Shadow is a sharp satire about race in America. It's set in a dismal, nearish future, when race relations have devolved from where they are today. It's set in an unnamed city in the south (though I think New Orleans based on the references to parishes), with an unnamed narrator, a black man who is desperate to afford a treatment that will make his biracial son white. While it starts out rather humorous in tone, the story soon becomes dark and devastating, and while the scenario seems over the top at first, it becomes clear that it's analogous to the present day experiences of black Americans in many ways.
The story started out strong and engrossing, but lagged for me in the middle, and felt overlong at times, so it was not always enjoyable reading, but I did find it important and insightful, and would read more from this author.
*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
**Used for PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge prompt "A debut novel."
The story started out strong and engrossing, but lagged for me in the middle, and felt overlong at times, so it was not always enjoyable reading, but I did find it important and insightful, and would read more from this author.
*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
**Used for PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge prompt "A debut novel."
February 22, 2019
It's been a long time since I read a book in first-person, so We Cast A Shadow was an apt choice, because the writing was quite good. The only downside being that the narrator was a horrible person, but as the narrator he was able to justify his actions quite much, and that's what made the book interesting. You know he's not doing good, but you can just see the reasons he paints quite artfully for us, the readers, and probably himself.
Being slightly academic, let me say that I think there are three aspects to the story. First and the most obvious one was- racism. Frankly, this was my first book about colour based segregation, from a black author. So even though I've heard a lot about how this issue stands in America, this was a first-hand experience which characterizes the facets with quite detail and empathy. But the amazing part is- none of those discriminatory affairs seemed new to me, and that is because today wherever you are in the world, these things happen, if not based on the colour of the skin, then either for your religion, or the family you are born in. Families are torn apart, powerless are abused, and the struggles keep going on. So racism may be new in my reading experience, but the theme of humanity remains the same.
The second aspect of the book shows you the complex relationship between a parent and a child, or to be more specific, a father and his son. Now this I've read a lot about, how when parents are overprotective, their children turn out to be just the opposite of what they were wishing for. The fact is that you cannot want your child to turn out a certain way. A parent's love for their child may be boundless, but the chances that the child may drown in it also increase manyfold.
The third aspect of the book is about how a person can get obsessed with something or someone. And this was the most interesting aspect for me. A man wants something, he tries to achieve it and tries his best, all is good up to this point. But gradually he loses everything he ever had and now his 'something' has become a mad obsession, because that's the only thing left in his life now. Probably the reason why I didn't like narrator, though I could empathise with him completely.
For a debut novel, this is an excellent piece of work. I have become a fan of Maurice Carlos Ruffin.
Being slightly academic, let me say that I think there are three aspects to the story. First and the most obvious one was- racism. Frankly, this was my first book about colour based segregation, from a black author. So even though I've heard a lot about how this issue stands in America, this was a first-hand experience which characterizes the facets with quite detail and empathy. But the amazing part is- none of those discriminatory affairs seemed new to me, and that is because today wherever you are in the world, these things happen, if not based on the colour of the skin, then either for your religion, or the family you are born in. Families are torn apart, powerless are abused, and the struggles keep going on. So racism may be new in my reading experience, but the theme of humanity remains the same.
The second aspect of the book shows you the complex relationship between a parent and a child, or to be more specific, a father and his son. Now this I've read a lot about, how when parents are overprotective, their children turn out to be just the opposite of what they were wishing for. The fact is that you cannot want your child to turn out a certain way. A parent's love for their child may be boundless, but the chances that the child may drown in it also increase manyfold.
The third aspect of the book is about how a person can get obsessed with something or someone. And this was the most interesting aspect for me. A man wants something, he tries to achieve it and tries his best, all is good up to this point. But gradually he loses everything he ever had and now his 'something' has become a mad obsession, because that's the only thing left in his life now. Probably the reason why I didn't like narrator, though I could empathise with him completely.
For a debut novel, this is an excellent piece of work. I have become a fan of Maurice Carlos Ruffin.
Read
July 14, 2020I first saw We Cast a Shadow on@thestackspod's list of 'Read Black Stories' and thought it sounded intriguing, so I was excited when I saw it on my library’s audiobook app.
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It's set in a city in the American south, in the very-near-future, where manyBlack people have started undergoing the 'demelanization' process, which turns Black skin white. This is a satirical novel, something I'm not particularly well versed with, but it was in turn funny and horrifying, switchingfrom humour to horror within a few paragraphs.
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I listened to the audiobook and Dion Graham does a great job conveying the humour and desperation of the main character. The MC is an unnamed Black lawyer with a whitewife and a biracial son. He desperately wants Nigel, his son, to undergo the demelanization treatment,in a desperate attempt to protect him from racism.
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In many ways, the world they're living in mirrors contemporary America, although racism has become even more mainstream. The MC knows that the system is irreparably broken when it comes to Black people. Ruffin asks the question - how far would a parent go to protect their child? Hetakes it to extremes. The MC has endured racism his entire life, watched the system target and disrupt his family, and so it makes some sort of sense that he would want to protect his child from that. His wife Penny, on the other hand, is vehemently against the process, although, as a white woman, she doesn't really comprehend the threat society poses to her biracial son.
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I highly recommend listening to The Stacks podcast on We Cast a Shadow after you've read it. Traci discusses the book with Chris L. Terry, and hearing them unpack the book really helped me appreciate it even more. I am also now keen to try The Sellout soon, thanks to this book and also a fantastic review from@sofia_reading! I might not get everything a satirical novel throws at me but I can try!
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Give this a go for something truly thought-provoking and terrifying in equal measure!
.
It's set in a city in the American south, in the very-near-future, where manyBlack people have started undergoing the 'demelanization' process, which turns Black skin white. This is a satirical novel, something I'm not particularly well versed with, but it was in turn funny and horrifying, switchingfrom humour to horror within a few paragraphs.
.
I listened to the audiobook and Dion Graham does a great job conveying the humour and desperation of the main character. The MC is an unnamed Black lawyer with a whitewife and a biracial son. He desperately wants Nigel, his son, to undergo the demelanization treatment,in a desperate attempt to protect him from racism.
.
In many ways, the world they're living in mirrors contemporary America, although racism has become even more mainstream. The MC knows that the system is irreparably broken when it comes to Black people. Ruffin asks the question - how far would a parent go to protect their child? Hetakes it to extremes. The MC has endured racism his entire life, watched the system target and disrupt his family, and so it makes some sort of sense that he would want to protect his child from that. His wife Penny, on the other hand, is vehemently against the process, although, as a white woman, she doesn't really comprehend the threat society poses to her biracial son.
.
I highly recommend listening to The Stacks podcast on We Cast a Shadow after you've read it. Traci discusses the book with Chris L. Terry, and hearing them unpack the book really helped me appreciate it even more. I am also now keen to try The Sellout soon, thanks to this book and also a fantastic review from@sofia_reading! I might not get everything a satirical novel throws at me but I can try!
.
Give this a go for something truly thought-provoking and terrifying in equal measure!
February 3, 2020
This is a fascinating take is how race impacts ones sense of self and how attempts to hide away one's identity may not be as liberating as hoped. That said, I found the books plot muddy and messy, often finding myself lost at many points.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2020
A black lawyer, living in the city in a near future United States, has worked his entire life to assimilate properly, obeying every rule. Now he's up for a big promotion, one that will give him the financial resources to give his son the one thing that will save his life and allow him to succeed. He wants to buy his son a medical procedure that will make him white.
This is a hard book to characterize. It's certainly satire, and dystopian fiction. It's a book about racism that at first feels like hyperbole, but as I read, the world that Maurice Carlos Ruffin built felt less and less exaggerated, being so based in how society works today. And it feels warmer than satire usually does. The narrator may be compromised. He may be rationalizing his own complicity as well as being eager to attribute the actions of the state to flaws in the morals of the people crushed by it, but he is so motivated by a fierce love for his son that it's impossible not to feel for him, even as he consistently hurts those around him, even the ones he cares for the most.
I'll be thinking about this one for some time.
This is a hard book to characterize. It's certainly satire, and dystopian fiction. It's a book about racism that at first feels like hyperbole, but as I read, the world that Maurice Carlos Ruffin built felt less and less exaggerated, being so based in how society works today. And it feels warmer than satire usually does. The narrator may be compromised. He may be rationalizing his own complicity as well as being eager to attribute the actions of the state to flaws in the morals of the people crushed by it, but he is so motivated by a fierce love for his son that it's impossible not to feel for him, even as he consistently hurts those around him, even the ones he cares for the most.
I'll be thinking about this one for some time.
February 2, 2019
I wanted to love this book, i tried and tried and tried, but i literally could find no interest in it. The first chapter had me so hyped it was amAzing and then i struggled to regain footing after that. The concept is such an amazing eye opening idea and i loved the synopsis, the writing just didn’t do anything for me, and it slowed down immensely and became sporadic. I sadly skimmed the middle 100 pages bc i was that bored, maybe I’ll be able to go back and try this book again but for now it just didn’t live up to my extreme hype
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