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. 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. At its center is a father who just wants his son to thrive in a broken world. 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. The darker Nigel becomes, the more frightened his father feels. This bald-faced remark finds emphasis in the fact that the narrator himself is Black. 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. We Cast a Shadow Themes The Internalization of Racism Within the first few paragraphs of We Cast a Shadow, the narrator refers to a Black colleague as too Black to be pretty (4). 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. A complete demelanization will liberate you from the confines of being born in a black body-if you can afford it. Nzinga’s clinic, where anyone can get their lips thinned, their skin bleached, and their nose narrowed. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR AND THE WASHINGTON POST “You can be beautiful, even more beautiful than before.” This is the seductive promise of Dr.But Maurice Carlos Ruffin, as well as the terrifying racial landscape he renders, is a world unto himself.Naomi Jackson, author of The Star Side of Bird Hill A literary classic that will outlive us all, We Cast a Shadow is the finely crafted quake the. at once a pitch-black comedy, a chilling horror story and an endlessly perceptive novel about the possible future of race in America.”-NPR LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD, THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE, THE PEN/OPEN BOOK AWARD, AND THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD We Cast a Shadow is haunted by the ghosts of Ralph Ellison and Victor LaValle. “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 “Stunning and audacious.

Maurice carlos ruffin we cast a shadow