We Cast a Shadow

A Novel

By: Maurice Carlos Ruffin

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

"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...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 • 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. 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.

©2019 Maurice Carlos Ruffin (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"We Cast a Shadow asks some of the most important questions fiction can ask, and it does so with energetic and acrobatic prose, hilarious wordplay and great heart.... Love is at the core of this funny, beautiful novel.... At any moment, Ruffin can summon the kind of magic that makes you want to slow down, reread and experience the pleasure of him crystallizing an image again.... Read this book." (Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, The New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice)

"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 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, and those he loves. It is a chilling, unforgettable cautionary tale, and one we should all read and heed." (Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist)

"We Cast a Shadow is like a dispatch from the frontlines of the African-American psyche. Written with ruthless intelligence, it’s the story of a father’s love and how he tries to protect his son in a country that devours black lives through violence, incarceration, and poverty.... [Ruffin] can drive his story to the outer limits and beyond, and never lose the threads of bitter reality that make it so haunting. We Cast a Shadow soars on Ruffin’s unerring vision." (Renée Graham, The Boston Globe)

It was sad

Set in the southern US in the not-too-far-future, We Cast A Shadow describes a frightening society where people of color can undergo a medical procedure that turns dark skin white. Called “demelanization,” the process is expensive and painful, yet the unnamed narrator of this story is obsessed with getting a bonus at work, so he can afford to force his teenage son, Nigel, to turn his skin white.

The book is at times humorous, but overall sad. I disliked the narrator yet sympathized somewhat with his misguided love for his son.

I enjoyed the writing style and the meaningful topics of racial identity that the author explores. Parts of the book dragged for me, but as a whole I was engaged with reading it.

great narration

The narration is top-notch, but the story gets a bit like a fever dream towards the late middle to ending.

Recommended

Couldn’t quite get on board with the story line even though I wanted to - thanks

The narrator was awesome...

Dion Graham knocked this narration out of the park. They don't call him the "Golden Voice" for nothing. It wasn't that he necessarily nailed a feminine or old character when it came to voicing them, but the nuance with which he read even the non-speaking parts after dialogue that normally get a neutral or flat voice. It gave the story a very rich and melodic composition. The actual story was a little hectic. You couldn't really tell if it was futuristic, dystopian or ripped out of the Reconstruction Era. There were mentions of very modern music, technology and culture, but very clearly the discussion of racism and segregation made the exact timeframe murky. Which was the point, because for many families the direct prejudice and discrimination they experience could be pulled right out of pretty much any point in time in our history. This has a direct link to how the antagonist (or protagonist depending on how you view him) goes about trying to protect his son throughout the novel, including addiction to anxiety medication and experimental treatment. I don't care for books being divided into parts when there is no exceptionally distinct change of plot line or character development and this had 4 parts which I didn't think were completely necessary, but it was a pretty good read overall.

Got lost.

It started out strong and interesting. Then is went all over the place and seemed just as lost as the main character.

I AM WHAT I AM

Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s story is about understanding discrimination and where it stands in America today. Ruffin’s creativity as a writer of fiction is on display in “We Cast a Shadow”. Though Ruffin’s imagination rambles too far at the end of his story, he offers a strong opinion about his generation’s view of 21st century America.

The book title and the author’s characters flood a listener with thoughts of history, worry, and hope. Ruffin writes a story about four generations of a fictional black family. He reaches back to the main character’s grandfather, his father, the main character (a successful lawyer practicing law), and his young son. Worry comes from how far social and economic equality must go to be real. Hope comes from believing America will get there.

Every parent makes mistakes in raising their children. This father’s mistake is to obsess over a birth mark without recognizing what is most important, i.e., a parent must love a child, while allowing them to become who they choose to be.

“Futuristic” till you realize it’s not (in a good way)

First of all, I am a white woman in my 30’s and that’s important bc this book will hit dif groups very differently.
This book is supposedly set in the future and there are some elements of technology and the extreme situation of segregation that could be futuristic but you start to realize this book is a study tool in what micro-aggressions and white fear look like for the black community. I thought situations in the book were a little more extreme then most of every day America currently but I began to realize that black people and minorities all over the world currently experience the situations laid out here.
The point of this book is not to have a riveting plot that drives your page turning. The point, in my estimation, is to examine a man’s life through his own eyes, a man who is trying desperately to be something other than what he is. He experiences deep self-loathing but he doesn’t necessarily see it that way.
It is really uncomfortable to read how so many racist beliefs have sunk into this black man’s core but he is likable and earnest in his way. I valued this book as a peek to where white supremacy could take us. It’s pretty unsettling but I highly recommend it to help you examine pitfalls you may fall into and to recognize the seeds of lies in your own thinking if you are white.

Fantastic

A fantastic piece of speculative fiction of a reactionary America that is as disturbing as it is familiar. Quick paced and dynamic. Ruffin presents a nightmare whose roots lay at our feet every moment of every day. Bravo to the author and the narrator for their work.

Amazing!

Graham is the perfect performer for Ruffin’s story. This is a fantastic story about racism that will leave an impression on your views of our world and where we could be going if unchecked. One of my favorite stories of 2019.

A rough ride worth the Journey

The main character was tough to like bit the story made it worthwhile. Narration was excellent and made the main character likable even if he couldnt always make him relatable.