White Tears

By: Hari Kunzru

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

Two 20-something New Yorkers: awkward Seth and Carter, the trust fund hipster. They have one thing in common: an obsession with music. Rising stars on the producing scene, they stumble across a blues song long forgotten by history - and everything starts to unravel as they are drawn down a path that allows no return. Trapped in a game they don't understand, caught between performer and audience, righteous and forsaken....

A feverish new tale from the best-selling author of The Impressionist: two ambitious young musicians are drawn into a dark underworld, haunted by the ghosts of a repressive past.

©2017 Hari Kunzru (P)2017 Recorded Books Inc

Critic Reviews

"Riveting stuff, beautifully written.... Superb." ( The Times, on The Impressionist)
"Outstanding." ( The Guardian)

BRILLIANT

Such a moving story.. that highlights much of what people of colour went throughout history and still do today. As an African this resonated with me deeply. The writer empathetically weaved such complex issues into a story that came across marvelously. The homage to Robert Johnson was noted as well. More please!

utterly brilliant

This is an amazing piece of work. A work of art. The narration is excellent.
It is a horror story with something to say about societal racism, the blind spots in the conscience of that society, and the cost of it to all those who have been abused and forgotten. All done without lecturing or sentimentality. It functions as an entertainment first, and the rest creeps up on you. The writing is lean and layered, a series of evocative and memorable images that build throughout to a devastating climax. I thought it was a wonderful achievement.

Generalities this big are racist in themselves

The title is the most significant pointer of its message it equates white peoples tears with crocodile tears, would that be permissible to do to any other people? How dehumanising of and an entire group of people.

A book that could have been better if it staid in a microcosm or a personal arena, but no, it intends deliberately and insidiously to paint all people of a race as racist by nature or condemned by the action of their ancestors to be racist. That in itself is the problem with racism, the tarnishing and blaming of an entire race on the bases of skin colour, and perceived shortcomings; and that in my eyes makes this book a racist book.

Seth and Carter the main characters of the story are two very different persons, that happen to be white but are both condemned equally by the writer because they are white. Here is the litmus test; if the two characters were black and under a similar set of circumstances this book would not be published, or all would vilify it.
When did it become permissible to be racist to one set of people? Or are people incapable of reading the subtext and consequences of this kind of hate? When will we learn?

Think I may have lost the plot!!

Slightly confused over the genre of this book. Bought it after reading glowing reviews, and after finishing still not sure whet it was all about. Still, the pace was good and I was interested all the way to the end.