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teresaalice's review against another edition
4.0
It takes an incredible talent to write a book so insightful, difficult, satirical and yet lyrical, but still making it accessible for someone like me to easily read it, get hooked into it.
readerrho's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The main character in this book reminded me of the Dave Chappelle show "Clayton Bigsby" character and Django's "Stephen" character. This was well written but I felt the plot went a little off course in the end.
jmccarth's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
wrenmurray's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Disappointing and elementary
alexisrt's review against another edition
5.0
This is described as taking place in a "dystopian near future," but that doesn't do justice to the setting. A better comparison would be that this is the funhouse mirror image of our own world: almost everything in it is real and recognizable, but distorted or exaggerated from how we see it. In this world, we've reversed our gains in diversity and equality. The ghettoes are walled in; black people are effectively kept from voting because felons and their children cannot vote; most black people are unemployed; and police violence is rampant. In this setting, the few people of color who make it out try to make their assimilation literal: they undergo "demelanization" procedures to look white.
In this world, the unnamed narrator has pulled his way up. He is a lawyer, with a white wife and mixed race son. All he desires for his son, Nigel, is the security of privilege, and he will do anything to get it. He will scrape and bow and suffer the humiliations of his superiors, as long as it means the money he needs for procedures for his son. And while he is too aware of the realities of his world, he's blind to the experiences of those around him, even those he claims to love and cherish.
There is a plot, but the plot is secondary to the novel. The core is the recording of the narrator's experience of blackness and his, and the other characters', relationships to each other, to race, and to their world. It's been compared to Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, and I felt some flashes of that book in the style. It's deliberately formal but not overdone; the narrator's personality dominates every description.
While described as satirical, I'm not sure that's the best description. It's certainly not satirical in the sense of funny, though there are flashes of dark humor. It's satirical in that sense of a mirror. But the thing it mirrors is too real and urgent.
In this world, the unnamed narrator has pulled his way up. He is a lawyer, with a white wife and mixed race son. All he desires for his son, Nigel, is the security of privilege, and he will do anything to get it. He will scrape and bow and suffer the humiliations of his superiors, as long as it means the money he needs for procedures for his son. And while he is too aware of the realities of his world, he's blind to the experiences of those around him, even those he claims to love and cherish.
There is a plot, but the plot is secondary to the novel. The core is the recording of the narrator's experience of blackness and his, and the other characters', relationships to each other, to race, and to their world. It's been compared to Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, and I felt some flashes of that book in the style. It's deliberately formal but not overdone; the narrator's personality dominates every description.
While described as satirical, I'm not sure that's the best description. It's certainly not satirical in the sense of funny, though there are flashes of dark humor. It's satirical in that sense of a mirror. But the thing it mirrors is too real and urgent.
squirrelsohno's review against another edition
4.0
3.5/5
I wasn't a fan of the ending, but all in all a good read. I don't see it as a satire, though?
I wasn't a fan of the ending, but all in all a good read. I don't see it as a satire, though?
tonyababb_reads's review against another edition
1.0
I was at 200 of the 600 pages and I loathed the idea of reading it to the point that I returned it to the library and called it a loss. I think that the long list of positive reviews and all of the critical acclaim over this is very deceptive. A lot of the satire was too much for me to want to read, and the writing style often made it much harder to decipher. Maybe I should have read the last few chapters to see how things ended, but I might be okay with never knowing.
annreadsabook's review against another edition
Hmmmm I think I just need to read this at a different time, I’m hitting a wall with this one
anitaderouen's review
challenging
dark
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
patchworkbunny's review against another edition
4.0
Set in a near future America, We Cast a Shadow explores what happens when a country accepts institutionalised racism, when even the black people accept it. The unnamed narrator thinks the worst thing his son can be is black, that he will succeed if only he can banish Nigel's birthmark for good. Nigel is mixed race, born with a dark birthmark on his face which is slowly getting bigger.
The narrator is working as a junior associate in a law firm, hoping to get promoted so he can afford to get the new demelanization technique for his son; a treatment which will make him white. Poor Nigel, he just wants to be a normal boy but his father pushes his self-hatred onto him. The scenes where he is forced to endure skin whitening cream are hard to stomach.
In this future, black people are allowed to do low paid jobs; working in restaurants, as cleaners or maintenance. The narrator allows himself to be humiliated at work, in the hope it will please his white bosses. They only give him a chance because they want to win a client by showing how good they are at diversity. He's working at a law firm because they have quotas, not because they see him as an equal.
This is political satire, but not of the amusing kind. There's not much in this that isn't happening, or hasn't happened, somewhere in the world, from the ghettoisation of black neighbourhoods to humiliation in the workplace and privatisation of prisons. Even the demelanization, which seems the most far-fetched, is reminiscent of the cosmetic surgery Michael Jackson became addicted to. In the current American climate, this is a very timely novel, highlighting the casual prejudice people are capable of and how is escalates.
Whilst the narrator isn't very likeable, it's easy to see how he formed this mindset, how the world might be against him but he chose to capitulate rather than stand up for what's right. He wanted the best for his son, but he didn't think to ask his son what he wanted.
The narrator is working as a junior associate in a law firm, hoping to get promoted so he can afford to get the new demelanization technique for his son; a treatment which will make him white. Poor Nigel, he just wants to be a normal boy but his father pushes his self-hatred onto him. The scenes where he is forced to endure skin whitening cream are hard to stomach.
In this future, black people are allowed to do low paid jobs; working in restaurants, as cleaners or maintenance. The narrator allows himself to be humiliated at work, in the hope it will please his white bosses. They only give him a chance because they want to win a client by showing how good they are at diversity. He's working at a law firm because they have quotas, not because they see him as an equal.
This is political satire, but not of the amusing kind. There's not much in this that isn't happening, or hasn't happened, somewhere in the world, from the ghettoisation of black neighbourhoods to humiliation in the workplace and privatisation of prisons. Even the demelanization, which seems the most far-fetched, is reminiscent of the cosmetic surgery Michael Jackson became addicted to. In the current American climate, this is a very timely novel, highlighting the casual prejudice people are capable of and how is escalates.
Whilst the narrator isn't very likeable, it's easy to see how he formed this mindset, how the world might be against him but he chose to capitulate rather than stand up for what's right. He wanted the best for his son, but he didn't think to ask his son what he wanted.