White Tears: A novel Hardcover – Deckle Edge, March 14, 2017

Hari Kunzru's "Gods Without Men" is a fabulous book similar in conception to David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas" offering a sublime insight into the American psyche. "White Tears" is a much more difficult book, but the insight into the un-atoned for sin of American's treatment of African-Americans is both brilliant and profoundly harrowing. What begins as a straightforward story of a star-crossed friendship between two young white men fascinated with sound recordings slowly devolves into an hallucinogenic nightmare of Jim Crow abuse of the recently "freed" African Americans. This at times, seemingly incoherent rendering by Kunzru is so much more powerful in impact than a straight rendering of the history of that time could be. One might be tempted to howl as the realization of what remains unredeemed by this country seeps into one's consciousness. Much like Adam Haslett's "Union Atlantic," gaining the insight into the brutality that infects the soul of this country is not a joyful experience. But the quality of the writing and the brilliance in how the author turns your mind around is breath taking. But it is not for the faint of heart.

I picked this up after listening to Fangirl Happy Hour and the host freaking out over it and I was so excited to read it. You think with the name and descriptions about it that the book is all about culture appropriation and white people stealing work from black artist. I will say to an extent it is about that but really it's an insane ghost story. I don't care for descending into chaos stories, I like knowing what's going on and you aren't going to get that with this book. I will say the ending was wild and I wasn't expecting it. Seth the main character who's view point is the whole story was really annoying from the get go and when he starts slipping is when it gets good. Carter, the rich white boy who funds his and Seth's music obsession is addicted to drugs was also annoying. His whole family was horrible to Seth and just in general but there's more to that story. I enjoyed it because the ending I wasn't expecting but the fact I spent the whole middle of the book confused took away some of my enjoyment. I don't like being confused, I'm fine with suspense and mysteries, but I don't like when the characters start to lose their minds and that's what happened. I will say there was good cultural commentary about white people staying in our lanes and the way we ruined people of colors lives for our own gain. It was overall good and I did enjoy the end, and if I liked scary mysteries more it would be something I'd have given more stars probably.

I can't decide if this book deserves three stars or five, so I went for four. It's not a perfect novel, which isn't to say it isn't great. It reads like water while being complicated on the verge of convoluted. Hari Kunzro has written something extremely complex and thoroughly readable, but something is missing. My biggest issue with the novel is pacing. The beginning of the book is much more generous than the end-- the extreme change that the book goes through in the last 50 pages is extremely intense. The main character Seth is meant to get lost for the reader, but his loss is so total you miss the character and cannot connect with him at all. It's a beautiful, well put together novel. It delves into race relations in the United States but it fails to make any revelations. Black suffering is still ornamental, as much as Kunzro tries to give it a real life and texture. It's not a failure on his part, but I can't help but want more from the book.

Wow! What a great piece of writing! Eat your heart out Dickens. The ghosts of the past is as haunting and as scary as it gets.

I loved this book so much. It’s just awesome. It was sitting at an ecstatic five stars from the outset but the last sections didn’t work as well. Lots of reviews give reasons why. Read them if you’re curious. But flaws and all, it’s still a brilliant novel in so many ways.

Happened upon this gem because it is one of the books up for the one book, one New York program and am so grateful I did!The story was both enchanting and thrilling, mixing the fantasy of time travel with the gritty reality of racism. The settings were always depicted with such clarity I could see everything. Characters were so well developed and real. I only wish I hadn't finished it already and that there were more stars to give.

I enjoyed about 3/4 of White Tears, maybe less. The musical ideas explored in the book were interesting and kept me going for awhile. There is a very jarring plot shift where the main character and the narrative unravel. While I know this is purposefully done it is not artfully done. Things get drawn out and boring and at some point I just wanted it to end.

I started to go into detail, but really the main is just that the 1st-person narrator is no fun at all to pursue the story with, and this just gets worse and worse as the plot becomes more difficult to follow, understand or give a damn about. I just didn't care what happened or what point the author was trying to prove. In fact I came to dislike the author by the time I was maybe 40% of the way through.

This book is one that somehow takes the reader into the past without really ever leaving the present. It's about music and the culture that created jazz the blues and rock and roll. What is historic and what is fiction is so besides the point...It gets right to the issue of what the fabric of our American music and culture is made of. How did Rock and Roll, jazz, American Bandstand happen? The science and history of what we casually take for granted as American. Boring? Far from it. the story is layered, heart breaking, truth to the bone telling...a page turner. I am a better, smarter person for having read it and have no reservations recommending it to anyone that loves music, folk, rock, dance, the top 10 wrapped up in a heartbreaking, humorous, thought provoking tale of friendship, betrayal, family .. life....??? Beautifully written. Thank you Hari Kunzru.

Part allegory, part fantasy, a white musician pursues the legacy of a long forgotten blues singer who may, or may not have been real. What makes the book interesting is the numerous references to old jazz and blues performers, the songs and the recordings.Time Magazine listed this in their top ten books list for 2017. Just don`t take it too literally.

Very beautifully written, with subject matter quite unusual. I would enjoy anything he writes.

Just did not grab me

I absolutely loved this book for most of the way through. The relationship between the two boys is very interesting as is their relationship with music. It all loses its way slightly towards the end when we have to navigate a stream of dream consciousness for rather too long. However on balance it is well worth reading.