White Tears
by Hari Kunzru
Buy on AmazonSeth roams New York’s streets recording everything he hears – including a voice that seems to come from nowhere singing an unsettling blues song. His wealthy hipster friend persuades him to remix the tune and release it as if it were a real, rediscovered recording – but the music has plans of its own. What starts off as almost a satire about two troubled white kids obsessed with authenticity and black musicians eventually plunges, as if through a trapdoor, into horror. White Tears unearths the racial trauma and exploitation inside the soul of America’s music and gives it terrifying life.
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"Seth roams New York’s streets recording everything he hears – including a voice that seems to come from nowhere singing an unsettling blues song. His wealthy hipster friend persuades him to remix the tune and release it as if it were a real, rediscovered recording – but the music has plans of its own. What starts off as almost a satire about two troubled white kids obsessed with authenticity and black musicians eventually plunges, as if through a trapdoor, into horror. White Tears unearths the racial trauma and exploitation inside the soul of America’s music and gives it terrifying life."
NPR Books We Love — 2017 · apps.npr.org
"Hari Kunzru is one of my favorite writers. His most recent novel, "Blue Ruin," is the concluding book in a series that began with "White Tears," followed by "Red Pill.""
By the Book: Paul Yamazaki · nytimes.com