White tears

Currently I am doing a FutureLearn Course offered by the University of Edinburgh - How to read a novel. The four main novels chosen for the course were selected from the fiction shortlist for the James Tait Black awards conducted at the University of Edinburgh. During each of the four weeks of the course participants are also referred to older works of fiction.

The book for Week One was White Tears by Hari Kunzru.

The book is about two young white men, Seth and Carter. Carter comes from a rich family and appears to have a ready supply of money while Seth struggles to make ends meet. What they have in common is their love of music, especially early blues music. They set up a music studio where they experiment with sounds and mix excerpts of music to make tracks.

One day when Seth is collecting street sounds as he meanders around Washington Square, his recorder picks up part of a song sung by a chess player. He thought he had recorded only a line or two but eventually they are able to uncover five verses. At Carter's insistence Seth reworks the recording and Carter shares it with a number of online sites, stating that it is performed by Charlie Shaw (a fictional name). This action changes their lives particularly when they are contacted by a man who claims to know Charlie Shaw and demands to know how they obtained a copy of the record.

The first part of the novel is largely from the perspective of Seth and Carter but in the second part of the book there are two parallel stories - the journey of Seth and Leoni (Carter's sister) to Missippi leading to Leoni's death plus the back stories of JumpJim and Chester Bly plus the story of Charlie Shaw. The tone changes dramatically at this point from basically a story of two misguided and selfish young white men endeavouring to make what they can from early recorded blues music to a story of continued persecution of black people in America from the end of slavery, indentured work and incarceration in black prisons today. Within this story we learn of the role of Carter's family in making their fortune from the plight of black people. Seth's fear that the ghost of Charlie Shaw is seeking revenge for Seth's and Carter's interference with his music plays a role in this part of the novel. We also learn more about the importance of blues to Black people.

This is a novel with many layers complicated by parts of the story being told by different narrators who are not identified. It is only as the chapter expands that the reader works out who is speaking and the thread of the narrative. There are also flashbacks to different periods of history which I found interesting however they can be confusing.