I first saw We Cast a Shadow on @thestackspod's list of 'Read Black Stories' and thought it sounded intriguing, so I was excited when I saw it on my library’s audiobook app.

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It's set in a city in the American south, in the very-near-future, where many Black people have started undergoing the 'demelanization' process, which turns Black skin white. This is a satirical novel, something I'm not particularly well versed with, but it was in turn funny and horrifying, switching from humour to horror within a few paragraphs.

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I listened to the audiobook and Dion Graham does a great job conveying the humour and desperation of the main character. The MC is an unnamed Black lawyer with a white wife and a biracial son. He desperately wants Nigel, his son, to undergo the demelanization treatment, in a desperate attempt to protect him from racism.

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In many ways, the world they're living in mirrors contemporary America, although racism has become even more mainstream. The MC knows that the system is irreparably broken when it comes to Black people. Ruffin asks the question - how far would a parent go to protect their child? He takes it to extremes. The MC has endured racism his entire life, watched the system target and disrupt his family, and so it makes some sort of sense that he would want to protect his child from that. His wife Penny, on the other hand, is vehemently against the process, although, as a white woman, she doesn't really comprehend the threat society poses to her biracial son.

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I highly recommend listening to The Stacks podcast on We Cast a Shadow after you've read it. Traci discusses the book with Chris L. Terry, and hearing them unpack the book really helped me appreciate it even more. I am also now keen to try The Sellout soon, thanks to this book and also a fantastic review from @sofia_reading! I might not get everything a satirical novel throws at me but I can try!

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Give this a go for something truly thought-provoking and terrifying in equal measure!