White Tears' by Hari Kunzru is this haunting, genre-blurring novel that messed with my head in the best way. It starts with two music-obsessed friends, Seth and Carter, who bond over their love for obscure vinyl records. Carter’s rich and privileged, while Seth is more of an outsider, but their shared passion for music ties them together. Things get eerie when Seth records a random street musician and remixes the track, only for Carter to pass it off as a long-lost blues recording by a fictional artist named Charlie Shaw. The lie spirals when collectors insist the recording is real—and then the supernatural elements creep in.
The novel twists into a ghost story as Seth becomes haunted by visions of Charlie Shaw and the brutal racial history tied to the blues. Kunzru weaves in themes of cultural appropriation, guilt, and the unresolved trauma of America’s past. The line between reality and hallucination blurs, and Seth’s journey becomes this unsettling dive into identity and exploitation. What stuck with me was how the book forces you to confront uncomfortable questions about who ‘owns’ art and how history can’t just be buried. It’s not a cozy read, but it’s the kind that lingers, like a record you can’t stop playing even though it gives you chills.