Synopses & Reviews
One of NPR's Best Books of the Year
"Black Card holds many modes and many moods in its packed and tactile narrative. Chris L. Terry has managed to capture, all at once, the complications of being black, being young, and being in love. This is a detailed ride about finding one's way to the inside, and finding that the inside isn't all you thought it would be. This book is a mirror, inside of which I saw so many selves." Hanif Abdurraqib, author of They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us and Go Ahead in the Rain
Chris L. Terry’s Black Card is an uncompromising examination of American identity. In an effort to be “black enough,” a mixed-race punk rock musician indulges his own stereotypical views of African American life by doing what his white bandmates call “black stuff.” After remaining silent during a racist incident, the unnamed narrator has his Black Card revoked by Lucius, his guide through Richmond, Virginia, where Confederate flags and memorials are a part of everyday life.
Determined to win back his Black Card, the narrator sings rap songs at an all-white country music karaoke night, absorbs black pop culture, and attempts to date his black coworker Mona, who is attacked one night. The narrator becomes the prime suspect and earns the attention of John Donahue, a local police officer with a grudge dating back to high school. Forced to face his past, his relationships with his black father and white mother, and the real consequences and dangers of being black in America, the narrator must choose who he is before the world decides for him.
Review
"Terry crafts a novel we haven't quite seen before: the rare book about racial identity that eschews heaviness without ever feeling lightweight. Black Card is lively, nuanced, and always a step ahead of the reader.” Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of We Cast a Shadow
Review
"...Terry is so damn good at peeling back all the tricky layers of race and identity and belonging...grappling with all the icky stuff of being young and trying to figure out how to be.” Samantha Irby, author of We Are Never Meeting in Real Life
Review
"[A] darkly humorous coming-of-age novel...This memorable, deeply insightful work has echoes of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Terry’s provocative and timely novel challenges readers to confront the racial stereotypes and injustices in America." Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Chris L. Terry was born in 1979 to an African American father and an Irish American mother. He has an BA in English from Virginia Commonwealth University and a creative writing MFA from Columbia College Chicago. Terry’s debut novel, Zero Fade, was named a Best Book of the Year by Slate and Kirkus Reviews. Terry lives in Los Angeles with his family.