{"product_id":"black-card-isbn-9781948226264","title":"Black Card","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn this NPR Best Book of the Year, a mixed–race punk rock musician must face the real dangers of being Black in America in this “wise meditation on race, authenticity, and belonging” (\u003ci\u003eNylon\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChris L. Terry’s \u003ci\u003eBlack Card\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDetermined 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, earning 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.\u003cb\u003eOne of NPR's Best Books of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Perhaps nothing can feel more elusive than determining your own identity, but Chris L. Terry does a magnificent job of dissecting all the ways in which identity both is and isn't a construct in his brilliant new book, \u003ci\u003eBlack Card\u003c\/i\u003e . . . Terry employs a fierce humor throughout the narrative, but don't mistake wit for detachment—this book is deeply moving, a wise meditation on race, authenticity, and belonging.\" —Kristin Iversen, \u003ci\u003eNylon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Hilariously searing . . . As Terry so cleverly and poignantly points out, the narrator's split personality embodies the soul of America itself. And with deadpan comic timing, sensitive insight, and taut, terse prose, Terry plunges the reader into his turmoil. Like nature, racial identity in America abhors a vacuum. If you don't fill in your own identity, as \u003ci\u003eBlack Card\u003c\/i\u003e illustrates, someone else will. Striking a superb balance between levity and heaviness, Terry crafts an enormously fun read about a decidedly less than fun topic.\" —Jason Heller, NPR\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Author Chris L. Terry deserves credit for skillfully juggling pathos, humor, and anger in a novel that captures the pigeonholing experienced by biracial people trying to fit into a society that looks for either\/or categorization . . . The story is powerful and entertaining, and Leon Nixon smoothly delivers Terry’s sly humor, perfectly capturing the roiling emotions of a young man searching for his truest self.\" —Rochelle M. O’Gorman, \u003ci\u003eThe Christian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eBlack Card\u003c\/i\u003e is a bold and affecting novel—funny, infuriating and at times profound. Terry is a new talent who's managed to examine race in America like few writers before him. This fresh and innovative novel explores both whiteness and blackness in contemporary America.\" —Scott Neuffer, \u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eBlack Card\u003c\/i\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eThey Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eGo Ahead in the Rain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Chris L. Terry is so damn good at peeling back all the tricky layers of race and identity and belonging, and grappling with all the icky stuff of being young and trying to figure out how to be. I'm a '90s kid who spent my afternoons earnestly taping obscure rock songs off college radio in suburban Chicagoland, so \u003ci\u003eBlack Card\u003c\/i\u003e feels like it was written explicitly for me. It's a hilarious and honest examination of race and punk authenticity that's probably gonna feel like it was written for you, too.\" —Samantha Irby, author of \u003ci\u003eWe Are Never Meeting in Real Life\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eBlack Card\u003c\/i\u003e is an illuminating portrait of a young man who is confronted by a world that (quite erroneously) feels his blackness and his punkness should be conflicting interests . . . \u003ci\u003eBlack Card\u003c\/i\u003e serves as a document proving [black punks are] not alone in their tastes, in their struggles to connect with others, in their beautiful identities.\" —Douglas Martin, \u003ci\u003ePassion of the Weiss\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Race is false. Race is real. Chris L. Terry allows these two conflicting truths to dance and spar on the pages of his wickedly funny and daringly smart new novel. \u003ci\u003eBlack Card\u003c\/i\u003e is a wonderful and welcome addition to the growing canon of mixed–race literature.\" —Danzy Senna, author of \u003ci\u003eCaucasia\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eNew People\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"With \u003ci\u003eBlack Card\u003c\/i\u003e, Chris L. Terry has written a sly, funny, melancholy take on race and performing identity in America. A love letter to the DIY scene of the 1990s as well as a portrait of an artist as a young, confused man, this novel is a truly unique exploration of what it takes to build a sense of self in a world dictated by the unbending rules of race and capitalism.\"—Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of \u003ci\u003eWe Love You, Charlie Freeman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Terry crafts a novel we haven't quite seen before: the rare book about racial identity that eschews heaviness without ever feeling lightweight. \u003ci\u003eBlack Card\u003c\/i\u003e is lively, nuanced, and always a step ahead of the reader. This is a must–read book about navigating life as a biracial person in a nation uncomfortable with any identity that is not white.” —Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of \u003ci\u003eWe Cast a Shadow\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHRIS L. TERRY\u003c\/b\u003e was born in 1979 to an African American father and an Irish American mother. He has an MA in English from Virginia Commonwealth University and a creative writing MFA from Columbia College Chicago. Terry’s debut novel, \u003ci\u003eZero Fade\u003c\/i\u003e, was named a Best Book of the Year by \u003ci\u003eSlate\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e. Terry lives in Los Angeles with his family.","brand":"Catapult","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300533358821,"sku":"NP9781948226264","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781948226264.jpg?v=1742920403","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/black-card-isbn-9781948226264","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}