Ring Shout - Cathartic Anti-Racist Horror
I absolutely loved this book.
P. Djèlí Clark touches on magical realism mixed with the (sadly) every-day horror that is racism in both the past and the present. The antagonists are a spin on the Ku Klux Klan, who have allowed so much hate to seep into their minds and hearts that they morph into terrifying monsters hiding under white sheets. Only some can see them for what they are, and that includes the protagonist, Maryse. It is her life’s work to battle these horrors and as a black woman, it is all the harder to be heard amongst the ongoing racism of the early 1900’s. She has a team of women and supernatural beings to back her, but her foes are so very destructive and persistent.
This story is truly an exceptional metaphor for racism while also being clear about how real it is, without the supernatural elements incorporated in the story. One of my favourite lines from the book was, “Ask me, it’s plain evil them Klans let in, eating them up until they hollow inside. Leave behind bone-white demons who don’t remember they was men.”
With haunting imagery (my mind will never forget what Butcher Clyde and the Grand Cyclops look like) and touching relationships, this is an all-star novel and I highly recommend it.
