White Tears

White Tears is a 2017 contemporary novel by British author and journalist Hari Kunzru. Set in New York in the present day, it follows two musically inclined hipsters who run into misfortune after developing a song that is mistaken for a lost work by an obscure blues-era musical genius Charlie Shaw. When people begin to stalk and antagonize the two friends, they are involved in an eerie mystery related to Shaw’s murder. The novel shifts between the protagonists’ story and that of Shaw, who narrates his version of events. The novel was well received by critics for its interesting thematic collisions between Internet culture, intellectual property rights, cultural appropriation, folk mysticism, and anonymity.

White Tears begins as its protagonists, two white males in their early twenties named Seth and Carter Wallace, start up a sound audio engineering company in New York. The two met while at university and struck up a friendship based on their shared love for music. Since then, Carter has funded their business and other expenses using money from his rich family. While Seth has an eclectic taste in music, Carter is obsessed with black musicians and musical history, particularly the blues and jazz eras. One afternoon, they decide to create a mix of a number of vocal segments from audio taken from black street musicians. They title their song “Graveyard Blues” and post it on a popular music-streaming site. Carter decides to name it after an arbitrary, fictional black musician, choosing the name Charlie Shaw. The track goes viral almost overnight. Many of its fans believe it is, in fact, a previously unheard track belonging to Charlie Shaw, a real musician who was prominent in the 1920s.

One particular amateur Internet theorist, under the pseudonym “JumpJim,” requests a meeting with Seth to discuss “Graveyard Blues.” JumpJim asserts that Charlie Shaw is the true owner of the song, arguing that it carries his unique musical signature. Seth dismisses the man, who seems somewhat fanatical. Not long later, Carter is ambushed in the Bronx and is discovered unconscious. Fearing that his attack is related to his friendship with Seth, the wealthy, well-connected Wallace family bans Seth from visiting their child. They also lay claim to the recording studio, closing it for good, as news arrives that Carter is likely in a permanent vegetative state.



Seth goes after JumpJim, who reveals that he has a personal history with Charlie Shaw. Back in the 1950s, he and an acquaintance, Chester Bly, made a living exploiting the music of African-American jazz and blues artists in the South. They happened upon Miss Alberta, the sister of Charlie Shaw, who owned the sole copy of his record, “Graveyard Blues.” Alberta considered it precious and refused to sell it to Bly, who responded by stealing it from her. Not long after, Bly perished in a fire. Jim claims that he interpreted this act of God as karma for their vigorous and remorseless cultural appropriation. At that point, he sold the rest of his records to avoid the same fate.

Jim tells his story to Leonie, Carter’s sister. Along with Seth, they make a trek to Miss Alberta’s house to obtain information about Charlie. They find that the house has a different owner, who alleges that no one with either individual’s name has lived in the house. Crestfallen, they make their way back to New York; on the way, Leonie is found dead in a hotel room. Seth is immediately suspected and arrested, but clears his name, and the police instead focus on a black man who was loitering near the hotel where Leonie was found. Seth continues pursuing evidence about Charlie Shaw. He makes it to Jackson, Mississippi, where the artist was last seen, and learns that the Wallace family has ties to him: they had become rich by enslaving black inmates to obtain free work. Aghast, he realizes that the Wallace family still makes its money this way.

The novel then shifts to a first-person account of Charlie Shaw’s arrest and demise. When he made it to Jackson, he was incarcerated for inadvertently walking through a whites-only neighborhood. As an inmate laborer, he worked for the Wallaces and suffered greatly at their hands. Shaw’s spirit possesses Seth and tracks down Carter’s older brother, Cornelius. As a result, he is convicted of murder, despite having no recollection or personal agency. At the novel’s conclusion, it is revealed that the entire Wallace family has been killed, likely by Seth during intervals when Shaw possessed him.



Primarily a novel about retribution for racial crimes, White Tears uses its naive protagonists as a symbol of the privilege white people enjoy in contemporary America without challenge. In the end, their ignorance of their ancestors’ legacy of perpetuating legal atrocity comes back to haunt them.