Fish is a passive witness, raising his voice against racism but rarely his hand—despite learning that grandfather Asa subjects his slaves to eugenic experimentation. It's a portrait of antebellum America that feels thoroughly contemporary, even as Wright's language is otherworldly, a dense froth both highfalutin and hallucinatory. Fish's father, Thatcher, cautions against using the word nigger: "Listen to how you sound when you voice those syllables . . . To even mouth the word is to shape your countenance into a leering mask of ugliness and hatred." Wright's acute attention to the shapes and sounds of words—and the resultant renewal of the familiar stuff of history—will bring a smile to your own lips as it sets your brain on fire.