The Last White Man: A Novel

Anders hides out in his father’s house in the countryside. The two men were never close before, and Anders believes his father would have been one of the vigilantes if his health permitted. Electricity is cut off, and Anders and Oona cannot communicate easily. Oona’s mother works to remain optimistic without regular access to the internet. Oona plays with her digital images, changing her pictures into versions of herself as a woman of color. She feels these images are her, and yet they are no longer her. Deliveries are made to white neighborhoods by armed men in pairs. Oona darkens her face with makeup. Her mother tells her she should be ashamed. She replies that she is.

The narrator notes that boundaries between online opinions and one’s own mind begin to blur. People post videos of shootings online. Anders is most struck by a video in which one man of color shoots another, as the motivations are unclear. The video goes viral, initiating an online brawl over the meaning of the killing. More people venture outside in their cars to film events in the streets.

Anders wonders if he can trust his father’s neighbors to conceal his location.