This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies in today for Terry Gross.

Imagine opening your car door one morning and being greeted by the stench of groceries,

including raw chicken and vegetables, that were left in the back seat overnight in sweltering weather.

That happens in the opening pages of the new novel by our guest, John Virture.

The main character of his book is a veteran mixed martial arts fighter

and the groceries rotted in the car because the beatings and head trauma Xavier Wallace

has suffered over the years, left him unable to remember that he'd bought them.

Virture's novel is about the fight game, family, the ravages of dementia, and about race.

Xavier is the son of a black mother who'd left the family when he was young,

and a white father who was now struggling with Alzheimer's.

As the story unfolds, he learns more about his family's past as he struggles to resurrect his fighting career.

Like his main character, John Virture is the son of mixed race parents,

and he trained in mixed martial arts as a young man, though he never fought professionally.

Virture is now a contributing writer for Cognacenti, WBUR's online idea and opinion site,

and NPR has featured his essays on race, identity, and parenting.

He's the author of a previous novel titled Three Fifths.

His latest novel is After the Lights Go Out.

John Virture, welcome to Fresh Air.

Thanks so much for having me, Dave.

I'd like us to be in with a reading.

This is from the very beginning of the book.

When we're learning about this character, Xavier Wallace, you want to just pick this up for us?

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