The human stain by Philip Roth. The premise is good, but the twists are underwhelming. Published in 2000, it reflects something of the 1999 David Howard incident when he used the word "niggardly" in reference to a budget. It's meaning "stingy" or "miserly". It can be traced back at least to the middle English word nigon..and is not related to the racial slur..
So it's interesting that you need to censor your words/speech to protect others who don't know their meaning.
But back to the book, skip it.. Don't think it was that good :^)