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The Sellout — Paul Beatty
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Published:
Mar-2015 (Hardcover)
Mar-2016 (Paperback) -
Formats:
Print / eBook / Audio -
Main Genre:
Literary -
Time Period:
Contemporary -
Pages:
304 -
Rating:
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Purchase:
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A biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court, Paul Beatty's The Sellout showcases a comic genius at the top of his game. It challenges the sacred tenets of the United States Constitution, urban life, the civil rights movement, the father-son relationship, and the holy grail of racial equalityâ�,�•the black Chinese restaurant.
Born in the "agrarian ghetto" of Dickensâ�,�•on the southern outskirts of Los Angelesâ�,�•the narrator of The Sellout resigns himself to the fate of lower-middle-class Californians: "I'd die in the same bedroom I'd grown up in, looking up at the cracks in the stucco ceiling that've been there since '68 quake." Raised by a single father, a controversial sociologist, he spent his childhood as the subject in racially charged psychological studies. He is led to believe that his father's pioneering work will result in a memoir that will solve his family's financial woes. But when his father is killed in a police shoot-out, he realizes there never was a memoir. All that's left is the bill for a drive-thru funeral.
Fuelled by this deceit and the general disrepair of his hometown, the narrator sets out to right another wrong: Dickens has literally been removed from the map to save California from further embarrassment. Enlisting the help of the town's most famous residentâ�,�•the last surviving Little Rascal, Hominy Jenkinsâ�,�•he initiates the most outrageous action conceivable: reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school, which lands him in the Supreme Court.
Born in the "agrarian ghetto" of Dickensâ�,�•on the southern outskirts of Los Angelesâ�,�•the narrator of The Sellout resigns himself to the fate of lower-middle-class Californians: "I'd die in the same bedroom I'd grown up in, looking up at the cracks in the stucco ceiling that've been there since '68 quake." Raised by a single father, a controversial sociologist, he spent his childhood as the subject in racially charged psychological studies. He is led to believe that his father's pioneering work will result in a memoir that will solve his family's financial woes. But when his father is killed in a police shoot-out, he realizes there never was a memoir. All that's left is the bill for a drive-thru funeral.
Fuelled by this deceit and the general disrepair of his hometown, the narrator sets out to right another wrong: Dickens has literally been removed from the map to save California from further embarrassment. Enlisting the help of the town's most famous residentâ�,�•the last surviving Little Rascal, Hominy Jenkinsâ�,�•he initiates the most outrageous action conceivable: reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school, which lands him in the Supreme Court.
Click on any of the links above to see more books like this one.
- 2016 Foyles Book of the Year -- Fiction (Winner)
- 2016 Man Booker Prize -- Novel (Winner)
- 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award -- Fiction (Finalist)
- 2016 Audies -- Fiction (Finalist)
- 2016 ALA Notable Books -- Fiction (*)
- 2015 Booklist -- Starred Review (*)
- 2015 Kirkus Reviews -- Starred Review (*)
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