In Paul Beatty's audacious satire 'The Sellout', we plunge into the absurdity of race and identity in America through the eyes of Me, a determined but unorthodox hero. Living in a fictional Los Angeles neighborhood, he controversially reinstates segregation and reintroduces buckwheat pancakes as a means to reclaim cultural significance. As he navigates a labyrinth of bureaucracy and civil rights advocates, the boundaries of morality and justice blur, provoking laughter and reflection. Beatty's razor-sharp wit and bold narrative make us question, can one truly own their racial identity? This provocative tale invites readers to explore the complexities of belonging and the lengths one would go to for community.
By Paul Beatty
Published: 2016
""In a world where the absurdity of race and identity is both a joke and a tragedy, we must learn to laugh and cry all at once.""
Winner of the 2016 Man Booker Prize Winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction Named one of the best books of 2015 by The New York Times Book Review and the Wall Street Journal 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 equality—the black Chinese restaurant. Born in the "agrarian ghetto" of Dickens—on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles—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 resident—the last surviving Little Rascal, Hominy Jenkins—he initiates the most outrageous action conceivable: reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school, which lands him in the Supreme Court.
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“"In a world where the absurdity of race and identity is both a joke and a tragedy, we must learn to laugh and cry all at once."”
The Sellout
By Paul Beatty
Discover a world of knowledge through our extensive collection of book summaries.
Paul Beatty is an acclaimed American novelist and poet known for his incisive wit and sharp social commentary. His notable works include 'The Sellout,' which won the 2016 Man Booker Prize, and 'Slumberland,' a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Beatty's writing style is characterized by its satirical humor, blending elements of Afro-American culture with a critique of contemporary society. Often employing inventive language and complex narrative structures, he challenges perceptions of race and identity in America.
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