The Sellout: A Novel

Paul Beatty

Mar 2015 · Sold by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

About this ebook

Winner of the Man Booker Prize
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction
Winner of the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature

New York Times Bestseller
Los Angeles Times Bestseller

Named One of the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review
Named a Best Book of the Year by Newsweek, The Denver Post, BuzzFeed, Kirkus Reviews, and Publishers Weekly
Named a "Must-Read" by Flavorwire and New York Magazine's "Vulture" Blog

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.

Fueled 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.

Ratings and reviews

This book is exceptional in scope and purpose. It takes on some very large ideas and addresses them with a mix of humour, anger and pathos. It is unlike anything I have ever read. I was challenged as a white reader to inhabit the inner thoughts of this character. It was as though I was entering a forbidden place, I wasn't really sure if this was intended for me and how I should feel about the observations and opinions of the main character. It was a truly thrilling experience. Paul Beaty's has a confidence and command with language that is impressive and completely original. I felt like I was in the hands of a true master.

A triumph of modern political and social commentary, not to mention hilarious and absurd throughout in the best way possible. However, I don't recommended it for anyone easily offended.

It was tough to tell where things were going, at first. But there was never a moment where I was willing to put this book down. 100% along for the ride.

About the author

Paul Beatty is the author of the novels Slumberland, Tuff, and The White Boy Shuffle—and the books of poetry: Big Bank Take Little Bank and Joker, Joker, Deuce. He is the editor of Hokum: An Anthology of African-American Humor. In 2016, he became the first American to win the Man Booker Prize for his novel The Sellout. In 2017, he was the winner the American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Award. He lives in New York City.