The Sellout

Regular price $13.41 $11.90 11% off
Unit price
per
$10.71 Thryft Club Member Price

Race, satire, and outrageous humor

The Sellout is perfect for readers who enjoy biting satire and irreverent humor. The book's unique premise of reinstating slavery in America only to land the protagonist in the court has received widespread acclaim for its boldness and thought-provoking content. The author, Paul Beatty, has been praised for his absurdist style and ability to make readers both laugh and cry. Overall, The Sellout is a must-read for anyone who wants to explore race, satire, and outrageous humor.

  • Booker Prize (2016)
  • Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize Nominee for Comic Fiction (2016)
  • National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (2015)
  • Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Nominee for Fiction (2016)
  • The Rooster -- The Morning News Tournament of Books (2016)
  • Dublin Literary Award Nominee (2017)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.

The Sellout

Regular price $13.41 $11.90 11% off
Unit price
per
$10.71 Thryft Club Member Price
ISBN: 9781786070159
Estimated First-hand Retail Price: $22.61
Authors: Paul Beatty
Publisher: Oneworld
Date of Publication: 2016-05-05
Format: Paperback
Related Collections: Literary Fiction, Contemporary
Related Topics: Literature, LGBTQ+, Race
Goodreads rating: 3.75
(rated by 68299 readers)

Description

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.
Condition guide
Availability
 
(0 in cart)

Similar Reads

Race, satire, and outrageous humor

The Sellout is perfect for readers who enjoy biting satire and irreverent humor. The book's unique premise of reinstating slavery in America only to land the protagonist in the court has received widespread acclaim for its boldness and thought-provoking content. The author, Paul Beatty, has been praised for his absurdist style and ability to make readers both laugh and cry. Overall, The Sellout is a must-read for anyone who wants to explore race, satire, and outrageous humor.

  • Booker Prize (2016)
  • Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize Nominee for Comic Fiction (2016)
  • National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (2015)
  • Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Nominee for Fiction (2016)
  • The Rooster -- The Morning News Tournament of Books (2016)
  • Dublin Literary Award Nominee (2017)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.