The Sellout

THE SELLOUT
by Paul Beatty

 Awards: National Book Critics Circle Winner 2015, Booker Winner 2016

 Date Read: August 2, 2017

 The Sellout is an odd novel - hilarious, baffling, serious, yet offers an uncomfortable insight into race perceptions in the US. To borrow the words of Amanda Foreman, chair of the Booker judges, The Sellout "...manages to eviscerate every social taboo and politically correct, nuanced, every sacred cow, and while both making us laugh, making us wince. It is both funny and painful at the same time..." This assertion is right on the money.

An unnamed protagonist who grows artisanal marijuana and watermelons essentially decides to take it upon himself to reintroduce segregation in Dickens, an unincorporated town in the shadow of LA, which winds up in the Supreme Court. Crazy plot line? Absolutely! 

 Although much of this novel is satirical, Beatty laments that readers focus almost exclusively on the humorous aspects here, instead of its deeper messages about race, community, and the rule of law.

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