The Sellout (novel)
[3] Although The Sellout was not written in response to any specific event, the novel was released during a time of racial reckoning surrounding multiple instances of police brutality and the Ferguson, Missouri protests.The story begins with the narrator (referred to as either "me" or "Bonbon") standing trial before the Supreme Court for crimes related to his attempt to restore slavery and segregation in his hometown of Dickens, an "agrarian ghetto" on the outskirts of Los Angeles, California.[14] Bonbon enlists the help of Hominy Jenkins, an old man and former child actor, to paint provocative road signs and boundary lines that draw attention to Dickens’ existence.[25] On the May/April 2015 issue of Bookmarks, the book received a (4.0 out of 5) with the critical summary saying, "This comic achievement, satirical, profane, and profound, marks Beatty as "today's Twain" (San Francisco Chronicle)".[26][27] In The Guardian, Elisabeth Donnelly described it as "a masterful work that establishes Beatty as the funniest writer in America",[28] while reviewer Reni Eddo-Lodge called it a "whirlwind of a satire", going on to say: "Everything about The Sellout's plot is contradictory."[24] In Literary Review, Jude Cook described Beatty's narrator Me as irresistible, "a hip, irreverent, salty and above all militant voice," whose "absurdist, carnivalesque rants belie the penetrating social analysis beneath.
Paul BeattyRodrigo CorralFictionFarrar, Straus and GirouxHardbackOneworld PublicationsLos AngelesBooker PrizeThe White Boy ShuffleFerguson, Missouri protestseconomic inequalitysatiricalBook MarksBookmarksThe GuardianReni Eddo-LodgeHuffPostLiterary ReviewAmanda ForemanNational Book Critics Circle AwardThe New York TimesBBC NewsEvening StandardThe Paris ReviewArmitstead, ClaireList of winners and nominated authorsThe Best of the BookerThe Golden Man BookerInternational Booker PrizeP. H. NewbySomething to Answer ForBernice RubensThe Elected Member1970 Lost PrizeJ. G. FarrellTroublesV. S. NaipaulIn a Free StateJohn BergerThe Siege of KrishnapurNadine GordimerThe ConservationistStanley MiddletonHolidayRuth Prawer JhabvalaHeat and DustDavid StoreySavillePaul ScottStaying OnIris MurdochThe Sea, The SeaPenelope FitzgeraldOffshoreWilliam GoldingSalman RushdieMidnight's ChildrenThomas KeneallySchindler's ArkJ. M. CoetzeeLife & Times of Michael KAnita BrooknerHotel du LacKeri HulmeThe Bone PeopleKingsley AmisThe Old DevilsPenelope LivelyMoon TigerPeter CareyOscar and LucindaKazuo IshiguroThe Remains of the DayA. S. ByattPossessionBen OkriThe Famished RoadMichael OndaatjeThe English PatientBarry UnsworthSacred HungerRoddy DoylePaddy Clarke Ha Ha HaJames KelmanHow Late It Was, How LatePat BarkerThe Ghost RoadGraham SwiftLast OrdersArundhati RoyThe God of Small ThingsIan McEwanAmsterdamDisgraceMargaret AtwoodThe Blind AssassinTrue History of the Kelly GangYann MartelLife of PiDBC PierreVernon God LittleAlan HollinghurstThe Line of BeautyJohn BanvilleThe SeaKiran DesaiThe Inheritance of LossAnne EnrightThe GatheringAravind AdigaThe White TigerHilary MantelWolf HallHoward JacobsonThe Finkler QuestionJulian BarnesThe Sense of an EndingBring Up the BodiesEleanor CattonThe LuminariesRichard FlanaganThe Narrow Road to the Deep NorthMarlon JamesA Brief History of Seven KillingsGeorge SaundersLincoln in the Bardo