The Sellout
by Paul Beatty · first published 2015
2mentions
2recommended by
2HN commenters
2018–2022first – last mentioned
100% recommend
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
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…I've ever read. Man v Nature by Diane Cook is an inventive, insightful and sometimes dark collection of short stories that are often high concept but reveal a lot about human nature & motivations. The Sellout by Paul Beatty is a funny and also literary novel by an author who writes endlessly clever, joyful and energetic prose.
on “Analyzing Hacker News book suggestions in Python” ↗Both are in my top five, but something about Vonnegut’s style gives him the edge in this comparison for me. Any chance you’ve read any Paul Beatty? His book “The Sellout” shot to the top of my list of funniest books as well, in the same realm as the above when it comes to absurdist comedy.
on “Kurt Vonnegut at 100” ↗