Book review by Roy of 'The Sellout' by Paul Beatty
Paul Beatty’s ‘The Sellout’
This is one of those rare first novel by an author that I picked up that stuns you with the turn of the language and then the plot comes in and smacks you.
I'm only on page 11, and this is only the epilogue of this novel.
And, it made me stop.
I'd underlined practically every 3rd
sentence/phrase/twist and I still am not on Chapter 1. You will not be able to
continue reading this class black satire unless you keep stopping to swallow
the savage wit & wisdom, in thoroughly sardonic and comic
malevolent writing.
Coming off a mountain high of reading The Power Of The
Dog by Don Winslow you need
to find and keep a reader's high...and reading Paul Beatty (a black man) for
the first time, it feels like riding the crest of blue ocean waves.
What a place to be; you need to keep reading but yet you need to
slow it down, hoping you don't reach the end too soon.
But just like
riding those waves, it has to end.
And in the grand tradition of the powers-that-be who think they know it all, "...one of his college professors said that he would never be a success as a writer."
Official Reviews:
A Book of the Decade, 2010-2020 Independent
‘Outrageous, hilarious and profound.’ Simon Schama, Financial Times
‘The longer you stare at Beatty’s pages, the smarter you’ll get.’ Guardian
‘The most badass first 100 pages of an American novel I’ve read.’ New York Times
The Sellout by Paul Beatty - Goodreads
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