Reviews

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

boodrow's review against another edition

The prose is incredibly witty but i just lost interest halfway through. It didn’t really go anywhere and the wittiness wasn’t enough to carry it.

angus_mckeogh's review against another edition

3.0

I read somewhere that "the first 100 pages of this book were some of the best written by an American author in the last 100 years". Hmmm...the first 50 pages were really good. Maybe some of the best 50 pages I've read this year. But then again; that's a maybe. The last 83% of the book was pretty good. There were parts of the book that were extremely funny, and parts that were meant to sledgehammer me over the head about race relations in the U.S. And there were parts that dragged and were less than great. Plus, since this book was named the winner of the Man Booker, I likely went into it with overly grandiose expectations about it. So it seemed to land in the middle for me. I frequently expect Man Booker Winners to be among the best books I've ever read. And some have been. And some finalists have been. And then some leave me thinking perhaps there were just no really great books written in the last year. So this ended up being one of those. Moreover, I've found some winners to be horrible. This was NOT one of those; it landed in the middle. As an aside, one blurb on the book was from Sarah Silverman about how this was one of the funniest books ever written. Considering I thought The Bedwetter was a 1 or 2 star book at best; I suppose that's a fitting sentiment.

larry_leury's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

gaeke's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A troubling presentation of racism in its rawest form through a satirical main character and Beatty's audacity to push the boundaries of absurdism with this tale. I wouldn't have read this if it wasn't required reading but I don't regret it one bit. Grating and awfully honest but Beatty stepped up to do what others shied away from.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

jr2234's review against another edition

3.0

Every once in a while, a book comes along where a 1-5 star rating cannot sum up the text adequately. This was one of those books.

This is a book of genius and an exigent look into race relations, but damn was it lofty. There were hundreds of allusions, many of which went over my head. It was a dense and difficult read.

This is a great pick for a book club or for a classroom as I think discussions after reading are mandatory for understanding. Reads a lot like a more complicated Catch-22, so a good pick if you enjoy intelligent satire.

holmahoney's review against another edition

challenging dark funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

lifepluspreston's review against another edition

2.0

The Sellout by Paul Beatty--This book purports to be a satire around the reimplementation of slavery. To be honest, I don't fully understand the hype around this book. It's shocking throughout and occasionally sentimental, but as both satire and story, it struggles. The satire, to the extent it exists, is wielded as subtly as a bowling pin to the brain, and it's tough to root for any particular character throughout. In some respects this feels like a way-too-long Onion article. Thumbs down. 

isabelpizarro's review against another edition

funny fast-paced

4.75

mjr313's review against another edition

funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I laughed about four or five times during the approximately 300 pages of this book but was otherwise underwhelmed by a “lead-pipe over the head” style of humor. 

alexchad's review against another edition

challenging funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75