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A review by katykelly
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
5.0
What an absolutely mad book!
Satire, yes. But if you're expecting Jonathan Swift, you'd best prepare yourself for something that can feel cruder and a lot more uncomfortable.
It's not easy to summarise what The Sellout is about... it starts near the end of the story, with a man on trial at the Supreme Court. For REINSTATING SLAVERY. Yes.
Then we are taken back to exactly what has brought this state of affairs to pass. And it's hilarious, definitely, in a dark way, with a lot of words that you wouldn't be happy reading aloud. It involves a star of old 'blackface' Hollywood, a crazy social-experimenting father, and a whole set of circumstances that make sense as you read them, but can't come together when you try to nail them still onto paper... I've tried!
I loved it, but it certainly isn't for everyone.
If you like to read books that are different, edgy, darkly funny, challenging (and now award winning), give this one a try. It's like nothing you'll have read before. As you probably guessed.
Quite a choice for a book group as well.
Satire, yes. But if you're expecting Jonathan Swift, you'd best prepare yourself for something that can feel cruder and a lot more uncomfortable.
It's not easy to summarise what The Sellout is about... it starts near the end of the story, with a man on trial at the Supreme Court. For REINSTATING SLAVERY. Yes.
Then we are taken back to exactly what has brought this state of affairs to pass. And it's hilarious, definitely, in a dark way, with a lot of words that you wouldn't be happy reading aloud. It involves a star of old 'blackface' Hollywood, a crazy social-experimenting father, and a whole set of circumstances that make sense as you read them, but can't come together when you try to nail them still onto paper... I've tried!
I loved it, but it certainly isn't for everyone.
If you like to read books that are different, edgy, darkly funny, challenging (and now award winning), give this one a try. It's like nothing you'll have read before. As you probably guessed.
Quite a choice for a book group as well.