BOOK REVIEW: An uncompromising spoof on colour
Though the author resists labels, refusing to be pigeonholed as a satirist, his work has been universally hailed as a blistering satire on race in the US
The Sellout Paul Beatty Oneworld Paul Beatty, the first American to win the coveted Man Booker Prize, does not like to be categorised or labelled — he even resists being called a satirist. Yet his fourth novel, The Sellout, is being universally hailed as a blistering satire about race in America. The 24-page prologue starts with the following: "This may be hard to believe, coming from a black man, but I’ve never stolen anything. Never cheated on my taxes or at cards. I’ve never burgled a house. Held up a liquor store." Its narrator, an African-American simply called Me, is an urban farmer who lives in Dickens, a ghetto community on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles. His single-parent father, a psychologist-cum-social scientist, carries out radical experiments on him. In one, he mugs his boy in public to measure the empathy of bystanders – they join in the mugging. Soon after that, the father is killed by police in a routine roadblock, some might say just because he is black. The...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.