The sellout

Resource Information

The work The sellout represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Normal Public Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

The sellout

Statement of responsibility

Paul Beatty

Creator

• Beatty, Paul

Author

• Beatty, Paul

Subject

• Fathers and sons
• Fathers and sons -- Fiction
• Fiction
• Race relations
• FICTION / African American / General
• Satire
• Race relations -- Fiction
• FICTION / Literary

Genre

• Satire
• Fiction

Language

eng

Summary

• "Raised in the "agrarian ghetto" of Dickens--improbably smack in the middle of downtown L.A.--the narrator of The Sellout resigned himself to the fate of all other middle-class Californians: "to die in the same bedroom you'd grown up in, looking up at the crack in the stucco ceiling that had been there since '68 quake." Raised by a single father, a controversial sociologist at Riverside Community College, he spent his childhood as the subject in psychological studies, classic experiments revised to include a racially-charged twist. He also grew up believing this pioneering work might result in a memoir that would solve their financial woes. But when his father is killed in a shoot out with the police, he realizes there never was a memoir. All that's left is the bill for a drive-thru funeral and some maudlin what-ifs. Fuelled by this injustice and the general disrepair of his down-trodden hometown, he sets out to right another wrong: Dickens has literally been removed from the map to save California further embarrassment. Enlisting the help of the town's most famous resident--the last surviving Little Rascal, Hominy Jenkins, our narrator initiates a course of action--one that includes reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school--destined to bring national attention. These outrageous events land him with a law suit heard by the Supreme Court, the latest in a series of cases revolving around the thorny issue of race in America. The Sellout showcases a comic genius at the top of his game. It challenges the most sacred tenets of the U.S. Constitution, urban life, the civil rights movement, the father-son relationship, and the holy grail of racial equality--the black Chinese restaurant"--
• "A biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court"--

Assigning source

• Provided by publisher
• Provided by publisher

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

813/.54

Index

no index present

LC call number

PS3552.E19

LC item number

S45 2015

Literary form

fiction