Reviews

• Witty and deep

  So what is racism? Is it just based on the skin color? White immigrants face racism too when they move from Eastern Europe to west. White women are shamed in white cities too. The handicapped as well. The question that the author seems to raise is not how to eradicate racism but how to deal with it in the knowledge that racism is part of who we are as humans. Understanding and accepting the fact that we have a condition will make it easier deal with it and cure it. Being politically correct is not the answer, actually it has started sounding more and more fake and dishonest and that hurts even more. On top of it being politically correct stifles open discussions. Seeing eye to eye and calling things with their names without fear would be the best way forward I think. At least we will not blame it on the words as if they are the ones causing racism. Thank you for a very reflective book; although not black and not from US, as someone leaving abroad I could relate to it.

• 'The Sellout' is one of the those books that proves you shouldn't restrict your reading too much with rules and generalisations. I often avoid Booker prize winners/shortlisted books as I tend to find them pretentious and not very enjoyable - but I did decide to give this one a go based on the description. And it is brilliant. It's not the easiest novel to capture in a short summary, but essentially it's a satirical story about race and belonging. The narrator, Bonbon, starts the story on trial in front of the Supreme Court in the USA for unspecified but serious crimes. The novel then fills in the backstory, which centres on Bonbon's efforts to reinstate his neighbourhood - a (fictional) suburb of LA called Dickens which is unincorporated and removed from maps. As part of this project, Bonbon decides to reinstate racial segregation, in order to give the town's majority Black and Latino population a reason to unite and strive. Hence his eventual arrest and trial. It is really difficult to write humorously about a topic as important, serious and emotionally sensitive as race without trivialising it. Most authors couldn't pull it off. Beatty can. The novel is consistently funny and surprising, but never undermines the truth that racism and inequality are fundamentally wrong and have no place in society. I did read somewhere that the author does not consider it/intend it to be seen as comic - but nevertheless it made me laugh. But that doesn't mean it didn't also make me think - it did. Sometimes humour is a really good way to engage readers in serious topics and to view them in a way they may not have done before. The wording is just brilliant - it's one of those books where at least once every chapter there is a line, paragraph or even a whole page that I just wanted to copy out and quote somewhere. The section where Bonbon tries to identify a twin town for his newly reincorporated (in his eyes at least) neighbourhood is one such example. I have the feeling Beatty could write about any topic well, because he just has a great way with words. I'd highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys literary fiction, particularly those that verge on the surreal and satirical. It would also be a good book club choice as there are many interesting discussions triggered by the text.

• Meravigliosa opera di satira. Richiede comunque un dizionario perche contiene slang afro-americano e una capacita descrittiva minuziosa. Un vero capolavoro, il migliore da anni nel panorama americano di questo livello.

• Very, very funny but like all good satire it will make you think...a lot. Required reading for anybody who thinks black lives matter.

• Não consigo imaginar um escritor norte-americano, nesse momento, mais incendiário do que Paul Beatty em seu THE SELLOUT, uma sátira sem pudor, amarras ou qualquer outra coisa sobre a questão racial em seu pais. O narrador-protagonista é um jovem afro-americano nascido no gueto de Dickens, em Los Angeles, foi criado pelo pai solteiro, um sociólogo pouco convencional, com ideias controversas que usava o garoto em seus experimentos. Quando Dickens é literalmente tirada do mapa, sua jornada é por reconhecimento do lugar. Beatty mergulha num assunto controverso com o qual escritores pisam em ovos, e cria praticamente todos os tipos imagináveis de estereótipos dos negros nos EUA. É engraçado? É. Mas também pode ser assustador ao nos darmos conta de quão povoada é a literatura (e o cinema) dita séria por essas figuras. Um dos personagens, por exemplo, não quer apenas varrer a palavra negro (e seus sinônimos) da literatura clássica americana, quer a reescrever. Até porque, comenta o narrador, é mais fácil reescrever do que discutir o uso daquelas palavras e a sua significação histórica. THE SELLOUT é extremamente engraçado e perspicaz em seu retrato de um país cujas políticas raciais não dão conta – se é que aspiraram realmente a dar – da questão. A prosa de Beatty é enfurecida e reveladora em seu humor ácido que desvenda a ironia da suposta igualdade de possibilidades prometida pelo sonho americano.

• A radical literary rollercoaster, seems like a constant stream of consciousness except for the social truths that cut through the text to sting and the brilliant wit that gave me many laugh out loud moments. A similar style: "a fraction of the whole" by Australian author, Steve Toltz - just as brilliant although the storyline not quite as tightly composed as "the sellout"

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