THE SELLOUT

by Paul Beatty
 

This Booker Prize-winning novel satirizes the state of race relations in the United States today.  Critics compare Beatty to Jonathan Swift as Beatty tells the story of a young black man whose case is being heard at the Supreme Court.  His crimes?  Owning a slave and trying to re-segregate the public school in his Los Angeles neighborhood.  The humor of this book completely eluded me.  I would not recommend it to anyone – except a college English professor who wants to dissect the author’s many controversial positions on race relations. (Liz)