Book Review - The Sellout (Man Booker Shortlist 2016)

The SelloutThe Sellout by Paul Beatty
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A Man Booker 2016 Shortlist. I can see why it's been nominated. This scathing satire on post-colonial America's racism is relevant and biting. There is a poetic style (the author started out as a poet) which infuses the entire book with a certain kind of beauty. That beauty in itself makes the book more than readable.

Our protagonist is 'Me', and he's lived a pretty crazy life. His childhood was marred by his father's unrelenting need to practice racially-charged psychological tests on him - all in the name of science and a memoir. A memoir that never saw daylight, as his father was killed in an 'accidental' shootout by the police. And then, to add insult to injury, his entire ghetto, Dickens, was erased from the map. Realising his once all-black community is being overrun by hispanics, 'Me' comes up with an unsettling plan - one that eventually lands him on trial in the Supreme Court.

The unconventional premise should have made for a gripping, laugh-riot, but it doesn't. Elegant prose and balanced opinions on current race relations are constantly undercut by frivolous attempts at composing a coherent storyline. The author's views are valid, yet they are often drowned by these overlong, casual pages of narrative.

Trouble is, with all this commentary and gorgeous language, plot takes a backseat alongside the protagonist on the bus he's always taking. He takes said bus because he's in love with the bus driver, Marpessa, but we don't get to know her well enough to know why. And that goes for most of the book; we don't get to know anyone or anything well enough to understand it. Overlong analogies and allegories lose the plot halfway through the sentence (or paragraph) leaving you with a sense of displacement.



Thankfully the remarks about the black community are made by an African-American author, so at least there's some credibility to his statements. The premise too would grate were it written by anyone other than a minority.



The frenetic back-and-forth of the narrative makes it hard to keep track of what's going on, or why. It's a book with peaks and troughs; the peaks being the brilliant word-play and punny puns and the troughs being the actual story. I don't think the author took the story seriously, because even a satirical plot trying to turn norms upside down can be handled with more deft.

Without a doubt, parts of 'The Sellout' are important to read and most likely the reason why it has garnered some well-deserved acclaim. Yet, the overall feeling is one of underwhelming dissatisfaction. It might have read better were it written as a 250-odd page opinion piece on black America; but then, that would not have qualified it to be a novel. Not sure the current product does either.

This book is, so far, my favourites of the Man Booker list, yet, the poor range that we've been provided this year means this is hardly on par with any of the greats. Poignant it is, but is it good? That's still debatable.

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