The Sellout
Paul Beatty
read an excerpt
Paul Beatty
read an excerpt
“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. Never snuck into the movies or failed to give back the extra change to a drugstore cashier indifferent to the ways of mercantilism and minimum-wage expectations. I’ve never burgled a house. Held up a liquor store. Never boarded a crowded bus or subway car, sat in a seat reserved for the elderly, pulled out my gigantic penis and masturbated to satisfaction with a perverted, yet somehow crestfallen, look on my face. But here I am, in the cavernous chambers of the Supreme Court of the United States of America, my car illegally and somewhat ironically parked on Constitution Avenue, my hands cuffed and crossed behind my back, my right to remain silent long since waived and said goodbye to as I sit in a thickly padded chair that, much like this country, isn’t quite as comfortable as it looks.”
Themes: Progress, Blackness, Stereotypes, Home
How many pages?
304
Is this available at Sequoia High School's Library?
No but we have provided a downloadable pdf.
Are there other books like this?
YES!
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
What genre is the book?
Fiction, Satire, Social Commentary