The Sellout: A Novel

In this biting satire, Paul Beatty tells the story of a narrator born into the "agrarian ghetto" of Dickens, a town on the southern outskirts of LA. Fueled by the deceit of his recently deceased father and the general disrepair of his hometown, the narrator sets out to right another wrong: Dickens has literally been removed from the map to save California from further embarrassment. Enlisting the help of the town's most famous resident, he then proceeds to initiate the most outrageous action conceivable: reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school - an action which lands him directly in front of the Supreme Court. Comedic and bleak in its portrayal, this novel explores and challenges the sacred tenets of the United States Constitution: urban life, the civil rights movement, the father-son relationship, and the holy grail of racial equality.