Winner of the Man Booker Prize
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction
Winner of the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature
New York Times Bestseller
Los Angeles Times Bestseller
Named One of the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review
Named a Best Book of the Year by Newsweek, The Denver Post, BuzzFeed, Kirkus Reviews, and Publishers Weekly
Named a "Must-Read" by Flavorwire and New York Magazine's "Vulture" Blog
A biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court, Paul Beatty's The Sellout showcases a comic genius at the top of his game. It 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—the black Chinese restaurant.
Born in the "agrarian ghetto" of Dickens—on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles—the narrator of The Sellout resigns himself to the fate of lower-middle-class Californians: "I'd die in the same bedroom I'd grown up in, looking up at the cracks in the stucco ceiling that've been there since '68 quake." Raised by a single father, a controversial sociologist, he spent his childhood as the subject in racially charged psychological studies. He is led to believe that his father's pioneering work will result in a memoir that will solve his family's financial woes. But when his father is killed in a police shoot-out, he realizes there never was a memoir. All that's left is the bill for a drive-thru funeral.
Fueled by this deceit 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—the last surviving Little Rascal, Hominy Jenkins—he initiates the most outrageous action conceivable: reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school, which lands him in the Supreme Court.
- Read-Along eBooks for Children
- Get Hooked on a Series- eBook
- Winter Reading
- eBook Shorts: Your Favorite Stories, but Shorter
- Percy Jackson Collection
- Graphic Novels & Comics
- Romance in the Middle, Ages That Is
- Living on the Edge
- Is It True Dukes Have More Fun?
- Danielle Steel eBooks
- True Stories of World War II
- Biographies of Early Americans - eBooks
- Shifting Sands
- See all
- Read by the Author
- Short Stories for Short Commutes
- Have You Listened to the Most Popular Titles in the Collection?
- Winter Listening
- Percy Jackson Collection
- Animals on Audiobooks
- Audiobooks the Whole Family Will Enjoy...
- Audie Award Winners
- Oldies But Goodies
- Get Hooked on a Series- Audio
- Audiobooks You Might Have Missed
- Listen and Learn
- Listen & Learn: Science Nonfiction
- See all
- 2021 Library Reads
- 2022-2023 Great Stone Face Short List
- 2022-2023 Isinglass Award Short List
- 2022-2023 Flume Award Short List
- 2018-2022 Ladybug Award Nominees
- Romance Award Winners
- 2020 Library Reads
- Edgar Award Winners
- 2019 Library Reads
- Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award Winners
- 2018 Library Reads
- Book Shimmy Awards
- 2017 Library Reads
- See all
- Travel Magazines
- News Magazines
- Heath & Fitness Magazines
- Gardening and Outdoor Living Magazines
- Popular Magazines
- House and Home Magazines
- Tech and Gaming Picks
- Magazines for History Lovers
- Crafts & Hobbies Magazines
- Food & Wine Magazines
- Delving Into Your Devices
- Magazines for Science Enthusiasts
- Hobby magazines
- See all