--- product_id: 13030349 title: "The Sellout: A Novel" price: "€ 8.12" currency: EUR in_stock: false reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.de/products/13030349-the-sellout-a-novel store_origin: DE region: Germany --- # The Sellout: A Novel **Price:** € 8.12 **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Sellout: A Novel - **How much does it cost?** € 8.12 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.de](https://www.desertcart.de/products/13030349-the-sellout-a-novel) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description The Sellout: A Novel [Beatty, Paul] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Sellout: A Novel Review: Wild ride story with an honest assessment of racism in the USA - I must admit, it took some time for me to connect with this story. It didn't help that the author posted from the ending scenes as the first chapter, and then backs up to tell the story - that seemed unhelpful and unnecessary. The writing style is in hyperdrive from the opening lines and I found myself swimming in a sea of explosive verbiage. It was disorienting and disconcerting at first, but when the scene shifts back in time to Dickens, CA, it smoothes out and begins to cohere better. As I noted, the writing style is uniquely over-the-top, as in he starts a fire, adds gasoline, throws in a hand grenade, fires off a Tomahawk cruise missle, and drops an H-bomb to make sure you see the light. Funny, funny, funny! But what the hell is he doing/saying in this audacious story? You begin to realize that it is an unbounded yet incisive portrayal, satirical and painful, of everything in the history of race in the Americas. It's a big canvas, but it gives the author free range to make rich, startling connections. He looks at "post-racial" society and mocks it thoroughly. He pillories blacks and whites with generous punchlines. The story is about being honest about racism instead of pretending we've made such progress that it is a lesser problem. The author looks at it in culture, media, literature, education, law, psychology, public plannning, and a dozen more ways. It is scathing, biting, outrageous, ridiculous, and laugh-out-loud raucous, and of course, it's revealing. Other reviewers will go into greater depth, but I'll simply invite you take a truly wild ride into this story. Don't get frustrated; stick with it and you'll be hooked. You'll laugh your ass off, for sure. You won't look at racism in the USA the same again, either. Thank you, Paul Beatty. Review: The Sellout by Paul Beatty: A review - A book about racism, segregation, slavery that is laugh-out-loud funny? Yep, that would be The Sellout in a nutshell! It's easy to see why this book won all those awards last year, including the first Man Booker for a work by an American author. It is a tour-de-force of writing, a biting social satire that makes its point not with a bludgeon but with a delicate literary sensibility firmly based in historical authenticity. Beatty has given us a protagonist/narrator who is a young black man from the "agrarian ghetto" of Dickens, a neighborhood on the outskirts of southern Los Angeles. He was raised by a single father, a sociologist who used his son as the subject of his weird, often outlandish psychological studies of the roots of fear and of racism. The son grew up to become a farmer who raised delicious fruit of many kinds, the most delicious of all being satsuma oranges. He also grew watermelons and weed, one of the finest varieties of which he called "Anglophobia." He lost his father along the way to a policeman's gun. The man was shot essentially for driving while black, a sad and familiar story in our country. At least, the resulting financial settlement with the city of Los Angeles made life a bit easier for the son. Over time, our narrator watches the decline of his neighborhood, until, finally, Dickens no longer even appears on California maps, at which point our hero decides on a social and psychological experiment of his own, one that will put Dickens back on the map. With the help of the town's most famous resident, the last surviving Little Rascal, Hominy Jenkins, he comes up with an outrageous plan; he will reinstitute slavery and segregation in Dickens. That should get California's - and the world's - attention! Thus it is that Hominy becomes his willing - even eager - slave and he begins a stealth campaign to reinstitute segregation in the local school. His plan is a roaring success! Soon the students at the all black - well, black and Hispanic and Asian - school are doing better than ever, succeeding as never before. Sure enough, this does bring him and Dickens attention and he winds up before the Supreme Court in a very funny scene, which I can't even begin to describe. Along the way, the author pricks the hot air balloons of just about every black American cultural icon and cliche that one could think of - from Mike Tyson to Bill Cosby to George Washington Carver to Tiger Woods to Clarence Thomas and so many more. They are all here. Also lawn jockeys, cotton picking, Saturday morning cartoons, as well as the American liberal agenda all come in for a skewering. The comic writing sometimes made me wince or shrug wryly, but mostly it just made me grin. This is a zany book that employs racist terms in the service of humor - words that are never spoken in polite society. It's a way to shock the reader and get his/her full attention. Suffice to say if you are one who is offended by the language in Huckleberry Finn, you'll be absolutely appalled by the language in The Sellout. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #115,978 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #807 in Black & African American Literature (Books) #1,097 in Literary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars (11,650) | | Dimensions | 5.75 x 1.04 x 8.6 inches | | Edition | First Edition | | ISBN-10 | 0374260508 | | ISBN-13 | 978-0374260507 | | Item Weight | 14.4 ounces | | Language | English | | Print length | 304 pages | | Publication date | March 3, 2015 | | Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | ## Images ![The Sellout: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81rdVbe-0+L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Wild ride story with an honest assessment of racism in the USA *by B***N on June 14, 2015* I must admit, it took some time for me to connect with this story. It didn't help that the author posted from the ending scenes as the first chapter, and then backs up to tell the story - that seemed unhelpful and unnecessary. The writing style is in hyperdrive from the opening lines and I found myself swimming in a sea of explosive verbiage. It was disorienting and disconcerting at first, but when the scene shifts back in time to Dickens, CA, it smoothes out and begins to cohere better. As I noted, the writing style is uniquely over-the-top, as in he starts a fire, adds gasoline, throws in a hand grenade, fires off a Tomahawk cruise missle, and drops an H-bomb to make sure you see the light. Funny, funny, funny! But what the hell is he doing/saying in this audacious story? You begin to realize that it is an unbounded yet incisive portrayal, satirical and painful, of everything in the history of race in the Americas. It's a big canvas, but it gives the author free range to make rich, startling connections. He looks at "post-racial" society and mocks it thoroughly. He pillories blacks and whites with generous punchlines. The story is about being honest about racism instead of pretending we've made such progress that it is a lesser problem. The author looks at it in culture, media, literature, education, law, psychology, public plannning, and a dozen more ways. It is scathing, biting, outrageous, ridiculous, and laugh-out-loud raucous, and of course, it's revealing. Other reviewers will go into greater depth, but I'll simply invite you take a truly wild ride into this story. Don't get frustrated; stick with it and you'll be hooked. You'll laugh your ass off, for sure. You won't look at racism in the USA the same again, either. Thank you, Paul Beatty. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Sellout by Paul Beatty: A review *by P***N on February 4, 2017* A book about racism, segregation, slavery that is laugh-out-loud funny? Yep, that would be The Sellout in a nutshell! It's easy to see why this book won all those awards last year, including the first Man Booker for a work by an American author. It is a tour-de-force of writing, a biting social satire that makes its point not with a bludgeon but with a delicate literary sensibility firmly based in historical authenticity. Beatty has given us a protagonist/narrator who is a young black man from the "agrarian ghetto" of Dickens, a neighborhood on the outskirts of southern Los Angeles. He was raised by a single father, a sociologist who used his son as the subject of his weird, often outlandish psychological studies of the roots of fear and of racism. The son grew up to become a farmer who raised delicious fruit of many kinds, the most delicious of all being satsuma oranges. He also grew watermelons and weed, one of the finest varieties of which he called "Anglophobia." He lost his father along the way to a policeman's gun. The man was shot essentially for driving while black, a sad and familiar story in our country. At least, the resulting financial settlement with the city of Los Angeles made life a bit easier for the son. Over time, our narrator watches the decline of his neighborhood, until, finally, Dickens no longer even appears on California maps, at which point our hero decides on a social and psychological experiment of his own, one that will put Dickens back on the map. With the help of the town's most famous resident, the last surviving Little Rascal, Hominy Jenkins, he comes up with an outrageous plan; he will reinstitute slavery and segregation in Dickens. That should get California's - and the world's - attention! Thus it is that Hominy becomes his willing - even eager - slave and he begins a stealth campaign to reinstitute segregation in the local school. His plan is a roaring success! Soon the students at the all black - well, black and Hispanic and Asian - school are doing better than ever, succeeding as never before. Sure enough, this does bring him and Dickens attention and he winds up before the Supreme Court in a very funny scene, which I can't even begin to describe. Along the way, the author pricks the hot air balloons of just about every black American cultural icon and cliche that one could think of - from Mike Tyson to Bill Cosby to George Washington Carver to Tiger Woods to Clarence Thomas and so many more. They are all here. Also lawn jockeys, cotton picking, Saturday morning cartoons, as well as the American liberal agenda all come in for a skewering. The comic writing sometimes made me wince or shrug wryly, but mostly it just made me grin. This is a zany book that employs racist terms in the service of humor - words that are never spoken in polite society. It's a way to shock the reader and get his/her full attention. Suffice to say if you are one who is offended by the language in Huckleberry Finn, you'll be absolutely appalled by the language in The Sellout. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A laugh-out-loud slap in the face *by L***N on March 26, 2016* The Sellout is one of the most original novels I've read in 20 years. A very funny, dystopian look at being black in white America. No one is spared Beatty's critical eye, his philosophical musings or accusatory hip hop cadences that tell the story of The Sellout who wants to reinstitute segregation (to uplift the neighborhood schools), be left alone to farm his weed (in an LA ghetto) as he tries to disencumber himself of Hominy, the slave he never bought but has given himself over to him. And who want to discuss reparations. For all the hilarity, the truths of white bigotry and black hypocrisy are painful to read. Beatty reminds us why there are never seems to be "a coversation about race." Probably because whites would look like monsters and black better only because they lack the power to enforce their individual prejudices. Southern belles, white libs, a Ku Klux influx and LouisGates/BarrackObama/TavisSmiley types are all scathingly observed. It's truly impressive, if imperfect. The problem with The Sellout is that the tempo and rant about cant (of every shade) is hard to sustain. At times, it did seem like Beatty lost control of his narrative and had to reset. Other parts felt somewhat repetitious. Others will have their own quibbles. But make no mistake these are quibbles. The Sellout is fresh, bracing, brilliant and more than a bit painful. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.de/products/13030349-the-sellout-a-novel](https://www.desertcart.de/products/13030349-the-sellout-a-novel) --- *Product available on Desertcart Germany* *Store origin: DE* *Last updated: 2026-04-25*