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Booked for the Day

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

On Monday, April 3rd, the Booked for the Day Book Group met to discuss, The Sellout by Paul Beatty.  Here are a few things we discussed during the meeting:

  • “Satire is a technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society by using humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule. Even though satire might be humorous, its purpose is not to entertain and amuse but actually to derive a reaction of contempt from the reader.” And for most of the group, that is what this book did.
  • I want to start by saying that the group thought the language used was over the top. One member said that by the end she was desensitized because its use was so rampant.
  • We thought the idea of the book was to provoke anger and to start a conversation on racism and it did. One member thought that African Americans are not represented enough in the arts and thought that this book was much needed.
  • We agreed that the story was plotless. It was hard to determine where the story was going. We wanted more in the ending or as the author mentioned, “closure.” We understood that Bonbon got his town back due to the notoriety of the Supreme Court case but we wanted to hear how the case ended. It took some discussion to realize that it was more of a stand-up comedy routine than a typical novel. But that was part of the problem - it never lets up. After a while it wore some of us out.
  • A few members thought the way the book was written showed creativity and that he definitely thought outside the box. You could tell by the writing that the author was a sharp guy.
  • There is plenty of real sadness in The Sellout, I for one did not find the story of Bonbon’s abuse by his father funny.
  • It was a risky book unconcerned with offending readers. One member thought the book started slow but went up from there. Others thought that there were better ways of bringing up the discussion of racism and did not feel that it accomplished anything.

These are just a few things mentioned during the discussion. Please feel free to add any of your thoughts in the comment section.

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