![]() ![]() Me is a black man who owns a farm in a poor black urban neighbourhood. This is convenient, because the novel is written entirely in the first person. ![]() Our protagonist is never fully named, but we are told that his surname is Me. The devices are real enough to be believable, yet surreal enough to raise your eyebrows. ![]() Everything about The Sellout’s plot is contradictory. Maybe that’s the point of this whirlwind of a satire. You might even close the book feeling desensitised to one of the most contentious words in the English language. Although the “er” is a harsh and oppressive end to a harsh and oppressive word, his repetitive use comes off with a friendly familiarity. Paul Beatty’s version is the slave master spelling of nigger, not the 90s hip-hop “nigga”. The Sellout is a fast-paced, verbose book, but one particular word crops up again and again. I f there is one thing we know about words you shouldn’t say, it’s that those words end up becoming very alluring. ![]()
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