the sell out (2016) & speaking your ̶p̶e̶a̶c̶e̶

//link to review//

Absolutely adore a book that is a searing & scathing soliloquy on the racial climate of America post the 'we killed racism' of electing Barack Obama that is so unabashedly unashamed to shame in the most ludicrous and outlandish ways, only to spend the twilight of the book's pages shouting in your face 'Here's what this book was about, you fucking idiot'.

The inclination for me to sit back and give this novel a star rating and to say 'Well, this is a book about being black in modern America & I'm white' and remain mute on the conversation seems like the logical thought process that feels right, feels educated; enlightened. The irony is, that it is the complete and utter antithesis of this book. The notion of feeling a collective sentiment scorned, and being precocious and facetious highlighted. 'Fuck it, speak your mind on this issue' I feel the words calling, 'and this time with feeling.' As to me, it's counterintuitive to stay mute on an issue that we all partake in so very much; not to speak for others, but speaking with others.

So, thoughts time. Actually pen to paper, thinking time.

This novel is really really good but never did fully encapsulate me. I hesitate to bring the notion of 'being drawn in' or 'compelled' as it's a complete farce that doesn't demand that of me. I took it more as a delivery of a manifesto and the characters and interactions purely as a way to make me laugh while delivering verdicts and edicts. The wit seemed to dull a tad after the prologue which was welcomed as it would have been far too dense and decadent to read passages like that through an entire 300-page story but there are moments that feel like a rendezvous of that style of writing parsed throughout.

Irreverent to a mythological antidote, 'The Sellout' is a prognosis of racial identity in Western Civilization and I'm happy to have read it.