The Sellout

Born in Dickens on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles, the narrator of The Sellout is raised by a single father, a controversial sociologist. He is told that his father’s work will lead to a memoir that will solve their financial woes. But when his father is killed in a drive-by shooting, he realises there never was a memoir. All that’s left is a bill for a drive-through funeral.

What’s more, Dickens has literally been wiped off the map to save California from further embarrassment. The narrator sets out to right this wrong with the most outrageous action conceivable: reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school, which lands him in the Supreme Court.

The Sellout is a work of comic genius by a writer at the top of his game.