The White Boy Shuffle: A Novel [Paperback]

The first novel from National Book Critics Circle Award and Man Booker Prize-winning author ofThe Sellout

A bombastic coming-of-age novel....The White Boy Shufflehas the uncanny ability to make readers want to laugh and cry at the same time. Los Angeles Times

Paul Beatty's hilarious and scathing debut novel is about Gunnar Kaufman, an awkward, black surfer bum who is moved by his mother from Santa Monica to urban West Los Angeles. There, he begins to undergo a startling transformation from neighborhood outcast to basketball superstar, and eventually to reluctant messiah of a divided, downtrodden people.

Paul Beattyis the author of the novelsTuff,SlumberlandandThe Sellout, and the poetry collectionsBig Bank Take Little BankandJoker, Joker, Deuce. He was the editor ofHokum: An Anthology of African-American Humor. In 2016, he became the first American to win the Man Booker Prize for his novelThe Sellout. In 2017, he was the winner the American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Award. He lives in New York City.

A bombastic coming-of-age novel . . .The White Boy Shufflehas the uncanny ability to make readers want to laugh and cry at the same time. Beatty mingles horrific reality with wild fancy without ever losing a grip on his story.
Los Angeles Times

The White Boy Shuffleis one of those novels of enormous energy and verbal dazzle . . . Mr. Beatty is a fertile and original writer, one to watch.
The New York Times

Laugh-out-loud funny and weep-in-silence sad . . . The language is always vibrant and alluring.
The Nation

Ferocious and funny and also streetwise.
The Boston Globe