Customer Reviews

The White Boy Shuffle: A Novel

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Paul Beatty's "White Boy Shuffle" is a scathingly irreverent look at modern day African-American "street" culture, and some of it's more ludicrous characteristics. Sort of an anti "Boyz In The Hood". Detailing the picaresque adventures of African-American Gunnar Kauffman as he makes the adjustment to a black inner city neighborhood after growing up in the relatively benign white neighborhood of Santa Monica, Beatty displays dazzlingly creative wordplay and mastery of language, in the tradition of James Joyce and Ralph Ellison. I give it four stars only because I reserve five stars for a book like Ellison's "Invisible Man" which is the apotheosis of the coming of age novel. But believe me, "White Boy Shuffle" is no slouch in that department. Plus it's laugh out loud funny. It's the black "Catcher In The Rye". I once recommended it to Chris Rock telling him, "This guy is doing in prose what you're doing on stage." Which was telling the truth. And while the characters of "White Boy Shuffle" are not developed emotionally and psychologically, this is an extremely clever rant against all the hypocrasies and excesses of contemporary American society.

Look, you have five minutes. I know you do. You're goofing off at work right now. If you have five minutes, open this book up to page 12 and read the main character's recitation of his family history, a deleriously self-loathing parade of misunderstanding and Uncle-Tomism throughout the entirity of American history, starting with his great-grandfather pushing Crispus Attucks in front of a bullet. If you can make it through that entire section without laughing, you probably shouldn't buy this book. But only because you don't have a soul.

Nose pressed against your life? Not getting out enough, smelling American sights and sounds beyond the new mall? Is your current prose reading as soggy as 2% milk on cornflakes left overnight? Might I suggest a romp through past and present, 'burb and 'hood, white and black, in Paul Beatty's White Boy Shuffle. Unlike a lot of "the silent tragedy of my pathetic life" novels, White Boy Shuffle plays for high stakes and generally wins all bets. As a suburban kid myself, I can attest to the sharpness of Beatty's eyes and ears in his depictions of that flat landscape. Every other area gazed upon, inner-city LA, academic life, pseudo radicals, receive the same treatment of the right detail, the cutting insight and the exploding humor. It's all over the top, as black suburban skateboarder finds the inner city, get stomped on, plays ball, writes poetry, is wooed by academia only to become black messiah preaching suicide. It works most of the time and even when Beatty can't pull everything off, your left with the talent of a man who knows how to make a paragraph sing. In an age when social satire is bad manners, the ambition to take it all in and give it back to us, mean and beautiful, has to be appreciated.

"White Boy Shuffle" was outstanding! It wasn't just about a young black kid growing up in a predominately black neighborhood and trying to survive the "hood". The main character, Gunnar Kaufman, illustrates a world of pure fiction but mixes it in with real life situations that makes it seem that much more real. The book had its twist that made it more intriguing such as Gunnar's status as a world class poet before even graduating from high school or his best friend having an extraordinary gift when it came to basketball. The book flowed smoothly through all of the different scenarios and kept me laughing and interested from beginning to end. It is definitely a book that should be read by all races and both genders.

Paul Beatty has captured the voice of a silent minority in the African American community.. those kids like myself who grew up in a non-racialized world and then suddenly found ourselves in different circumstances. With every page, I found more of myself in Gunnar Kaufman.. and it was quite a discomfiting discovery. Still, this is one of the funniest, most honest, and incredibly *literate* books I've read in a long time. I can't wait to hear more from this unusually candid and gifted author.

this is one of the best books I have ever read. Buy it, read it, then give it to your friends. Then have a party. At the party you should all talk about it, but not too much. Really you should have a good time at the party, you know, laugh, talk, tell stories. But the book is good.

gone to the bookstore just to browse, pulled a book off the shelf just because it had an interesting cover, read one paragraph, and immediately headed to the check-out line with it? That's what I did with _White Boy Shuffle_, and have been so thankful for that fortuitous trip to Bookstop ever since (sorry Amazon; this was before your days). I took it with me on a business trip. I laughed on the plane, I laughed in the hotel bar...no one dared come near me. What a smart, funny read. Sure wish he'd write another novel; I'm not too much into poetry.

Paul Beatty's mastery of the English language is incredible! As is his mastery of current urban culture. He captures so perfectly the angst and struggles of being a young African-American today - without sounding preachy or racist. This novel made me laugh out loud. The satire and wit are biting, and accurate. Beatty pokes fun at whites, blacks and society in general. He addresses stereotypes held by all participants of the race war in a humorous and surreal manner.

Wow! What a great book! With each page I found myself more and more attached to Gunnar and his friends. Beatty's fast-paced style is refreshing and entertaining. It reads with the candor of a diary with the depth of a Black-American textbook. It is, humorous, thought provoking, witty, and serious. It is a definite solid read.

For me this was one of those rare finds you sometimes make when you spare an hour in the bookstore to browse through some of those novels that never receive any fanfare. This one had me gripped throughout. I do not think a book has brought me to tears since Watership Down did when I was nine and certainly no novel has ever made me laugh out loud so fulsomely.

If you are not a prude I urge you as strongly as possible to read this. Read it for its coruscating critique of white liberalism. Give it a look for the hilarious send-up of ghetto hypocrisies and pretensions. Do not miss out on the most up-to-date, cynical, life-affirming, fantastical touching odyssey literature currently has to offer. The pace is fast, yet the characters are wonderfully drawn in Beatty's brief yet believably deep sketches.

It's one of those great books that are always so tricky to summarise or precis. But to attempt the impossible - Beatty got to me because he is an enthusiastic realist; he dabbles with fantasy (and a quirky fascination with all things Japanese) but never treats his subject matters with authorial disdain or hostility. I wish Paul Beatty the huge audience he deserves.