Book Review: Sellout
by James W. Lewis
Publication Date: Jun 07, 2010
List Price: $15.00
Format: Paperback, 292 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9780982719305
Imprint: The Pantheon Collective (TPC)
Publisher: The Pantheon Collective (TPC)
Parent Company: The Pantheon Collective (TPC)
Read a Description of Sellout
Book Reviewed by Robert Fleming
This debut novel, written by James Lewis, deals with the thorny issue of
interracial dating from every side, rendered with narrative precision and
emotional detail. Tammy McDonald, an attractive loan officer, is tired of
the current crop of ebony slackers and tired gangstas and figures Dale
Bristol could be just the right touch in her romantic life. She feels that
Dale, a white man, could fit seamlessly in her scheme of things, but love
rarely goes according to plan.
Statistics say that well-educated, highly achieving African- American
professionals have difficulty finding suitable mates, just like Terrell
Jackson, a successful optometrist, who has his pick of females in his
dreams. When he reveals to his girl, Tasha, about his infidelity in his
sleep, she flips out and accuses him of cheating and worse. Terrell thinks
he needs to find a white female, who is more understanding and less likely
of emotional outbursts.
Probably the most quirky character remains Penelope Miller, a Southern belle
who loves her men chocolate, despite her racist upbringing and tradition.
Although some of this scenario comes straight out of the stereotypical
"Mandingo" myth, it satisfies only because of Lewis’s clever way with word
and image. Like all of his quartet of characters, he refuses to indulge in
the clichéd, easy formula, choosing themes and situations which have
substance and are genuinely realistic. He makes the readers believe the
characters and understand their motives.
Here Lewis, a novelist and a freelance writer, truly gets into the psyche of
Penelope, the white female, on the issue of her father’s idea of white male
superiority: "…I felt good, strangely enough. Like I’d broken the power he
had over me. All my life, a cloud of fear hovered over the females in the
house. In Dad’s twisted mind, anyone with a vagina equated to servant and
dark skin meant less than human. Well, I showed him. He couldn’t control
what I do, who I see." (pg. 205)
Lewis’s novel, Sellout, rates among the best of the Black fiction dealing
with the cultural, social and erotic challenges of sex and race. The author
never takes the predictable path. The book belongs to the accomplished,
quality classic works by our wordsmiths on these themes such as
James Baldwin’s Another
Country,
Kristin Hunter’s The Landlord, and
Ann Petry’s The Narrows.
It is truly worthy of our attention.