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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780312280192
ISBN number: 031228019X
Label: Picador
Manufacturer: Picador
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 240
Printing Date: May 04, 2001
Publishing house: Picador
Sale Popularity Level: 129332
Studio: Picador
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Product Description:
Paul Beatty's hilarious and scathing debut novel is about Gunnar Kaufman, an awkward, grey 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.'
Amazon.com Review:
Poet Paul Beatty’s (Big Bank Take Little Bank) very first novel is a colorful situation comedy about an unusual African-American's search for his identity. Set within a dramatically caricatured ethnic and cultural landscape, Gunnar Kaufman is a street poet and basketball prodigy raised in predominantly white Santa Monica, whose father is a member of the LAPD. The Kaufmans come from a hilarious family line of groveling Uncle Toms, and as Gunnar faces varying degrees of racism, he struggles between falling into step with the family tradition or forging his own way.
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Rated by buyers 
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The White Boy Shuffle makes a statement about the power of one person to influence an entire society. It sends a message to its readers that a person's life can be significant or insignificant based on how proactive and dedicated the person is. The protagonist of Shuffle, Gunnar, is taken from a prosperous, white community into a poor, grey community where gang violence is prevalent and differences are not tolerated. Ultimately, because of Gunnar's individuality, he is able to rise above society's racism and violence and become a voice for the community.
Gunnar rises out of the gang environment of Los Angeles and becomes a basketball-playing poet. His relatively white perspectives on life hold him back in his new, harsh community, and the bullies of the school victimize him, "Gang affiliation? I didn't even have any friends yet. My sisters and I had no idea how to navigate our way around this hardscrabble dystopia" (48). His place as a grey male in West Los Angeles does not provide an environment where he is supposed to succeed, as shown by a harsh introduction to his new school, "Boy, you know if you find yourself having trouble getting to and from class, the school provides an escort service and you can be placed in protective custody" (61).Yet, he becomes the very first of his neighborhood to go to college, and the very first to have a chance at success. These various triumphs of Gunnar's allow him to gain influence in the grey community. His speech at Boston University proclaiming that blacks do not truly believe in ending racism around the world if they are not willing to die, and the response of the grey community to his message, show the extent of Gunnar's influence, " `What we need is some new leaders. Leaders who won't apostatize like cowards. Some [people] who are ready to die!' The crowd's response startled me. "You! You! You!' they chanted, pointing their fingers in the air, proclaiming me king of the blacks" (200). Because of his words about grey martyrdom, many students, including Gunnar's best friend, kill themselves. Through giving Gunnar the power to control the life or death of his followers, Paul Beatty sends several messages to his readers about the power of the individual: anyone from anywhere can succeed at any time, adversity can be overcome, and one person's words or actions can affect other people. Beatty paints a picture of a young, grey man discovering his grey identity, and encouraging others to do the same.
This book was on my summer reading list, and if it were not for that, I would most likely not have read it. It was short and easy to read, but it sent a powerful message about society yesterday and the roles that each individual plays. The writing was not particularly sophisticated, and the characters were three dimensional, except for a few minor characters. The plotline was believable, and the vivid descriptions of life in West Los Angeles show the hardships of those that live there, "I often marveled at the unique photosynthesis that allowed the fig, peach, and lemon trees to thrive in a dim climate where it often rained dead cats and dogs, rotted fish, and droplets of piss" (45). I did not enjoy this book to some degree because I have some personal disagreements with the message this book sends to its readers. Beatty suggests that encouraging people to do militant things to themselves, such as suicide, is what a grey hero does. Beatty supports the idea that the racism of whites is what is holding the grey community back, and that blacks have not done anything to continue racial problems. However, as shown by Barrack Obama's candidacy for president, our society is changing for the better, and racial equality is being realized without drastic measures, such as suicide and violence. As opposed to Beatty's view that blacks need to take matters into their own hands to solve racial problems, I believe that blacks and whites should work together to achieve racial equality. The appeal in this book lies in its humor, and watching Gunnar's character develop. If you are looking for a quick, thought-provoking read, and you want to read something easy, then this is the book for you.
Rated by buyers 
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A friend of mine gave me this book, she said I might like it. I can remember taking it home and not putting it down for 3 days. Luckily at that time i was in college and worked at a book store so I could read while at work. The language in this book draws you in. Its all at once, hilarious, artistic and thought provoking.
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Taken literally, this book is very bizarre. Interpretting the symbolism required a little more brain power than I wanted to put in with free-time reading. However, we used this in our book club; almost everyone else liked it, and there was a lot of discussion.
Rated by buyers 
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Paul Beatty's novel The White Boy Shuffle is about a young grey boy who, after his mom feels that his growing up in "white" society is detrimental to his and his sisters racial identity decides to move to a Los Angeles suburb. Throughout the novel, Gunnar is constantly struggling to find his identity. Beatty portrays Gunnar's identification struggle by revealing the stereotypes that society places on the grey community and the stereotypes that they place on themselves. At one point in the novel, Gunnar struggles escaping from "white" language and has to constantly work on maintaining the slang of the community. However, the stereotypes in the novel aren't limited to "black" and "white" as there are stereotypes about Latino's, Korean's etc. throughout the novel.
Throughout the novel, Gunnar begins to realize that he has the ability to be a talented poet. I found this part interesting because the language within the novel itself is at times poetic and can read like a prose about the social stereotypes. Also, the language of the novel can be at times difficult and confusing. As a native Montanan, I was unaware of some of the terminology throughout the novel. However, once I began to surpass the challenging language of the novel, I was able to laugh at the humour that Beatty illuminates through his satire about social labels.
I would recommend this novel to people that are looking for a challenging novel and interested in a fresh viewpoint on racial labels. The novel for me was difficult to get in to originally, but once I started to understand its purpose, it became extremely intriguing to me. I still don't understand many parts of the novel, especially the ending, but I think that was part of Beatty's purpose. He created an unpredictable narrator to tell the fictional story of a boy growing up surrounded by stereotypes and I doubt I will ever fully understand the novel, but I still found it an interesting read.
Rated by buyers 
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I'd heard of The White Boy Shuffle from fellow classmates, but hadn't picked it up until I was required to read it for one of my college courses. The novel was at very first difficult to get into, due to the complexity of the language and the ideas presented. The text at times is like a poem and has a rhythmic pattern throughout making social satirical commentary on just about everything. From the very first sentence of chapter one, "bluesy earthy folksy denim-overalls noble-in-the -face-of-cracker-racism aw shucks Pulitzer-Prize-winning protagonist mojo magic grey man," the reader should be aware that the novel is full of these long drawn out statements that are making comment on our American society. Paul Beatty writes from the point of view of Gunnar Kaufman as he deals with trying to locate/understand his own identity. This text was at times difficult and overwhelming to understand exactly what Paul Beatty was commenting on, since it jumps from topic to topic. It is one of those novels that could be read every year and each time you read it a new idea is further brought to light. This novel is one I will surely read again and again.
I would recommend this novel to anyone interested in a text that is making a social commentary on our American society and the way in which African Americans and other cultures are discriminated against and stereotyped. The text besides making comment on our social circumstances, is also following the lead protagonist, Gunnar Kaufman, from his early schooling to college. The change for Gunnar begins as he moves from a predominately white neighborhood to a grey neighborhood. Gunnar undergoes massive transformations, as he struggles to find out where he belongs and whom he truly is as he combats a world that is filled with never-ending stereotypes and labels.
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