The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty: Review

BOOK REVIEW 

The White Boy Shuffle By Paul Beatty 

The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty is one of the most invigorating and side-splitting pieces of fiction I have read. Following the hilarious and often times confusing life of a black teenage boy in California, Beatty expresses how growing up can be both confusing but also fascinating. The characters in this novel come to life on the very page, with complex personal histories and intriguing world views. The book is brimming with witty teenage slang entwined with intense philosophical concepts.

I had had this book on ‘The Amazon List’ list, you know the one I’m talking about. The one you save things to and just entirely forget about? That one. I had saved TWBS (The White Boy Shuffle) to my reading list for a good three years before I purchased it and what actually prompted me to buy it was seeing another piece by Beatty in Waterstones. And I felt that I couldn’t, with good conscience, buy this new book without first having a look at the one that had been waiting for me for a few years. And, in a nutshell is how I came to devouring this book in a single day, and afterwards sat satiated on the humour and good feeling that practically oozes from the pages.

As I’ve mentioned more than once previously, I was enamoured with this book. The beautifully subtle blend of urban teenage comedy and poetical philosophy had me hooked right from the beginning. (SPOILERS ALERT) Gunnar, the protagonist of TWBS is a character that is extremely hard to dislike, his opening lament of the previous generations of men in his family is the perfect, giggle-inducing opening of this fantastic book. The ways in which Gunnar navigates his life from Santa Monica to Los Angeles is a hilarious joy-ride that is entirely immersive and splendid to read. The characters that Gunnar meets throughout the book add to the vividness of the experience to the character and though fictional, you can’t help but see these characters as real living people.

One thing that particularly stood out to me as a reader was the way in which Gunnar’s life and the lives of those connected to him are presented. The interwoven tid-bits of information about Gunnar’s absent Father, his sisters and the Los Angeles kids are dropped in at unsuspecting times all throughout the work, making the TWBS a fluid and entrancing read to the very end . The book kept me on edge and wondering what more was coming every step of the way.

I have to admit that this book made me laugh so, so much. It was endlessly funny and was full of little pieces of select humour that I enjoyed immensely.

A crucial concept of this book is race, quite evident from the very beginning. Though perhaps more accurately what is more crucial is awareness of race. Beatty is delightfully tactful in speaking chiefly about race but largely in subtext. The nuances between black and white culture are shrewdly embedded in this book and pushed to the centre of it through base humour and multi-layered jokes and jibes.

I cannot think of anything negative about this read. I suppose a word of warning, is that the book is written in such fast and fluid prose that it requires a certain level of attention to keep up with the fast pace. Though I can only say that it adds to the realness of the characters and as a reader, trying to keep up with the pace is extremely reminiscent of the speed of growing up.

Overall, this book is a beautiful, funny and deeply thought-provoking piece of fiction. It’s definitely a book I would suggest to read. The coarse language juxtaposed with the lyrical poetry is a delightful medley of text. I can’t wait to dive into the rest of Paul Beatty’s works.