This was the funniest of the (first) three novels of Percival Everett that I've read, understanding that "funny" is a subjective thing. There were times when I laughed out loud, if an unexpected snort of mirth counts as that. But I was pretty much entertained throughout.Everett creates this wonderful, eponymous character: Not Sidney Poitier. Yes, that's his name. He actually looks like Sidney Poitier, but he's not. So he's not and he's Not. It's a continuing gag in the telling, the author much t...

Whew! Wow. I don't know for certain, but is this whole thing a play on "I just don't feel like myself today." And, after researching a bit perhaps that is correct. The Wikipedia article links portions of the novel to specific Poitier movies. Of which I have only seen one. (Really need to watch those since I do love Sidney Poitier!) Though I was smart enough to recognize the parody of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"! (The one movie I have watched...)I felt relieved when some critics mentioned the

Brilliant damn writing. There's a scene when Not Sidney Poitier has an encounter with some orphaned white kids in the country that had me crying, struggling to get through between fits of laugher on the train. Masterful book, great character development, hilarious dialogue. So glad I discovered Percival Everett's writing because I now want to read everything he's ever written.

Thank you, Betsy.

When a boy is named Not Sidney by his eccentric mother, you can see how this would cause some problems with other kids in the neighborhood and at school. "“What’s your name?” a kid would ask. “Not Sidney,” I would say. “Okay, then what is it?” This usually resulted in Not Sidney getting beaten to a pulp.When his mother passes away, he discovers that he's inherited a lot of money, she being a major shareholder in Ted Turner's company. Ted, an executor to his mother's will, brings him home to Atla...

The last time I read an allegedly-hilarious novel by a well-known college professor, I swore it would be the last time I read an allegedly-hilarious novel by a well-known college professor. This was Jane Smiley's Moo, a book so flat, so boring, that I not only failed to laugh or even crack a grin, but was unable to identify which parts of it were supposed to be funny.Robin's review made me break my promise to myself, and how glad I am! Everett is a deft and imaginative writer, a man who can disp...

Not Sidney Poitier is orphaned as a boy, but thanks to his mother's wise investment, he is wealthy. He is taken in by Ted Turner, but mostly raises himself. Not Sidney goes on to have many experiences in life that deal with social class and race. A humorous and weird novel. This satirical book has quirky characters and hilarious dialogue. If you're familiar with Sidney Poitier's films, you'll notice that Not Sidney's life parodies them, especially Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Defiant Ones,

Remember this guy?It's the great Sidney Poitier, of course. The iconic, dignified, inimitable Sidney Poitier.The main character of this book is Not Sidney Poitier. He's not Sidney Poitier. Got it?Okay, now that that's out of the way, let the review begin.I knew after reading Telephone that Percival Everett was a remarkable writer. Now, I'm convinced he's a genius. One of our greatest living writers. He's written 31 novels to date, people. Time to catch up.I Am Not Sidney Poitier is a work of com...

Part of this is a great comedic novel, which blends satire (more on that in a minute), absurdism (the dialog between Everett's vision of Ted Turner and Everett's parody of himself are hilarious examples of how much comedic mileage can be gotten out of two bizarre characters acting bizarre around each other), and pop culture riffs (true to the title, you get parodies of at least three Sidney Poitier movies in this book - I picked up on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Lilies of the Field and, of...

It's unfortunate that a lot of people read this book thinking it’s going to be a "funny" book. It's not. It's satire. A biting satire on race that could make many a reader squirm. Yes, there is a running joke on “I am not Sidney Poitier and I am Not Sidney Poitier” and you groan every time you see it coming. But even that joke made a statement on individuality and race. Percival Everett, born in 1956, undoubtedly remembers Sidney Poitier’s movies being beamed into white America’s living rooms in...

Damn. Throughout this book I was thinking "this is pretty great, quite clever, poignant" etc etc. And then the last few pages hit me, right in the stomach. Is he Not Sidney Poitier or not Sidney Poitier? Outside of LA, outside of where he and his money are known, the way Not is treated and the situations he finds himself in are appalling. Sidney Poitier's roles included these same (literally, as the novel employs references to so many of his movies - which I found super enjoyable) scenarios. And...

a hoot and at least a few halves. question for anyone: how true a confession do you think when the everett xter says he didn't like writing ERASURE and didn't like it when he was done with it (226). anyway. devoured this picaresque romp. not quite as funny as i expected but that was probably my/hype's fault.

This is another 3.5 book. But Ted Turner's dialogue gets 5 stars.You know, I don't know what to say. This is an ambitious novel, and some interesting tricks are being used here, but I'm not sure how well they're working. Everett's novel relies on the reader being capable of catching the references to actual Sidney Poitier novels, as Not Sidney winds up in situations straight out of In The Heat of the Night, The Defiant Ones, etc. otherwise there's a lot of running to google. But even if you get

I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett[UPDATE: 1/16/19--see note at the end of this reviewOnce after dinner, as we sat in front of the television watching an Adventures of Superman rerun, I asked, "Was my father handsome?"She replied, "Some might say yes.""Was he smart?" I asked.She stared at the television. "Why is it that after all the bullets have bounced off Superman's chest, he then ducks when the villain throws the empty gun at him?"I looked at the television and wondered, knowing als...

Or maybe 4 1/2. This is one of the funniest books I have read recently. The setup is a boy named Not Sidney Poitier, orphaned when his mother dies. His mother, though she worked a menial job, had invested her money (including $30,000 from a Worker's Comp settlement) in a little company called Turner Communications; this is one rich orphan. Ted Turner gives the boy a home--not Ted's, but a cabin on the grounds of Turner's estate. He is provided with tutors and caretakers, has the opportunity to c...

This book is crazy. It MIGHT be about the arbitrariness of race and fortune and other identities, but there's such a firm commitment to nonsense in these pages (a Morehouse prof named Percival Everett teaches an indecipherable class called The Philosophy of Nonsense) that I'm not sure Percival Everett (the author, that is) even wants me to come to a conclusion. One part Don Quixote, one part Huckleberry Finn, this novel is a patchwork of allusions and genres. I can easily get turned off by such

Wow. I have no idea what happened but I loved this book. I wish I had someone to explain it to me. Little bits sink in here and there, ferment and then I'll be somewhere random like class or at work and - oh *&&^! I understand that part now.One of the most intriguing aspects of this book - that is completely beside the point (and this is, therefore, a completely appropriate non-sequitir) is that the character of Ted Turner, who we assume to be Not Ted Turner, is remarkably like me. If you like m...

Last Friday, a half hour after I finished reading Percival Everett's "I Am Not Sidney Poitier," the UPS man walked up the stairs on our front porch and laid down a package containing the next book I'm going to read. It's also a Percival Everett novel, "Erasure." I'm already halfway through meaning it's time to place an order for my next Everett work.Either way, I'm pretty sure he's my favorite living writer now. Not only hilarious but deeply poignant. His wordsmithery is a thing of beauty. The h...

A hilarious romp -- probably the funniest novel I've read since Russo's Straight Man, and definitely the funniest "experimental" novel since Barth's Sot-weed Factor. The protagonist of I Am Not Sidney Poitier is a young black man named Not Sidney Poitier who looks just like the actor Sidney Poitier, is "adopted" by Ted Turner, teaches himself how to "Fesmerize" (not Mesmerize) people and is plunged into a series of misadventures that resemble the plots of Sidney Poitier movies. This satire brill...

I've found Erasure, Wounded, and now this novel, all in very and impressively different ways unsettling and utterly compelling explorations of problems of identity in relation to class, race, and other social divisions, and the violence bound up with them. This novel unsettles hilariously. The characters of Ted Turner and Percival Everett are terrific. Like Not Sidney, neither of them seem to have found a role they're completely comfortable playing either, but they muddle through cheerfully, rid...