A bombastic coming-of-age novel . . . The White Boy Shuffle has the uncanny ability to make readers want to laugh and cry at the same time. -Los Angeles Times Paul Beatty's hilarious and scathing debut novel is about Gunnar Kaufman, an awkward Black 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.