I Am Not Sidney Poitier

A Novel

De: Percival Everett

Narrado por: Amir Abdullah

I Am Not Sidney Poitier is an irresistible comic novel from the master storyteller Percival Everett

I was, in life, to be a gambler, a risk-taker, a swashbuckler, a knight. I accepted, then and there, my place in the world. I was a fighter of windmills. I was a chaser of whales. I was Not Sidney Poitier.

Not Sidney Poitier is an amiable young man in an absurd country. The sudden death of his mother orphans him at age eleven, leaving him with an unfortunate name, an uncanny resemblance to the famous actor, and, perhaps more fortunate, a staggering number of shares in the Turner Broadcasting Corporation.

Percival Everett's hilarious new novel follows Not Sidney's tumultuous life, as the social hierarchy scrambles to balance his skin color with his fabulous wealth. Maturing under the less-than watchful eye of his adopted foster father, Ted Turner, Not gets arrested in rural Georgia for driving while black, sparks a dinner table explosion at the home of his manipulative girlfriend, and sleuths a murder case in Smut Eye, Alabama, all while navigating the recurrent communication problem: "What's your name?" a kid would ask. "Not Sidney," I would say. "Okay, then what is it?"

©2009 Percival Everett (P)2023 Tantor

The title says it all

I like this author. I listened to “James” and I was hooked. So I tried “not Sidney” and I wasn’t disappointed.

Clever, humerous story skillfully narrated

Everett delivers an outstanding novel with skillful humor woven around characters and events of the mid-twentieth century in the South.

Bizarre story with humor and terror interwoven throughout. Highly enjoyable!

Bizarre story with humor and terror interwoven throughout. This story was extremely enjoyable! I am now hooked wanting to read more by Everett.

This might be my favorite book of 2025.

This is my first PE book. I am delighted, obsessed and want to consume every single thing he’s ever written. Surreal, deep, amusing and you feel like you’re in on the joke, with some very gimlet eyed observations about identity and race in America.

The ins and outs of the storyline and the humor

Humorous twists of the characters, geographically interesting, Everett’s understanding and subtle historical references. Loads of fun

Hilarious!

Such clever satire. I truly enjoyed it. The narration was excellent. Made me laugh out loud several times!

Meh

Not his best and not what the other reviews called funny. Pretty loose storyline that made little sense and the attempt to tie it together at the end didn’t work. Everett is a good but not great. The Trees and Erasure are the best he’s done. And they are good. James is weird and not sure why it gets so much play other than it’s associated with Huck Finn. My guess if anyone but a black writer wrote it, it would be panned big time.
As far as I’m Not Sidney Poitier— meh.

weird weird

I read this and felt like the author was either brilliant or on drugs weird stream of consciousness weird collection of stories that made no sense
did laugh at loud at the the thanksgiving dinner
the rest was dazed and confused
questioning what people consider art

I am Not Mr. Tibbs

This story will be more fun if before reading,you refresh your familiarity with Sidney Poitier's flimography. Not coincidentally, Poitier's work is available for viewing on Turner Classic Movie TCM. 'In the Heat of the Night' is a good place to start. It's still a great movie.

And like all of his books, Everett's signature send up of racists, both black and white racists, is hilarious and remains fresh.

A special adventure into self

I loved the ending and the unexpected road to getting there. What an imagination. “I am not myself today.”