I was hoping to like this book so much more than I did. I found the characters largely unlikeable & the asides about sales were off-putting to me. It was just ok in my opinion.

I’ve been on this corner long enough to see tens of thousands of transactions go down. And what I learned is that either you sellin’ somebody on yes or they sellin’ you on no. No matter what happens, some ** gon’ be walkin’ away worse off than the other **, so you gotta figure out how tha’s never you, you feel me?”

Yallllllllll. Y’all did NOT prepare me for this book. AT. ALL. First, get this on audio. It’s amazing. Zeno Robinson delivered this book to its true potential. 🤯 Let me try to get through this review without gushing.


Y’all watch Wolf of Wallstreet and just think, “Damn, y’all are wild!” Or, “You’re in a cult, call your dad”. That’s Black Buck, but, funnier, and with a head on approach of racism in the workplace. Plus, a dash of real life and how people actually have lives and struggles outside of work.

On the surface, it’s a basic starting manual on the dos and donts of trying to make it in corporate America. On the deeper side, It’s like a starting manual of what it’s like being Black in corporate America. How boardrooms may only have one Black person in the room, how racist pranks are degrading AF and not for “just playing”. I love how Black Buck is formatted. It’s different and unique way of writing and y’all, it works.

Black Buck is not just about trying to achieve this “American Dream”, but literally trying to survive in a world that’s designed to make sure you never survive. It’s about staying true to yourself and your community while still trying to assimilate into the whitewashed corporate culture.

This book took so many twists and turns I did not expect. You loved Buck, you hated Buck, you booed Buck, you cheered for Buck. I loved how the book wrapped up every loose end in the end. This was not at all the journey I expected I was going to go on, but I am oh so glad I did.

Thank you so much @Libro.FM, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Blackstone Publishing, & @NetGalley for the gifted copy. Black Buck is out tomorrow (01/05/2021) and is a book that deserves all the praise.

TW: use of the “r” word, whitewashing (like literally.. white washed), cancer, illegal drug use, assault, racism

Well well well, this... is a surprise for me. since I never got along well with books about business and sales. But a fiction about business and systemic racism tho...

In Black Buck, we follow Darren "Buck" Vender, a former employee in Starbucks, met by a life-changing opportunity from the CEO of an uprising start-up company in New York and a more promising position than being a master barista. Of course, nothing will be ever easy when you are an inexperienced black man working in an all-white office where people tell you they are, in no way, racist but then proceed to be as blatantly racist as possible.

A lot of things go on after this point, like, A LOT. Which is probably why I found the book really gripping. Many events, many characters, and his interactions with them come into play, and these influence greatly our main character and his decisions, with a bunch of sale lessons inserted here and there. Still, I'd have loved to stretch the book a bit more, since some details seemed to be out of nowhere, and other subplots didn't find their closures.

Besides the satire, which was so ridiculous yet realistic and thought-provoking, I don't have much to say about Askaripour's writing. But I was suggested to have an open mind and I'd also recommend other readers to try this too.

Basically, a great and fun read. 4/5

Thank you NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
I have some really mixed feelings about this book. First I would like to say that I have never really worked in corporate America. I have mainly worked in retail and more recently in education. I have also never lived in or even been to New York City or any other big cities others than Houston, TX which is a very diverse place. If this is the way corporate America really is then that just makes me really sad. In this book Darren is a good kid who, while he may not have it all figured out, he does love his family, his girlfriend, his neighbors, and really has a sense of who he is as a human. He has a good heart and his family comes first. On a whim he is given a major opportunity at a really sketchy sales agency is subjected to some of the most horrific things during his "hell week" at the company. Since he is the only POC who works for the company most of these incidents are race related. After hell week there is a tragic turn of events that boosts Darren AKA Buck at this point into a major career and from here he completely forgets who he is. I understand that some people change when they start making the big bucks but his change in character was really tough to read about and there were a lot of things said to the people who matter most in his life and he ends up pushing them away and becoming closer with these horrible people that he works with that may not have done these things to him but have all stood by and done and said nothing. The things he starts doing really are just not in his character. At this point things take another turn and just completely go off the rails. This book just got crazier and crazier with every turn of the page. I would have to rate this book a 2 out of 5 given that I definitely couldn't stop reading.

Black Buck is an amazing satirical look at society, racism, and salesmanship. Author Mateo Askaripour cleverly ties the story of Darren Vender and tips on how to become a winning salesperson. As the narrator, Darren tells his story. When asked what he is going to do better his life, Darren tells his mother and friends that he is waiting for the right opportunity to come along. In the meantime, he squanders his knowledge and talent away working as the head barrister at Starbucks on Park Avenue, a whole lifestyle away from Bedford-Stuyvesant. He’s earned respect from his childhood friend, his elders and his girlfriend’s father. They all want to see him succeed in life, especially his mother who works in a bleach factory. Learning street smarts from living and gaining wisdom from neighborhood elders gives Darren an extra edge over other young men his age. Nonetheless, something in him holds him back.

When he tests his gift of selling customers something they didn’t know they needed, he sparks the interest of the head of a tech startup company. From that day on, his life was never the same. His fall from grace begins with convinces one particular guy that the cup of Starbucks java he ordered isn’t the one he needed. Impressed, Rhett invited him to visit his Park Avenue office. Without missing a beat, he is hired at Sumwun and quits Starbucks. The next thing Darren knows he is literally being hazed by a group of white employees at Sumwun as a part of his training. He gets a load of racist rhetoric thrown at him by, Clyde who doesn’t want Darren there. Darren didn’t take the bait because Rhett “sold” him on how rich he would get with his talent, then treated him like a “brother”. The concepts of greed and power intercept the Darren everyone respected. That was all he needed to sink deeper into the abyss of a different kind of lifestyle.

I admit some of the incidents that occurred were downright crazy, but this book had my attention from the start. It would be incredible to see this book picked up as a movie. It opens a dialogue on the topic of racism and fitting into society when you look and think differently. Kudos to the author for making me love, laugh, cry, and sometimes get angry at Darren Vender. The bold print tips on selling are an added bonus to the story.

Well written, thought-provoking book!

Darren lives in Brooklyn and was the valedictorian of his prestigious high school. At 22 yrs old, he's working at Starbucks in a Manhattan office building and still living at home. One day the CEO of a tech start-up notices him at work and gives Darren a chance to join his elite sales team. It's a high stress sales job and Darren is the only Black man at the company. Will Darren, now nicknamed Buck, be able to find his purpose and stay grounded in this high pressure world?

I liked that this book was written as more of a sales manual and Buck would break the 3rd wall and talk directly to the reader. Mateo Askaripour was able to weave an engaging and thought-provoking novel that is very relevant for the current racial climate. Would recommend & would be a great choice for a book club!

Thank you Mateo Askaripour, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. #BlackBuck #NetGalley

This is my first 5 star read of 2021 and man... not sure what can top it. I loved the story. I loved Buck, even when I knew he was making a mistake I loved him. He was so human. He wanted to do good. He didn’t always succeed but he always tried. Several times I found myself saying “what?” and more than once I shook my head while reading, which is to say I was invested! I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. I can’t believe it’s a debut! There is so much I want to say but I’m afraid to spoil it by giving away too much. Maybe once I have time to gather my thoughts and process what I experienced with this book, I can update my review. But do yourself a favor and grab this book! Grab 2 or 3! You will want to share this with everyone!

Satire is what closes on Saturday night
– George S. Kaufman (1937)

Mateo Askaripour is alleged to have said this novel was written “just for Black readers, though white readers are welcome to 'come along for the ride.' ” As if to prove this, I (a white person) was not only given a free electronic copy of this book in review, I even received an email invitation to download and read it. I respond well to indications, in any form, that someone somewhere values my opinion, so I clicked right on over to Netgalley.

I just thought it was easiest to get the whole skin color thing right out there, however inelegantly, from the start.

I started this book and for the first couple of chapters said to myself “Wow, this is great!” I really liked the initial set-up, wherein we get to know the hero, his family, neighborhood, job, routine, etc. It was really impressive display of polished but unpretentious writing, simultaneously entertaining and informing.

But when the hero gets his big break and starts to climb the ladder of success, well, after a while, the book takes a more corrosive tone. I got bogged down in the unpleasantness and put the book aside in favor of other reading. Life is very stressful now, even if you benefit from privilege. I felt that I was dealing with enough seemingly intractable problems in real life. I didn't feel like engaging with anybody else's.

Then, after while, I picked it up and read it with enjoyment again. I said to myself: “This is pretty good, why did I put it aside?” I zipped through another half-dozen chapters or so, before again finding the parade of unpleasant hypocrites who propel the novel's plot forward were an unwelcome addition to my life, which was already full of a parade of unpleasant hypocrites appearing in the news.

So it went for another few cycles, before I finally powered through the end of the book.

Through no fault of the author's, I think that this book is appearing at the wrong moment. Best satire hits hardest and rings truest when a society is at its most triumphantly puffed-up and self-satisfied. That's not where we are today. Emotions are too raw, too much suffering is too visible. That's why, although the book is worthy and the author clearly very talented, reading it sometimes seemed like a chore.

Still, I'm glad I kept on until the end. Clearly the author is someone to watch.

I received a free electronic galley copy of this book from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via Netgalley. Thanks to all for their generosity.

Man, some people are really not going to like this book, and some are going to like it a little too much, a but performatively. But at its heart, Askaripour has written both a novel showing what it takes for a black man, and people of color in general, to get a break in this country as well as a rebuke of the kinds of companies that seem to be running things in America these days. The two are, sadly, closely related.

Wow. This book was a rollercoaster, and I'm still processing what I just finished reading. Askaripour's writing is one of the best that I've encountered - you are immediately sucked into Darren/Buck's world with the first page. The style of the book is unique, and I enjoyed how Buck's voice came through in smaller blurbs. There were some slow-moving portions of the book, but if the publisher's description sounds interesting to you, I would absolutely recommend this original novel.

A wonderfully outlandish but searingly raw look at both the overt racism and simmering microaggressions found in America's workplace, especially in the face of tech and cash economy startups. Filled with witty and smart observations that smack white privilege which is endemic in our workplace, this felt like a never-ending party, all the while knowing it's going to come crashing down.

Due to its satirical nature, there are definitely parts that made me cringe and there's a thread of outlandish antics running throughout that create a charged and electric pace. Beyond enjoying this for entertainment, this was illustrative, evocative, and long overdue.

I can't wait to see what else Askaripour dishes out. I'm here for all the lessons and gospel. Preach!

Black Buck was my first 2021 read and wow has it set the bar high. I heard this marketed as a read alike to Wolf of Wall Street, and yes, it is, but it’s also a lot more.

Our main character, Darren, was valedictorian of his HS class and is now content working at Starbucks. When he unknowingly sells a big shot salesman on a new type of coffee, Darren is offered an opportunity of a lifetime with many unintended consequences.

We the readers are directly addressed by Darren, as he navigates being the only Black salesman in this cult-like startup. This book is absolutely wild and I loved every page. It is a satire rooted in many realities of the times. The asides from Wallace to the reader as he basically writes us a sales manual was my favorite part of this book.

This book was smart, funny, heartbreaking, propulsive, and provides commentary on things we read a lot about in unique ways. My personal opinion is the jacket copy gives a bit too much away so it’s best not to read that, but I highly recommend everyone giving this a shot in 2021!

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings for this book. First off, I was not a fan of all the swearing. That always throws me off a book. I think this book felt like two books though. The first half was Darren becoming Buck and he was likable for most of that part and I rooted for him in his hard work to be successful despite all the racism and hard times. Once he started drinking and doing drug though, it was harder. Especially when he pushed away all the people around him from his mother to Mr. Rawlings to Soroya. That was all in the first half.

The second part seemed like a totally different guy. Darren had thrown off the old self and become Buck through and through. It was great that he decided to help others with the Happy Campers but I wish he could have done more to help all the ones that he had pushed away when he became Buck. Not quite a happy ending either.

This is not the kind of book that I usually read. It was not bad but I was not a fan.

Ring, ring! Talk about inspiration wrapped in a nutshell of adversity, that is what we have here. Askaripour lays out a story full of life lessons disguised as selling points for those who want to make more of themselves and never be ‘less than’ again. For people of color, as well as bi, gay, LBGTQ, Buck lays out his experiences in the spirit of “each one teach one’ in order to teach others how to sell, and make more of themselves once given the opportunity.
‘Buck’s’ voice is real and refreshing, I enjoyed his perspective and journey. The plot is rich with details and purpose, and has you at times cheering for the characters, shaking your head, weeping, laughing and frankly wanting to knock some others out!
Given the state of society today, this is a timely story, showing a perspective traditionally ignored, but much needed. I will definitely be picking this up to gift others, and will be looking for more from Askaripour in the future.

This was one of the best book I've read all year, this Author show you how in the world we live in now. It's more than Police brutality he show there's racism in corporate world and that racism resides on both sides. The things that Clyde did to Buck really made me very upset. the secrets that Clyde was hiding he should be very careful. This book made me cry, laugh, mad. Very emotional if there was a book close to my life this is it. I Author gave little insert at end of each to help you and your career. My favorite character was brain who strive to grown and learn more than working at Starbucks, I highly recommend you could learn so much.

Black Buck - 4.25⭐

Thanks to @Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book comes out 1/5 or pick it as an add-on to your January botm box! I think this book is best to go into blind, it was a treat.

Super quick synopsis: Darren, a Black 22 year old valedictorian living at home in NYC and working at Starbucks, is recruited for a sales position at a start-up called Sumwun.

My thoughts: I loved this book and stayed up way too late not able to put it down - it's one of my top 2 reads of December. I was hooked from the author's note at the beginning. The writing style (the narrator is writing a memoir/self-help/sales guide) was really fun & fresh, and the interjections from the narrator to the reader actually taught me a lot about sales -- and life! I thought the satire was done quite well; I had moments where this book made me chuckle and just as many times that I physically cringed. As someone that works in HR, there were so many angering moments, by how horribly Darren was treated and targeted by his white co-workers. There were also some really good lessons here - like how some get an unfair advantage in life by getting a leg up on the competition and can't even recognize it. Throughout the 400-pages and over the 2 years the book takes place, there are turns in several different directions; not shocking plot twists necessarily but the story moves in totally different directions. This kept me engaged and interested throughout the novel.

Read this: If you also enjoyed The Boys' Club, I think you'll like this. While very different from each other in both plot and writing style, I couldn't help but think back and compare. Themes of power imbalances and mistreatment of women and minorities in a high pressure NYC company were both present. With both novels, my feelings for the main character evolved throughout the story, as we see them both change into very different people than how we were introduced to them.

A note on content warnings: While there are multiple here, I wanted to draw attention to two of the more unexpected ones. This novel has several instances where the r- word is used in character's dialogue. I understand that it's unfortunately still used by many in conversations as a way to demean (and no doubt used by those in a position of high power...), so while I hate it, it's not necessarily a knock on the book. I also noticed, that while the reader is provided education and facts on Tourette's syndrome, which a character has, it's also used as a device for humor. Please keep this in mind if either could be trigger for you.

I waited a long time to get my copy of this book, mailing snafu, emails back and forth, etc. So was it worth the wait? Oh my word, YES! This was everything I was hoping for. It was smart, funny, satirical, and I couldn't put it down.

Darren is working at Starbucks (Buck is his nickname) when he encounters CEO Rhett. Darren sells him on a coffee and off the story goes. Rhett sees potential in him and offers him an interview. He gets the job in sales for an internet startup called Sumwun. Imagine "The Wolf of Wall Street" kinda place. Will he succeed or go sown in flames.

This is SATIRE. I will say it again for the people in the back, this is SATIRE. crazy smart satire too. The entire book was funny with a running joke throughout the entire book and made me laugh out loud several times. Another title could be the world of white sales according to a black man trying to find his way. Buck goes through some nasty changes too. While trying to emulate his coworkers, he becomes that slick salesman we all know and hate. He alienates friends and family.

So why 4 stars, I didn't love the ending. I understand why but still, it left me with a bad taste. hasty to take away a whole star, maybe but I am ok with that. I really didn't enjoy the ending and wanted nothing more than to put it down, walk away, and hope the ending changed.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and author for providing me with an advanced copy to read and review.

First thank you to HMH for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Where do i even begin? This book was a rollercoaster. And quite frankly i don’t even think rollercoaster is the right word—maybe adventure is better.

I personally feel that there is no way to review the full content of this book without giving anything away because this story weaves so many things together that if you say one thing you reveal another.

I have read Askaripour’s personal/critical essays prior to reading this debut novel and i feel that prepared me for what to expect. In a 2019 essay he discusses Willy Loman (death of a salesman) and race in America. This truly is the precursor for understanding the wild ride we are in with this novel

It’s not hard to see the parallels between Darren and a character like Willy Loman; however, more was at stake for Darren. Yes there’s the survival (read as financial state) of his family but also Darren is bearing the weight of the entire Black community on his shoulders at his job at Sumwun. That is present thru the constant celebrities his white co workers say he looks like.

There were multiple cringe worthy moments, but yet those moments seemed to fit the culture of the type of place this start up was/is.
The hardest part for me with this book, tho (besides the use of the r word), was the amount of characters names to keep track of at sumwun and other locations in the book.
I enjoyed that the book was split into parts, reminded me of a play being split into Acts that are designated to tell a specific story.

I thinks askaripour does a fantastic job writing a satirical story about start up culture in America. The use of symbolism thru the name BUCK is actually brilliant because it takes on very different meanings throughout the story.

Just like with death of a salesman, BLACK BUCK seeks to address the cruelties of capitalism but instead of focusing on the white American dream it focuses on the Black dream (necessity) of survival and longing to thrive instead of just survive.

There are so many themes here and i think this book would make a good book club pick for discussion. I think overarching the book is well put together and tells a story that we’ve seen before (kind of) but never with a Black person at the center.

Black buck is an awesome read. I went in not knowing what to expect, certainly not expecting the end twist, but I enjoyed the experience. I don’t have a lot of knowledge about sales and companies and everything you have to do to get ahead in that world, and this book shows the ugly and the uglier. It certainly made me mad most of the time, mostly for all the things that would be said and done to the main character. I liked how the story develops and how it flows as movie. I liked, but didn’t like, how the author represents the sales environment. It’s not my go to genre but I did enjoy it a lot, it definitely changed my perspective on how I act and how I take in my environment. It’s a great read, I can’t recommend it enough.

If I were a HS English teacher or a college English professor, I would assign this book to my class. I've been ruminating on this for a few days and I think now that I'm finally extracting my analysis and putting it into words I have much more of an appreciation for what this book is meant to do. What the author has accomplished here is pretty remarkable. The more non-POC who read books like this and supplement that with research and conversations from POC, we can work towards really trying to make things better. With that said, the skeptical part of me thinks that if you choose to read this then you're already trying (and maybe already willing to really look at how things are), but the more we can get books like this into the mainstream and into our classrooms or in front of young people who don't recognize this as their life - we can maybe, just maybe help open eyes that might have otherwise been closed.

While I was reading my rating was all over the map. After finishing it, I initially didn't like it. I told myself to stop being so old and out of touch. As I previously mentioned, it has taken me a few days to analyze this and while this is an extremely provocative book with a lot of extremes, I think there is a lot of value here. If you don't feel like you were just slapped in the face after reading it, then you're either too close to what this is about or you need to try reading it again. You should also feel really uncomfortable at times (at least I hope you do).

What I think worked in a lot of ways for me about this was that it was written as a sales manual. I liked how the narrator would talk to the reader and provide context on certain things that were happening to further illustrate a point. (The end was particularly clever.) What I was a little confused by was the rapid transformation of Buck. I felt his descent into vile behavior was a little too rapid and rushed, but I haven't seen much else about this from other reviews so it might have just been me.

I predict this book will be on a lot of lists next year and I hope it catapults Mr. Askaripour into the limelight. He has a lot of talent and I look forward to how his next book will challenge me too.

Thank you to Netgalley, Henry Holt & Co and Mateo Askaripour for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review.

Review Date: 12/29/2020
Publication Date: 01/05/2021