Cover Image: Black Buck

Black Buck

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Member Reviews

I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

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I love satire and this one did not disappoint. Satire was very straightforward, pretty easy to understand, and definitely entertaining. My only real complaint about this book was it felt like there were too many subplots at times.

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One of the few five star reads from 2023.
I was absolutely stunned and awed by Askaripour's writing. Such a unique story about the american work force, and what we do to get ahead in our career.
Darren, down on his luck working at Starbucks, has a chance encounter with Rhett, your typical run of the mill excited tech CEO and lands a job on the sales team for Sumwun.
Eventually, Darren, who wants to help support his family, does the unimaginable, and becomes the "tech employee we love to hate". Full of twists and turns, this satire on the money hungry tech industry, which exploits young people all in the name of a dollar, was full of heart, wit, humor, and often times sad.

Loved it and can't wait to read whatever he has planned next!

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This was a clever and extremely entertaining debut novel! I really enjoyed the dark comedy side but that also managed to tackle some really important and heavy topics of race, stereotypes, white privilege and the dark side of corporate culture. As a huge fan of sarcasm, I thoroughly enjoyed this fun, witty and thought provoking book!

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I’ve had this one on my to read pile for a really long time so wasn’t sure what to expect from it. I did enjoy the story on the whole but it wasn’t anything special or rememberable. I did like the character of Darren.

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A vicious, hilarious satire of racism, gentrification, and soul-sucking corporate jobs.

Darren is living in his mom's Bed-Stuy house and working at Starbucks when his talent for upselling customers on drinks is recognized as quality salesmanship, and he's hired to join the elite sales team for a tech startup. There, he's nicknamed Buck (supposedly for Starbucks, but you know. You know.), and the money and prestige starts rolling in, but so does the loss of connections to his family, friends, and neighborhood. Some of the plot is silly (complete with secret identities, faked deaths, many ridiculous acronyms), but it always worked for me. Highly recommended.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5542566991

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I really wanted to like this one, but it was seriously underwhelming and unbelievably obvious. It was supposed to be a satire, and apparently, it was supposed to be teaching me something. Maybe I am the wrong audience because each of the 'each one teaches one' moments are things I learned a long, long time ago. I don't know how a book managed to come off as preachy but still had the word fuck sprinkled so liberally all throughout. I'm sure plenty of people loved Black Buck: A Novel by Mateo Askaripour, but for me, it really missed the mark.

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Darren Vender is shift supervisor in a posh Park Ave Starbucks, dating his gorgeous high school sweetheart and lives at home helping to support his hard-working Mama. He keeps telling his mom he's waiting for "the right opportunity to come along" when she presses him about school and career. That opportunity comes in the form of Rhett, a high powered start-up CEO who is impressed by Darren and offers him a job that seems amazing, almost too good to be true. And it kind of is....

Wow! I'm kicking myself for keeping this on my TBR for so long! I only pulled it up to make sure I read at least one Black author in honor of Black History Month. This book captivated me from page 1. I loved all the characters and following Darren (aka Buck) on his WILD "coming of age" professionally. I adored his mother and their dynamic. Some tears may have been shed multiple times, okay many years. I also love how Buck evolved through the course of the book and I'll admit for a while I thought there was no way he could redeem himself to me after some of his not so favorable actions.

This is one I savored and didn't want to end. I loved the character development, the challenges, the victories and jeez - even the plot twist impressed the pants off of me!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to meet and grow with Buck! Sorry I'm so late!

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This book was interesting, relevant, unique and surprising in the best way. Black Buck is about a young black man who worked at Starbucks until a manager from a new up and coming dot com start up company is impressed by his selling skills and recruits him to join his sales team. This book reads as part sales manual, part faux memoir. It is funny and infuriating, happy and sad. It's satire drenched in truth. The plot was engaging and the character development was exquisite. And the audiobook narrator did a phenomenal job. I loved it and honestly cannot wait to read more from Askaripour.

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An excellent story, darkly humorous and well written. It's funny, thought provoking and disturbing at the same time, a mix that makes it a page turner you cannot put down. I loved the style of writing, the storytelling, the character development and the descriptions of the tech world. A great book that I strongly recommend.

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Black Buck was thrill to read. Sharp, bizarre, over-the-top, and poignant, Black Buck repeatedly surprised and amazed me. It also pissed me off, frustrated me and entertained me. My feelings for Buck continuously ebbed and flowed as he continually transformed himself.

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The humor and satire of this book was right on point, and made a compelling and important issue fun and less tough to digest, while still making you think a lot. This is a really stellar work and I can't wait to see what Askaripour does next!

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DNF 58%
Sadly this was just boring.. it went on and on and it felt like nothing happend...The main character and the happening around him...was just... meh... i was so bored out of my mind til i had to dnf it.

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Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to review this book. I wanted to love this book but felt that it missed the mark.

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I'm not sure what to call this genre, but I'd put BLACK BUCK, THE OTHER BLACK GIRL, and THE RIB KING all in this category of dark humor, Black revenge, and genre-bending genius. Whatever it is, I want more!

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This is more of a reader error than anything on the author but it's hard for me to read satire and truly get it!

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ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to read Black Buck in time to give a proper review.

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A book I would recommend for other people. The content was rough for my taste (in the vein of wolf of wallstreet). I could see other people adoring this book and I am glad it exists. Not for me.

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Great book!! Readers will enjoy this journey and will actually ask for more. I am looking forward to additional books from this author. He captures the reader and holds them until the end of the book.
This book was a of a book club selection and ALL members enjoyed the read. We completed the title earlier than scheduled.
Great discussion questions are produced as a part of this book, class and race being at the forefront.

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I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

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