I thought I was going to like this book. I found it to be very rushed at times. This book wasn't my typical genre and maybe that's why I didn't like it.

I have complicated feelings about this one. I enjoyed it and read it quickly. I keep seeing it billed as satire, but this is not your usual laugh out loud satire. An impressive debut and I look forward to seeing what he does next, I guess I just have an issue with the marketing.

The first half of the book read very quickly, then it kind of slowed down, and then the end just went OFF THE RAILS.

the concept of the book is certainly fresh, and as someone living in the heart of Silicon Valley, I was intrigued by the exploration of race in start-up culture (which, btw, is a bit different from Corporate America, which a lot of reviews have conflated). I liked how the narrator directly addresses the reader, like he is whispering secrets in our ear, and I liked the meta-concept: a book-as-fictional memoir, saran-wrapped as a Sales Bible. It is a gimmick, but the protagonist Darren, co-opts salesperson gimmicks to out-wit his superiors (read: white men).
However, for what has been called a race satire, I found this skimming WAY too close to the truth. Still, the plot twists were jarring and uncomfortable (as they should be!), and had a larger-to-life feeling to them, but I still have a hard time calling this satire when it’s not unrealistic. Honestly, it might just be white people who think this is full-on satire lol.
As much as this was enjoyable to listen to, this book left me wanting for a couple of reasons:
1) I was not impressed by how closely this plot follows Boots Riley’s film Sorry to Bother You (which I am a HUGE fan of - I just was disappointed to read a B+ paper to Riley’s A+ movie). Instead of being in conversation with the movie, it adopted the same broad-stroke themes and even some plot points, without digging deeper into its own message.
2) I wish this book explored concepts of masculinity in start-up culture or mentoring relationships in a gender-inclusive way. “Diversity gone wrong” was the motto, and this book is a prime example. This storyline was hyper-focused on racial divides between men in start-up culture, and the protagonist is ultimately the hero realizing his mom’s dreams. The plotline with his high school sweetheart made me cringe. I wanted Soraya to do better for herself than to just forgive his betrayal and “temporary delusion” with success. It even could have explored how monetizing mental health is an issue of access and distribution, and how sales companies target certain demographics that they think find more gullible.
Still, I would recommend this because it was thrilling and the narrator was personable and fun to get to know throughout the book. The absurd plot was highly entertaining and I am glad it came with a social message, even if I did find it a bit elementary.

This book is a WILD ride. I truly never knew what was coming next and Buck always kept me on my toes. The blatant racism in this book was so hard for me to read, which I think was it's intention. As a white woman, I don't deal with racial comments and this book really made a point to show me how obvious and apparent racism is. This book touches on the craziness of startup culture, which I can relate to in a sense since I worked at a company that prided itself on startup mentality. I can't wait to see what Mateo Askaripour puts out next!

If you work in business, I think you will like this book. For me this was not a personal favorite but I think that’s because I don’t work in a business field; I had a hard time differentiating what was supposed to be satirical and what was more representative of that life. I’m also not overly money driven so I had a hard time relating to many of the characters.

This follows Darren aka “Buck” and his climb to the near top of a NY tech start-up and all that comes with selling your soul for a bigger paycheck. I liked and loathed Buck in turns. He starts out as this really great guy who likes his job, loves his girlfriend and mom, and is overall content with his life. Once he joins the start-up and rockets to the top in short time, he turns into an insufferable, whiny jerk who makes excuses and blames everyone but himself because he can’t see what a terrible person he’s become. But then toward the end he comes full circle and realizes that he has the power to help others, specifically other people of color who don’t have the skills to get into these sorts of jobs. I really loved the Happy Campers and thought the idea was brilliant. I hope we really do see organizations like this now and in the future. I think they were my favorite part of the book. In the end, we see that Buck re-finds himself as a good guy who is able to stand his moral high ground after all.

Overall, not a favorite but it picked up for me toward the middle and end when the focus shifted away from the work and more to helping other people. I think I’d give it a 3.5/5.

“The media feeds off of Black blood like vampires. They want more of it, and they’ll pit us against each other jus’ to see it fly like firecrackers on the Fourth of July.”

One of the most original, remarkable books I've read in a while, Black Buck tells the story of 20-something Darren, an aimless but content Starbucks manager who lives in a Brooklyn brownstone with his mother. After he boldly suggests a different drink to a start-up CEO, the intimidating Rhett Daniels, he's swept into a new sales job in a start-up.  From then on, it reads like a training manual for aspiring salesman - a new version of Dale Carnegie's How to Make Friends While Influencing People.

Askaripour's satirical look at the cult-like experience of working in a new start-up is inspired. Sumwun is casually racist, cloaked behind achieving goals and making money, being a 'family.' But it's a family where a hell week is the norm, where employees keep telling Darren he looks like one or the other Black celebrity in a running gag throughout the book - and he's used as a shield in front of the media to preserve Sumwun's image. They even give him a new name, 'Buck,' entirely off of his origins. And worst of all, Darren begins to believe his worth as a man revolves around his success in Sumwun.

Working in a white start-up, wealth-focused space turns Buck into someone his family and loved ones don't recognize. He starts making rash decisions, and the climax and ending are both wild. I won't say more so I don't spoil you. I can honestly say I can't compare Black Buck to anything else I've read, although there have been comparisons to Black Buck being a Black 'Wolf of Wall Street.' It was a strong debut from Askaripour, and I dashed through it, in turns absolutely shocked and in others, resigned recognition of the racist toxicity and white entitlement that exists in American society, particularly in start-up culture.

Highly recommend. Thank you to @netgalley and @hmhbooks for the #gifted copy in exchange for a fair review.

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour is an impactful story about a black salesman.

Buck is a smart but unambitious black man working at Starbucks. Rhett Daniels, the CEO of the startup Sumwun, always orders the same drink at Starbucks until Buck convinces him to order something different. Rhett invites Buck to join his sales team. Buck works hard to be the best salesman but his rise to the top comes with conflict. Buck is the only black person at Sumwun so starts a group to help young blacks get jobs at Sumwun and build the skills for other jobs.

I really enjoyed Black Buck. Buck is a great character that works hard to become successful. He also mentors and starts a group to help young blacks get the skills necessary to get better jobs. I enjoyed how hard Buck worked and found it interesting how he changed as he became more successful. This is an interesting portrayal of how people change when they earn more money and success isn’t always a good thing. Black Buck discusses important race issues. Buck was never accepted by some of his coworkers and used as the face of diversity when it was helpful to his company. Black Buck is a great story which does a great job of portraying race issues.

Thank you Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Blackstone Publishing, Libro.fm and NetGalley for Black Buck.

Black Buck lives up to the hype! I was hooked after the first page and fully invested in Darren Vendor's story. Darren gets the nickname Buck, after leaving Starbucks to enter the sales world at a startup. Darren is the only black person at the company and has to deal with micro-agressions (and flat out racism) on a daily basis. We follow Darren as he navigates his new workplace, ambition and all that comes with it. There's a lot to unpack in this debut novel. It's a satire that takes on race, class, privilege, power and greed all while in a startup environment. The format was original and the writing was sharp. I can't wait to see what Mateo writes next.

Book review: ☆☆☆☆☆

Just as I’d started reading Mateo Askaripour’s scintillating page turner ☛BLACK BUCK, I was lucky enough to catch his Greenlight Bookstore conversation with fellow author Nafissa Thompson-Spires. I’ve listened to several interviews with Mateo since then, and am genuinely floored that, short of Nafissa and Spines & Vines creator and bookstagrammer Jamise Harper, so few interviewers and reviewers mention how the title of the book is provocative at best and racist at worst, intentionally so, but still. Nonetheless, I can’t front. It was both the title and vibrant cover design that hooked me.

First of all, I love every single time the main character breaks the fourth wall to speak directly to the reader. Full confession: I legit wrote down most of Buck’s advice that he so gratuitously bestowed. I also love that the New York Times best seller is written like a manual and a “cautionary memoir.” More than any of that though, I love that the 24-year-old debut author created characters that still linger with me—the kind I find myself talking about, as if I know them personally, days after finishing the novel.

Take Darren/Buck’s 50-year-old, good-looking mother who could pass for 35 with makeup, 40 without, and who allows her son to occupy the entire top floor of the brownstone they own because “grown men need their space.” I know sis! His childhood best friend Jason that hugs the corner and struggles more than Darren to find his footing in life. Yup. Familiar. His wise, gardening downstairs tenant, Mr. Rawlings reminds me of so many of the elderly and spirited neighbors that I grew up with as well as the ones I currently chat with daily (from a safe distance and with our masks on). Wally Cat, the all-knowing hood philosopher is too real. Oh, and I can’t forget the main character, Darren—who is renamed Buck…by a white superior (for real)—a content 22-year-old Starbucks supervisor [also valedictorian of the elite Bronx High School of Science] who loves his job, his Yemeni girlfriend, his uncomplicated life and his Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York until a convo with Rhett, a Starbucks regular who convinces Darren to work for him at his tech startup Sumwun.

While many described Black Buck as a satire, I did not read it that way at all. The micro-aggression that Darren experiences in an all-white office? Too real. Granted, as ridiculous as it is that six different white people ask Darren/Buck if anyone’s ever told him that he looks like MLK, Sidney Poitier, Malcolm X, Morgan Freeman, Dave Chappelle, or Drake, it’s still believable.

This book reads like a movie and the fact that there’s a Hollywood bidding war to adapt it does not surprise me. I rooted for Darren and hated Buck, then sympathized with Buck and missed Darren. I despised all of his co-workers, except one, ok, one and a half. I laughed a lot. I teared up a couple of times. My heart raced once, my bad, twice. And my mouth dropped open often.

I’m looking forward to the adaptation as well as more books from newcomer Mateo Askaripour. Salute.

Wow, this book blew me away!
There were several elements that made this book stand out to me:
1) I enjoyed reading about business from the black male perspective. I have only read a few fiction books set in the workplace and it focused on the female struggles, but not the black male POV.
2) The way Mateo wrote this story was hilarious. I loved how the narrator interjects in his own story to point out key details. It was almost like a personal development book, but not because its fiction. But I love how he blurred the lines between the two.
3) The story was so entertaining at the end of the day. While it encompasses important and relevant subjects, it had thriller tendencies as well. That ending was mind-blowing, and I did not expect all these events to happen.

This book is long because so much is packed into it, but it is worth the read. I can't wait to discus with the author on Feb. 15th!

3.5 stars. Askaripour spins a compelling and satirical debut... I just wished I enjoyed it a bit more. It was a little bit inconsistently paced; at times the story dragged on, at other points it went too fast. I thought the last third of the book was a bit ridiculous and was not satisfied with the ending. All in all, I would still recommend for people who enjoy satirical stories about wild start-ups and lavish living!

This book felt too smart for me. Probably closer to 3.5 stars, but rounded up. It was very engaging on the surface, but as a white woman working in education in a decidedly un-New York city, I think 80% of the social commentary went over my head. Mateo Askaripour is joining my book club for our March discussion (shoutout Bad Bitch Book Club!) and I'm looking forward to hearing him speak. I expect it will be one of those books where my feelings change after I've had the chance to talk through it and hear from the author.

A son a little lazy, happy pushing coffee at a Starbucks takes a job to please his mom and girlfriend. A mom afraid she will leave her son unprepared for the life ahead. A son with a gift for making customers pleased is spotted by a slick entrepreneur in the start up biz pushes said young man away from his comfort zone into the cut throat world of sales. So begins a spiral that takes a human toll, and the spiritual demise of Buck. As Buck achieves a large purse he loses that guiding light that kept him human. His mother’s death pushes him beyond redemption at least on the surface. A deep dive into what he has become helps him move a little closer to the man his mother envisioned .

Black Buck was a wild ride from beginning to end: not once could I say I was bored! Mateo Askaripour's writing style is dynamic, which made this book all the more intriguing. Part fiction novel, part satire, part informative, Black Buck contains something for everyone. The story itself was good---Darren was a complex character who transformed greatly throughout the book. Were his changes for the best? We'll get to that later! For now, suffice it to say, Black Buck is honest, raw, and powerful in its own way.

We follow Darren "Buck" Vender's path from high school valedictorian turned aimless Starbucks barista to hotshot startup salesperson turned mentor to those needing someone to take a chance on them. The good: there are many positive messages---from the importance of hard work to not letting work blind you from those who care most about you. Black Buck encouraged readers that they truly can go from zero to hero by believing in themselves and selling their value. The relationships strengthened and created through the course of these pages were inspiring and filled with depth. The bad: Without going into too much detail, at the end, Darren ends up worse than he started. To me, that's non-negotiable. It was unfortunate to see the author take this direction because it seemed to downplay the significance of the amazing transformation he went through and the accomplishments he was able to achieve. I was definitely let down by what I thought would be a story about a young black man defying & rising above this unspoken "self-fulfilling prophesy" he was destined for, only to meet that cliche after all. The ugly: the use of disturbing similes/metaphors in this book was unnecessary and distracting. The crude comparisons and stereotyping only took away from the many outstanding points & thought-provoking dialogue.

Ultimately, while Black Buck fell short for me in terms of plot development, I enjoyed the raw, human emotion that was put on full display and the valuable lessons on priorities and hard work.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Mateo Askaripour for the ARC of Black Buck in exchange for my honest review.

I have way more respect for what I believe this author was trying to pull off to show a POC perspective. However, there is a lot about this book that I can't even put in words how confused or in ways incomplete this novel is. The cover is literally so nice.

This is the story of a young, unambitious black man who is jappy being the way he is despite repeatedly being encouraged to want more. One day, he convinces a hot shot CEO to pick a different drink at Starbucks and somehow lands himself a new job in a sales startup.

Darren's new job at this seemingly dream startup full of perks sounds too good to be true because it is; instead he finds a group of adrenaline junkies, bullies with a cult-like sense of worship for money and success. But he toughs it out, and just over the course of a few months he changes completely, from the kind guy who used enjoy his free time with his girlfriend to a shallow wannabe workaholic, among other things.

The writing style is a mix of colloquial language, slang, and little sections addressing the reader directly that were fairly humorous and insightful.But, for a satire, Black Buck is daring with its "jokes", relying heavy on race discourse. Frankly, I didn't find it minimally funny.

I liked the critique on the sales world and American consumerism, but not much else.
Overall, I just didn't like this book, it wasn't for me. I kept on reading it because I received a free copy from netgalley but I would've stopped long ago if I had bought it myself.

Confession: This book sat on my Kindle shelf for a long while because I tend to shy away from finance fiction. After seeing several glowing review, I finally dived into the story of Darren's serendipitous fall into the society of sales, a land hugely occupied by affluent white employees whose larger-than-life behavior sets him on high alert. At first. As time passes, however, Darren, i.e. Buck, hones his natural talent for sales and soon becomes a different man than the Starbucks employee of his past. With each passing month, Buck's whitewashing transformation removes him more completely from the community that raised him, one that now worries that Darren won't be able to find his way back. Sharp and witty, Askaripour's firebrand debut novel is a must-read for lovers of intelligent, satirical social commentary.
Thanks to NetGalley for the Digital Review Copy!

Definitely a different book...I kept reading but it was a hard read. I didn't like the slang that was used but overall it was a good story. It really showed how environment can change a person. I am not sure if I would recommend this to my friends are not because it was a difficult read. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

Many thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for giving me this book in exchange for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Black Buck, it was so enlightening.

The character development on Buck was one i liked a lot, the plot twists were so good, the humor I loved and the satire in it was beautiful.

Black Buck shows us what's wrong with our society, it shows so much that a certain people have to go through while also teaching on sales which i think is applicable in any aspect of life and career.

Darren aka. Buck starts out selling coffee at Starbucks (just another drug, as he calls it). His journey as a salesman changes dramatically when he is offered a corporate job, by complete chance. After the plot takes numerous turns, the ending is unexpected, yet round and satisfying. For someone who works in sales at a tech company, this hit home. The sales simulations, the phone calls, the constant trade off between what is moral and what is not, the Barry Dees of the world (a clear unapologetic hint at Gary Vaynerchuck), these are all elements of an accurate depiction of the sales hustle - which the author Mateo Askaripour does very skilfully. The novel is a satire, about how diversity is just a buzzword being thrown around in the business world, and how people of color are too often a "token" made to earn a company credibility. They are however held to a much higher standard than their white counterparts, and they need to make bigger, often painful compromises to adhere to them. Overall, an enjoyable, funny and light read with a strong message.

Thank you NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for this copy!