Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour is many things—racial justice commentary, social satire about the sales industry, debut novel, and maybe even a morality play. But at its heart, it’s a good story with a compelling main character who indeed sold his ideas effectively to this reader.

Darren Vender is a Manhattan Starbucks barista. Actually, he’s the shift boss at their location in an upscale office building and he’s good with that. He’s also a young black man from Bed-Stuy with a sweet mom, a future-focused girlfriend, and strong neighborhood support. As they say, he’s an achiever who never “lived up to his potential.”

That all changes when Rhett Daniels, a charismatic CEO from upstairs, taps Darren to come work in sales. The organization’s sales trainer christens him Buck, claiming it’s because of the coffee shop connection. Now Darren / Buck learns to swim in the tank of ravenous sharks into which he’s tossed.

My conclusions
Askaripour takes an ambitious bite out of several topics as he develops Black Buck’s plot and characters. He skewers the sales industry and business in general, especially as it relates to Old Boys’ Clubs. Then he takes on the downsides of diversity programs in companies, and racial justice overall. Throw in a little commentary on gentrification and you get the idea here.

Nevertheless, the author focuses on Darren, the people in his life, and the impact of his life choices on them all. We see beyond the tropes and care about the characters. The plot barrels along like a high-speed elevator. More important is whether our hero is on his way up or down in this fast-charging machine.

Alternately, Askaripour is somewhat heavy handed with allegorical meanings. For example, the choice of Buck as Darren’s alternate name is fraught with potential historical meaning. Is it a reference to the post-Reconstruction term for a powerful black man who won’t bend to the will of white men? Or are the white folks at his new company honestly tying it to the almighty dollar or his former employer? Same thing goes for Darren’s mentor’s name. Was Rhett named with a nod to another famous fictional character?

These questions aside, if you’re looking for a debut novel that’s dynamic, has forceful characters and meaningful themes, look no further. I recommend Black Buck and will certainly watch for upcoming work from Askaripour.

Acknowledgements
Many thanks to NetGalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and the author for a digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for this honest review.

I was excited when I had the opportunity to read along with the “Read with Jenna” book club as it is very rare for me to actually read with a book club on time. Black Buck is a piece of satire that is funny yet very thought provoking about race and corporate America.

Darren is a manager at Starbucks in New York City waiting for the right opportunity when one finally seems to come along. He is hired as the only black salesman at a new, successful tech startup and given the nickname Buck. We follow his story as his success builds but his personal life suffers. This is written from the perspective of Buck as a memoir/self-help manual to learn sales and better your life.

I found it very funny but this also made it hard to empathize with the sadder parts of the book. I found the tone hard to keep up with when it would get super dark compared with the lighthearted vibe other parts had. But the story moved very quickly and was very easy to follow.

I’m not sure that satire is a genre I enjoy, so my opinion of the book overall is probably more affected by my reaction to the genre. I really appreciated how nothing gets glanced over when it comes to race and I loved how in your face it was about the current problems in society today. But I also found myself having a hard time really connecting with the story because of how exaggerated some things were. I personally like realistic stories so while I understand what the book was trying to do I was still bothered by how unrealistic it got at times.

Overall though this was such an interesting story that I had to keep reading to find out what the heck was going to happen next. There were so many engaging aspects to this story that had me thinking about it long after putting the book down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Let me tell you, this book is just as vibrant and colorful as it’s cover. 😍

Our book follows Darren, a faithful Starbucks worker with zero ambition as he gets discovered by a corporate sales giant. This clever book satirizes Darren’s journey as he deals with sales dude-bros, sociopathic trainers, racist co-co-workers, and over the top workplace antics. This new venture changes not only his name from Darren to Buck, but changes him internally in a way that his family doesn’t recognize him anymore. He wants to badly to better himself and help his family, but he has to figure out how to do that in a way that uses his talents AND keeps him true to himself.

This book gives me Shark Tank meets Tony Robbins meets Wolf of Wall Street vibes. It’s fast-paced and has a cast of rich characters, plus I could not help but imagine it as a movie the entire time I was reading.

Darren/Buck makes for a fascinating narrator. He’s talking to us from the present day and delving into the past to tell us the story almost like a faux sales memoir/business motivation book. Such a unique structure!

Plus the ending. WOW. I loved it and walked away from the book immensely satisfied. Askaripour is a brilliant writer and it’s hard to believe Black Buck is his debut novel! Color me impressed. I’m ready to read anything else he writes.

Thank you to @netgalley and @houghtonmifflinharcourt for the copy of this book and the opportunity to review it.

Debut novelist Mateo Askaripour comes smashing out of the gate with a story set in the high stakes world of sales.
“I chose to focus it on sales specifically not only because that’s what I know well and the world I come from but also because I believe that sales is as American as baseball, apple pie and our original commodity, slavery, our original trade.” -Mateo Askaripour


Born and raised in Bed-Stuy where he lives with his mother, Darren works in a Manhattan Starbucks located at the bottom of a high rise. When a slick CEO, Rhett Daniels comes in one morning to order his regular choice of joe, Darren sells him to try something different. It’s the moment that Rhett sees something in young Darren and opens the door to Sumwun, a start up company that works on improving the lives of its clients, big or small. The sole black face in a sea of whiteness, Darren begins the rigorous process of initiation and training, rising through the ranks but at what cost?

The book is being marketed as a satire but in interviews Askaripour has commented when he penned the book he never viewed it that way, and honestly I didn’t read it like that, at least the first half. Does this workplace, where people aren’t chained to desks but in a near literal playground complete with designated themed rooms, ball playing, gourmet meals, and pets sound so different from say, Google?
Askaripour does juggle alot, addressing racism, gentrification, and affirmative action among other things and there was a moment as Buck’s fortunes rise and an ugly side begins to emerge I didn’t know if and how he would bring an increasingly unlikable side of him back to center.
The writing is sharp and fast, dialogue crackling between characters with pop culture references strewn throughout that make Buck and his friends mostly charming and cool, but early on some of the best scenes are the ones that take place between Buck and his long time girlfriend Soraya. Meeting her in Washington Square Park as he observes the children playing nearby, two sentences nearly thrown away jumped off the page to me with such resonance and weight. “I watched little white kids running through the fountain. To be that free, man. That’s the dream”

Intermittent tips are thrown out to the reader interested in making their way into the sales world, that both stand on their own as bits of advice but are also used to break the action with levity like:
“Reader if you are a Black man, the key to any white person’s heart is the ability to shuck, jive, or freestyle. But use it wisely and sparingly. Otherwise you’re liable to turn into Steve Harvey.” By the books end there is an admitted absurdity to the action, but I gave over to it, finding the journey entirely satisfying. It’s a memorable debut and I’ll be interested to see both what he comes up with next, and who will be play the facile sales titan Buck in the movie.

Adding to the hype for this book, because it deserves it! What a ride. Askaripour delivers a biting, whip-smart portrayal of modern-day sales and what it means to be a black man in that space.

When this book was compared to Sorry to Bother You, I knew I needed to give it a go. I totally get the comparison! Askaripour’s satire is so on-point. Although the tech startup’s extreme atmosphere might be an exaggeration, the all-too-real ignorance and racism veiled as “hazing” from Buck’s coworkers are unfortunately not.

Askaripour’s writing is snappy and highly readable. I enjoyed the little snippets of sales tactics sprinkled in, and some of his ridiculous metaphors and similes made me snort. I know some people HATED this part of his style, but I honestly really enjoyed it!

The pacing in this book was a bit of a struggle for me. In the beginning I was hooked, then Darren undergoes a pretty unbelievable transformation in the blink of an eye. This section of the book lost me. I do think 100 pages could have been shaved here and there, but it’s all worth it for the LAST THIRD. What did I just read?? It’s so bonkers, yet in a way, pretty believable in today’s climate. You’ll have to read to see what I mean!

Despite my issue with the pacing, this book ended up being a wild ride that tackles real-life issues of racism, gentrification, and privilege in a super-smart way.

Black Buck is a satirical novel that offers a unique take on race and justice. Darren is a manager at Starbucks until one day Rhett Daniels , CEO of SumWun sees potential in him and offers him the opportunity of a life time. From there, things begin to look up and may possibly slowly spiral out of control. Darren himself is an interesting character. We watch his gradual change from Darren to Buck and how it affects not only himself, but the people closest to him. Throughout the book, we get tips on how to be a salesman and I actually found some of them to be helpful.

The book is meant to be grossly exaggerated and dramatic but honestly, it seemed very accurate given the circumstances of race and social justice in current America. It is so real in how racism affects the work place but also a day to day basis. It also tackles homelessness, gentrification, stereotypes, and white privilege. It does begin to drag at some parts but I see why the book was so long because it takes you in so many different directions that I really didn’t see coming. When I finished the book I stared off into the distance like “what just happened and what did I just read?” Askaripour takes us on quite a journey. I would call this a contemporary thriller but it’s definitely unlike any other book I have read with the mix of genres. I could definitely see this adapted into a tv series or a movie.

I had a hard time rating this but settled on four stars because of the unique content this book brings. Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent! Black Buck is the witty and telling tale of the single black male at a New York tech start-up. His challenges and adventures will keep you turning the pages.

I ran through this book-- such an amazing read, balancing satire and heart really well. My favorite part was Buck's redemption arc, followed closely by Trey's betrayal which I never saw coming.

The author is good at twisting words just right to really illustrate a scene, without going too overboard making it difficult to read. I can't believe this is his debut, he's on my watch list for his eventual second book.

Black Buck

This is one of my most anticipated January releases. Written by Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck is a satirical novel/self help about a young Black man making his way in the world. From a shift supervisor at Starbucks to the only Black member of an elite sales team at a tech startup, he is given an opportunity to make use of his potential. Nicknamed Buck from his barista beginnings, he is out to prove himself.

Askaripour is an epic storyteller, and is so damn likable. You will root for him from page one. Askaripour writes an inspiring hero in Buck. He starts out a man in love, satisfied with his work at Starbucks, and happily living with his mom in a three story brownstone. Askaripour writes about the corporate monster, exposing the widespread systemic racism. The characters were over the top, but were amazing examples of how Black people are oppressed, tokenized, and used in corporate America.

My only complaint was that it was a little longer than it needed to be. It dragged a little in the middle but finished strong. I was pretty blown away by the end of it.

Thank you to the author and @houghtonmifflinharcourt for my advance digital copy through @netgalley, and @librofm for the audiobook.

I enjoyed my time listening to this book. Satire is usually a tough sell for me because when I’m reading from a page I can miss the jokes. Listening to the audiobook of BLACK BUCK freed me from my self seriousness and let me enjoy the humor of the story.
The book is full of references, which I always love. It’s also a full takedown of white entitlement and the mediocrity that is endemic in startup culture, and America as a whole. The use of satire really heightens the kind of racism so many people take for granted or brush off. It’s also a cautionary tale of Black folks who become fixated on white approval and measures of success. This book is packed with cultural critique.
My biggest issue with the book is that it’s too long. There were a few times I felt like plot points and scenes were getting redundant or predictable. The book could have easily been 50 pages shorter without sacrificing on story. Overall it’s a strong debut full of energy and critique and humor. Yes, I even laughed out loud a few times.

What a weird, but original, wild ride. At times the situations felt a tad too much for me and I didn’t know if I was even rooting for the character - but maybe that’s the whole point? Read it in two days.

I feel bad writing a negative review but uhhh I did not enjoy this book. The writing felt amateurish and I found myself rolling my eyes a lot. Buck's thoughts and actions didn't make sense to me. Everything happens so quickly and feels unrealistic -- he goes from knowing nothing about sales to being super successful and wealthy within a few months? Almost every BIPOC character in the book not only wants to be a high-powered salesperson but is immediately a genius at it? The "satire" was so over-the-top that it was laughable and ineffective. I thought this book would be criticizing start-up culture and late-stage capitalism, but really all it had to say about that was that it should be more racially diverse. Cool.

“Buck”-le up for Black Buck! This story is like nothing I’ve ever read before, but WHAT. 👏 A. 👏 RIDE. 👏 (Yes, you’ll be literally clapping your hands in the first few pages.) I went into it pretty blindly, and while it did take awhile for the story to really draw me in, once it did, it didn’t stop.

Darren is 22 and content with the four years he's worked at Starbucks and his life at home in his mom’s Bed-Stuy brownstone. His mom is begging Darren to live up to his potential as the former valedictorian of Bronx Science. During a chance Starbucks encounter, a tech startup CEO sees a spark in Darren. He reluctantly seizes that opportunity to pursue a sales career.

It’s not long before Darren, who starts going by “Buck” among colleagues, is fulfilling that potential his mom, girlfriend, and others saw in him--but at what cost?

At times I just wanted to scream and plead for Buck to make different choices.
“Don’t go down that path!”
“No, Buck, just stop!”
“Buck, please, listen to them.”
“Buck, please DON’T listen to them!”

However, the tale takes the exact path it needs to carry us on a JOURNEY. This story had better twists than a lot of thrillers I’ve read. There are heroes and villains. It’s outlandish yet totally plausible. It’s heavy yet easy to digest. I laughed (so much). I cringed. I cheered. I shed a few tears. I made a lot of faces that looked like this----> 😳😖😤🥴😲 but overall, I can say that I truly loved this story. The whole experience was so worth it.

Black Buck is a timely, satirical book about race relations, diversity in workplaces, a little bit of gentrification, and the bonds of friendship and family. It’s one you won’t want to miss in 2021.

Going into reading Black Buck, I knew it wasn't written for me. I am a college-educated South Asian woman who empathizes greatly with the Black community's plight, but I will never truly understand it. I also know that I'm not the biggest fan of an entirely satirical book - I love sarcasm, but a book shrouded in satire?

So, I'm actually surprised at how quickly I read Black Buck. I'm somewhat shocked at how much I really enjoyed it and how much I'm thinking about it the day after I read it. Darren, a Starbucks employee who lives in Bed-Stuy with his mom, morphs into Buck, a startup salesman, when he meets Rhett Daniels, CEO of Sumwun. We watch Darren, a guy with a good head on his shoulders, become the worst version of himself, as he falls into the startup trap. He slowly loses all the people he loves around him in the first half of the book. The second half of the book is his redemption arc, where he uses his skills for good for his community.

There is a bit of the final third that was too unrealistic for my taste. However, overall, this book was good! I enjoyed the pseudo-memoir style of the book. As someone who lives not-that-far from the Silicon Valley, I think Askaripour really got the startup culture just right. It was a bold choice to set this in NYC, which I feel is more shielded from criticism than the Silicon Valley when it comes to startup culture, but I enjoyed the setting nonetheless.

Overall, this was 3.5/5 stars for me. Thank you to NetGalley, Mateo Askaripour and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC. I'm thrilled that Black Buck is published and available for all readers now.

I received a free electronic ARC of this debut novel from Netgalley, Mateo Askaripour, and Houston Mifflin Harcourt. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read Black Buck of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. Askaripour writes with a fluidity and rhythm that catches your mind and won't let go. He is an author I will follow.

Black Buck is a novel about a young man living in NYC. Twenty-two-year-old Darren lives with his Mom, has a great girlfriend, and when given the opportunity to reach the top of the retail worker's chain, he is hesitant to make any changes in his life. Written in the first-person perspective of a black youth, Darren Vendor, who is the supervising barista of the Starbucks located on the ground floor of the building housing a fairly new company, Sumwun, specializing in a program that employers may sign into, with connections to an associate who will council disenchanted or disgruntled employees, bringing them back to fully supporting and productive employees.

When Darren talked the head of Sumwun, Rhett Daniels, into trying a new coffee basically against his will, Rhett is very impressed. Within days he offers Darren a position upstairs, which he is encouraged by his mother, girlfriend, and various friends and neighbors to grab with both hands. He does, but his disenchantment, though slow-growing, is always there, and only the knowledge that his mother, showing signs of aging and ailing, would be terribly disappointed keeps Darren with his nose to the grindstone.

I was impressed with the accuracy of the emotions experienced by Darren - called by his boss and coworkers 'Buck' - and how true to life I found them to be. And in every instance, you can change the speaker to that of any woman or most especially a black woman, and it will be spot on to the experiences most of us have faced in our working lives. Definitely, a coming of age tale told very well.

Interspersed throughout the tale you will find bold hints to the Reader, to improve your participation in retail selling, all very important, accurate, and well-intended. This was an interesting, enlightening experience. Again, thanks for sharing your hard work.
pub date Jan 12, 2021

The first half of this racial satire had me hooked. Debut author Mateo Askaripour’s protagonist, Darren, is a 22-year-old Black male living in NYC and working at Starbucks. The reader is taken along as he enters the high-pressure world of a tech startup company, where he is the only Black employee. He is met with too many cringe-worthy situations and words. (The language in this book is crude and not for sensitive eyes and ears.) While reading the first half of the book, I could not look away. The second half was less engaging, in my opinion, and it lost the powerful satirical tone. The novel is reminiscent of When No One is Watching in that gentrification is critiqued in the novel (among many other social issues) and different parts read very differently in pace and tone.

Black Buck left me wondering how much of the satirical hyperbole of start up sales culture and the treatment of minoritized people in predominantly white companies rings true for those who have experienced those situations.

The book starts out with a 22 year old black male names Darren who works at Starbucks. One day a regular customer comes in and offers Darren a chance to join his start-up tech company. It touches on many things like racism and what we give up to achieve the sucess we want. I didn't like this book much at first due to how whites are portrayed, even though it is a satire. I thought a lot of it was a bit too much. I did end up liking the overall message as I read on and it came to a close. So if your on the fence on this one push through and give it a chance. A big thank you to HMH and NetGalley for this arc

I finished this book a couple of days, and I still don't know how I feel about it.

Black Buck has been marketed as a satirist take on being a lone BIPOC in a startup. I have been the lone POC a couple of times at the tech startups I have worked in, so I appreciated the take that Askaripour had on the whole thing. But maybe, it was just too satirist for my personal taste.

The progression of the story is very patchy, where there are a lot of unexplained or under-explained things that happen which should have been spelled out since this is a 400 page book. Also, the main point on which this book is marketed, where Buck helps other POCs to get into the different jobs, took too long to reach. I understand that the initial story of Buck landing the job had to be explained, but it still felt underdeveloped. Buck also goes from likable to unlikable pretty fast and without any concrete reasons and the other characters feel like caricatures being put in to fill the void.

Written in the form of a 'success manual', the story does compel you to keep reading it. There are obvious extremes introduced to evoke reactions from the readers, but some times they went too extreme. The ending was a bit abrupt, and like the entire novel leaves you feeling that something was missing.

I just realised that even after writing this long winded review, I don't if I liked this book or not. 😅

To every Black and Brown person, this book is for YOU. You need to start 2021 with this energy!!

Why would I tell you the story, Mr.Askaripour did that so wonderfully that my little pathetic summary would be a disgrace. But okay, since you asked nicely. This novel is about Darren, an intelligent 23 year-old that works in Starbucks waiting for "something else to come up." He is surrounded by loved ones and seemed satisfied with his life until he met Rhett, the head honcho of a tech startup company. Darren must then choose between the life he knew to this new reality that's handed to him. It's hilarious but gut wrenching, frustrating yet hopeful, a quick but very deep read. I fiinished this book in 2 days. It's that good!! You will be invested in every character, hate some and the plot... you are not ready! Ride this rollercoaster of a book that focuses on the other Americans: Black and Brown folks. We are also far from perfect but this novel drives to a point that we sure are smart, innovative, driven, loyal and fearless.

Thanks for reading my feelings journal. Mateo Askaripour we see you and we're listening.

Thank you Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for giving Vulgar Geniuses an advanced reader's copy of the book.

Darren, a 22-year old black kid living in Bed-Stuy, is content with his life, working as a manager at Starbucks. He lives with his mom, has a long-time girlfriend who he loves, and is pretty happy, generally. His life changes overnight when he convinces one of his customers, a rich CEO of an already popular and profitable startup who works in the same building, to order a different coffee drink. Impressed, the CEO offers Darren a job, and the rest is history. Kind of. Things quickly get a little...complicated.

I enjoyed Black Buck. Reading about these crazy Wall Street-types is always fun. And I like that it's coming from the perspective of someone who isn't white--though Darren definitely gives me Charlie Sheen vibes. The racist work environment is enraging. At times it feels over-the-top, but, unfortunately, I'm guessing it's not.

Darren's relationships with other characters were hit and miss for me, but it didn't matter. He's definitely the main focus, first and foremost, but the spectacle of his work environment is a close second. I was horrified and enthralled by the outrageousness of it all, so I found the whole story entertaining. I loved how the book progressed, and I really loved where it ended up. Feels like a fresh take on an enduring predicament.