When I first heard the title Black Buck I immediately thought about how this term was used historically to identify Black men that were strong athletic and healthy. These "bucks" would be sold at the highest price during slave auction; the promise of their seed furthering the slave master's financial profit.

So how does this fit our main character Darren? He's a very intelligent resourceful young man. He attains the job after he closes the sale with the company's CEO who supposedly nicknames him "Buck" for all of the money he thinks he will make for him.

For Darren SumWun represents an opportunity for him to make his mother proud. To finally live up to his potential and fulfill everyone's hopes and dreams for him. Walking in on his first day he has no idea what SumWun sells, but he quickly finds out that he will have to fight harder and suffer great humiliations in order to move up in the company. His two white colleagues have he upper hand. The familial and professional network of connections will secure their path. Somehow he must make himself indispensable to the company and its CEO. The problem is that Darren becomes this persona, this "Buck" and allows himself to be defined by his job and how much money he can bring in.

Askaripour uses Darren's journey to teach the reader about life. Included throughout are Darren's bits of wisdom written in the vein of a motivational self improvement book and "The Facts of Life" as told by the neighborhood griot, Wally Cat. I think Wally Cat was my favorite character. I enjoyed his storytelling and advice. Even though "Buck" often ignored him, he just spoke his truth.

Innovative. Intriguing. Heartfelt. Sharp. Fast paced. Intriguing. Eye opening. Entertaining. Fast paced.

The book starts out by reading like a memoir which had me switching back to goodreads to see what genre it was in. Right from there I knew this was going to be a book that was nothing like anything I’ve read before. And wow was I right!

Black Buck is a social satire based literary fiction novel. It is is made up of the themes surrounding life, family, career, the drive to be successful, society, hostile work environments and how they all effect each other.

This novel truly had so many twists and turns! Just when I thought I figured out the trajectory of Buck in the story, things changed!

While I did find Buck’s success in the sales role a bit too quick, I found it such a moving and compelling story. I liked how the story room place over a vance expanse of time through the few “six month laters” made it more believable.

What an excellent and powerful read!

I featured Black Buck as Book of the Day on all my social media platforms, included it in a weekly roundup and will include it in a monthly roundup of new releases.

I am an educator and although I would not assign this novel to my younger students, it would be an interesting read for high school students. It is important to put as many books about POC and anti-racism into many young people's hands as possible. This book was a diverse perspective on modern America. I liked the character of Buck, at first. However, throughout the book he started to become the character I didn't want him to be. His sales tactics were not commendable. To those of us who do not live in New York, his actions might be excusable because of his culture. This book showed that opportunity belongs to everyone, not just the entitled. The character of Buck has many aspects and Buck would make a good character study analysis for students. I received an ARC digital copy for my honest review. I would recommend this story to others because it portrayed relevant issues in today's society.

This book was amazing. I loved absolutely everything about it. The writing, the satire, the commentary on race, family, work...all of it.

Mateo Askaripour's Black Buck is an amazing debut novel. This book will certainly be on many top of 2020 book lists.

Narrator Buck is picked out of his life as a manager at Starbucks to work at tech startup Sumwun. As the only black salesman, he learns quickly what is a commodity in America - people and things.

It's a dark comedy, but it also packs an emotional punch. I cannot wait to see what else we will see from Askaripour.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I tried so many times to get into this book but I just couldn’t. It felt inauthentic and like the author was just trying to rip off the plot of the movie Sorry to Bother You (which did the whole satire idea way better). The main character was I likable and I just have to give up trying to read this one. Definitely not for me

I did not finish reading this book. It seemed as though the author was trying to write two types of books and couldn’t make up his mind what direction he wanted to take. Sections would suddenly take on a very crass, sexually explosive tone that I felt had little connection to the storyline. #blackbuck #goodreads

While Mateo Askaripour's novel Black Buck is crazy like Wolf of Wall Street, it also presents an interesting picture of race in America. What happens when an African-American becomes successful in an all-white industry? How does that success affect him? How does he choose to use his success? And what happens when he starts to help other minorities break into traditionally all-white fields?

So Darren works at Starbucks, and he's pretty okay with his lot in life, despite the fact that he's crazy smart and his friends and family keep telling him he can do better. And then he does do better. In a fit of insanity, he gives a sales pitch to a Starbucks customer to get the guy to try a new beverage, and the guy likes it so much, he hires Darren to work at his online therapy start-up.

Darren notices that he's the only black person there, and he gets treated differently (in a not-good way) from the other white recruits during their first week. But he doesn't want to let the white man get to him. He wants to prove to his mom and his girlfriend that he can do it.

And he does. With consequences. Consequences that come back to bite him even after he's decided to use his newfound sales superpowers for good.

The whole book is written as though it's a sales guide for the reader, with little asides every now and then pointing out a key idea to remember. And then you get to the end.

Wow. Just wow.

This book is going to make you think.

Black Buck is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and is on bookstore shelves today! I received a free e-ARC in exchange for a review.

Full of satiric symbolism, Black Buck is the story of a young man's journey from working at Starbucks to a start-up tech company with the allure of money and belonging. While much of the novel was.clever, I found it formulaic and, at times, simple in plot. I never liked.The main character. I didn't understand nor believe his quick transformation. The book.would be a good one to discuss as there are endless examples of racism and stereotypes and revenge and economic injustice and media and so much more. It was miss for me but am.glad I.read it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Mateo Askaripour for this electronic copy. I'm grateful.

Black Buck may have been my first read of 2021, but I’m pretty positive that it will also be one of my favorite books of the year. It’s THAT GOOD.

Black Buck is the story of Darren, a young twenty-something Starbucks barista in NYC, who is thrust into the chaotic, high-stakes world of tech start-up sales after selling the CEO of tech darling Sumwun on a better Starbucks order.

But Darren finds more than just opportunity at Sumwun… as the only Black employee he endures hazing, tokenization, and racist coworkers who want to take him down. The question becomes - can Darren’s meteoric rise be stopped? And what will he have to give up in order to achieve success?

This book is such a fun ride and that is largely in part thanks to the author’s incredible talent as a storyteller. Askaripour’s writing is propulsive and exciting and so freaking smart. It feels like he’s always one step ahead, and you just can’t wait to see what twists and punchlines he has in store for us.

In a way, this story almost feels like non-fiction, partially because of the use of second person narration and constant fourth-wall breaks… but also because Darren feels like such a real person and his voice is so genuine.

I listened to much of this book on audio and Zeno Robinson’s narration was absolutely spectacular. Robinson’s voice is so bright and dynamic, and he brought Darren’s energy and charisma to life in such an authentic way - they were a perfect match. If you’re an audiobook listener, this is one you absolutely have to check out.

To me, Black Buck type of book that breaks the boundaries of the literary fiction genre and appeals to a huge audience - it is exciting, youthful, plot and character driven, and so timely - if this book doesn’t become a tv mini-series or a movie, I will be shocked.

I loved this so much and I can’t wait to recommend it to literally everyone I know.

CW/TW - racism, racist slurs, ableist slurs, drug use, physical violence, family loss

I read this book in one day. It definitely held my interest but I'm not sure how I feel about the book. I feel like I got to have a small peek into what it is like to live as a black person in a white world (the company where he worked) but I'm not sure I agree with how he handled it. But I have nothing to compare it with from my own life.

Before reading the first word of Black Buck, close your eyes, breath deeply, then recite this definition to yourself:

Satire = The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

For if you don’t keep that definition in mind, this novel will be weighed down by its ridiculousness. The main character, Buck (so nicknamed because he worked at Starbucks), actually tells the reader repeatedly that his story is unbelievable. His story being that of a young black man who is plucked from his job making mochaccinos and thrust into the world of high-stakes sales at a New York tech startup.

The entire book is written from Buck’s first person perspective, including the Author’s Note at the beginning. There he writes, “I am a black salesman on a mission. And the point of this book - which I am writing from my penthouse overlooking Central Park - is to help other black men and women on a mission to sell their visions all the way to the top.” He’s not lying - the book is even written like a sales manual with specific tips on selling highlighted in bold for his readers.

And what if you’re not black, like this particular reader? He writes, “If you’re not black but have this book in your hands, I want you to think of yourself as an honorary black person.” If you can do that, and continue to bear in mind this is SATIRE, Black Buck is a heck of a fun read. Otherwise the plot and characters will seem too over the top and unrealistic. You need to set aside your “why’s” and “how’s” entirely. You’ll also need to excuse a lot of cringe-worthy analogies like, “colder than Jeffrey Dahmer’s freezer,” “drier than a nun’s vagina,” and “sharper than Michael Jackson’s nose.” (Groan.)

All things considered, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this debut is the January 2021 Read With Jenna book club selection. Devotees of her recommendations are in for a little something different, and I hope they’ll keep their minds open to the lessons Buck is trying to sell.

My thanks to Mateo Askaripour and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the opportunity to review an advance copy via NetGalley.

Very good book. We watch Darren go from working at Starbucks to moving up when a customer offers him a job. He takes it to please others and the wild ride begins. And what a ride it is. Variety of topics are touched on and in the pages of this book we may see people we know. Well written. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

The author captured what happens when someone finds sudden success in sales. The personality of the main character, Darren, changed from a sweet guy to a sleazy salesman. Along with that, the author was able to capture the racism experience by many black young men when each of his customers said that Darren, aka Buck, reminded them of a different black celebrity. This was extremely well written. I cannot wait to read more from this author in the future.

I was really looking forward to reading this book but somehow it fell a bit flat for me. There were some very funny moments and there were some very disturbing moments along the way, but the main character left me cold after the first part of the book. I liked Darren, aka Buck, a lot at the beginning of his story, but eventually I disliked how he behaved, especially in the middle section of the book, although he does try to rehabilitate himself and make amends. One really serious misstep comes back to haunt him by the end of the book. The author touches on a lot of important current issues, focused on the status of blacks in corporate America, especially in tech startups, and in society in general. I loved some of the side characters, such as Buck’s mom, Mr. Rawlings and another neighborhood elder, Wally Cat. Buck is the narrator of the story and he makes a lot of pop culture references, which may go over the heads of a lot of readers. One that made me laugh was a reference to a “headache the size of Kanye’s ego.” This is an author to watch, even though this book wasn’t a favorite for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

'Black Buck' is one of the smartest books I've read in the past few months. From the story to the characters, there is just so much that pulls you in. It is the kind of book that hooks you from the first page and it was a quick read for me as I didn't want to put it down.

The dark humour is extremely well done but never takes away from the big issues such as greed and rampant racism in the workplace. Very fast-paced, extremely well-written and a brilliant lead character in Darren, 'Black Buck' is definitely a book that should be added to your TBR lists ASAP.

BLACK BUCK
By Mateo Askaripour @askmateo

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 - @simplytroy - #BookedBySimplyTroy

This is simply a MUST for you to get this fantastic book to start off your 2021. It crackles with a fresh electricity that will make you feel alive. ⚡️✨⚡️ 📚 🔥 💥 💫

I’ve been singing the praises of this awesome book since @netgalley was kind enough to give me an advance copy to read. No joke the first 3 pages had me ready to go along on the mission - Buck’s mission - as the sole black employee at Sumwun, a NYC tech startup, after he’s handpicked by the CEO after their chance encounter at the building lobby’s @starbucks to join their sales ranks.

Darren’s (aka Buck) story will captivate you, enthrall you, piss you off, make you laugh, think deeply about race relations in the workplace and about family bonds and personal self-growth.

I love Buck because he’s a character that will stay with me forever. I’ll think about his well-being long after I’ve read this story. He’s not a perfect person and there are choices I wish he hadn’t made, but it’s real. You feel the weight of his emotions. We all make decisions in life that everyone won’t always agree with, but you still love them. Buck’s voice will stay in your head.

The book is also interspersed with amazing sales and life tips throughout that struck a cord with me as I read. It acts like an inspirational and wise sales manual within the overall story.

I read this book 📖 from #netgalley on my new @amazonkindle and then also listened to chapters on @librofm and without a doubt this audiobook is absolute 🔥 and the narrator @childish_gamzeno is dynamite 🧨 He can read any audiobook in the future for me. 🎧 📖 Then I also had to buy my own physical copy of the book from my @bookofthemonth club because I needed this on my bookshelves forever.

I can’t wait to read more from Mateo in the future. His voice in writing is bold and I’ll buy whatever he’s selling in the future. Congratulations to Mateo and @hmhbooks for this art.

Ring Ring IYKYK ☎️

Now go out and buy it everyone!! It’s out today!! January 5, 2021 Pub Date!

Oh and @readwithjenna also just announced it as her January pick today too so what are you waiting for and start ordering!!

Happy Reading Y’all!
#BookedBySimplyTroy 😉

#blackbuck #netgalleygoals #librofm #bookofthemonth #readwithjenna #mateoaskaripour #jennahagerbush
#guyswhoread #blacklivesmatter

This debut novel was incredible!!!!! I was drawn in right from the beginning and did not want this book to be over.

Darren is working at a Starbucks when he meets the head of a start up company. Darren suggests a different drink than what you as ordered and the man is so impressed by his sales pitch that he offers him a job. They start calling him Buck and his whole life changes. He is good at what he does but he loses all of his friends along the way.

He finally sees that he needs to change his life but is it too late??

My one complaint would be excessive use of the F word .

Thank you for the early copy!!!

Darren is a manager at Starbucks when he meets Rhett, CEO of an ambitious new startup. Rhett sees something special in Darren and invites him to join the sales team. Christened as Buck due to his Starbucks affiliation, Darren becomes a ruthless salesman dedicated to getting ahead at any cost. And he succeeds - until he finds himself forced to reinvent yet again.

Why I loved it:
On-point satire
Good satire is funny but rooted in truth to show the reader the absurdity of reality. @askmateo does a great job skewering startup culture and its discriminatory nature - the world presented here was true to what I’ve read in books like #UncannyValley, #Disrupted, #SuperPumped, and #BillionDollarLoser.

Engaging structure
Black Buck is written as a guide to becoming a salesperson, with Darren narrating. I loved Darren’s asides to the reader.

Excellent cast of characters
In addition to Darren, we have CEO Rhett, sales head Clyde (you’ll love to hate him!), best friend Jason, and girlfriend Soraya. Each character was well drawn and supported Darren’s story.

Plot, plot, plot
Like the startup world, this story moves fast - buckle up for a bumpy ride! I read this book in one sitting because I had to know where Darren would end up.

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.