A fun and propulsive book that I saw described somewhere as a mix of Sorry to Bother You and Wolf of Wall Street, and I cannot beat that summary. The plot seemed a little predictable at first, but the last third made up for it with some decent unexpected developments. The satire was a little too blunt and on the nose to be fully effective though.

I received this Review Copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much Netgalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for giving me this opportunity to read and review this amazing book. A very big Thank You!!

REVIEW

Black Buck is an amazing novel written by Mateo Askaripour. The author’s writing style was extremely exceptional, that it had the ability to attract the reader’s attention from the very first page. The total way in which the author has sketched the entire novel was mind-blowing-ly amazing. The plot was very straight and clear. The plot moved ahead flawlessly and there was not even a single scenario which was written down pointlessly. Every scene had a reason and it helped structuring the plot perfectly.

The book has been divided into 5 parts and each part spoke about different and crucial phases of the Protagonist’s life. Each and every line written on the pages of this book was like a compilation of golden words.

This book is simply about Sales. Sales is one of the very high demanding jobs with lot of pressure and targets to achieve every single day. Not everybody can do sales because taking money out of someone’s pocket with their consent is definitely not an easy job. Particularly when the people are so hellbent not to spend their money.

This book was like a mini guide to sales, if you read this book and follow whatever the protagonist of this book asks you to do, you will become hell of a Salesperson. It was so accurate and authentic. Either the author must have been a real life Salesman in the past or he has done a tremendous job with his researches.

The sales lessons that Buck teaches the readers throughout the book was very interesting and easy to learn. These lessons will not just help the readers learn about sales but also about life in a greater depth. This is one of the best attributes of Black Buck.

The characterization of Buck was done very authentically and realistically because the author had deliberately shown the change in Buck’s character with every phenomenal events of his life. And it is genuine for a normal human to change after encountering certain changes in their life and lifestyle. Flaws exhibited in Buck’s character made him so real and relatable. Not just Buck, every support character her their own battles to fight and that defined why they behave and do certain things the way they do. They were a lot of support character and each and everyone of them had their own distinct part to be played.

Especially the lessons learnt from Wally Cat was life changing. How he gave big and complicated life lessons which would solve people’s problems just by simply sitting on the streets was awe-inspiring. The role played by Buck’s mom was very significant, she made him a better man and she brought about a lot of impact on him.

The problems and day to day difficulties faced by Black American in the world, especially corporate and sales world had been beautifully written. This book also exhibited the emotions of Black Americans in a greater depth. The initiative taken by Buck for his fellow people was really amazing and the author was considerate enough to give the required push to build Buck’s character appropriately in order to become that kind of an hero, that he was.

The turn this book took halfway through the book was seriously unique and it was something no one would have anticipated. The movement created by Buck and how Buck and his friends worked towards the betterment of all their lives was amazing. This quote “Each one teach one” was fantastically followed and executed in this book. The ideology that this book exhibit was really inspiring.

This book had a very good vibe to it. It was extremely fast pacing and informative as well. The author also vividly told about the life of a Salesperson. How occupied, busy and fast pacing their life will be and how that kind of a workaholic attitude of a Salesperson brings about a toll in their personal life has been written down so realistically.

On the whole, it was a mind blowing book. How it started and how it ended was really nice. And the parts in-between were nothing short of amazement.

MY VIEWS

Right now, I am working in Sales field and it felt really relatable. I could relate with each and everything that has been told in the book. I could almost find each and every word which had been taught to me during my sales training period has been written on the pages of this book. I immediately texted my training manager and told him about this book. It was so akin and that’s one of the reasons why I liked this book so much.

I was relying on the ending of this book to make a life decision and I guess this book helped me get a clear head. I kind of had mixed feelings about the ending of the book but when you think it through again and again in your head, you will realize it was the most apt ending and you will get accustomed to it. That’s what happened to me with this book as well. Initially I was not so very okay but then I started liking it.

There were lot of good quotes throughout the book, I almost highlighted 40 percent of this book. There was also emotional stuffs infiltrated into the book and the one which was very heart touching was the letter written to Buck by his mother. It had lots of values and lessons to learn. I cried a lot while reading it and also learnt a lot.

I generally like books written by Black authors and this book did not let me down. I absolutely loved this book. I learnt a thing or two about life and emotions of Black Americans and I would love to learn more about them. It was such a wonderful read. I’m so glad, I decided to read this book and I’m thankful for Netgalley and the publishers gave me the opportunity to read this book.

There are certain life altering books which could impact you in a way like you have never ever been. I loved this book so much and the things I learnt from this book will definitely stay in my heart forever. I hope it had brought about some solid positive change in my thought process and attitude.

My rating for this book would definitely be 5 out of 5 stars

I would like recommend this book to all the people who are working in the field of sales to read it without fail. If you are someone who is interested in reading multi-cultural interest kind of books then you can absolutely pick up this book. If you want to try something new, then please pick up this book, I promise this book will give you lot of takeaways!!

Do read this book and tell us how you feel about it.

Happy reading Folks

~Meenu

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

This debut novel was so much more than I imagined it could be. It follows Darren (later known as Buck) through his tumultuous ride from a comfortable yet fulfilling life working at a Starbucks to later working at a start-up in New York City. While I personally have never worked at a start-up (which actually seemed more like a fraternity or a cult from these pages), I felt as if this novel so accurately portrayed the BIPOC experience in the working world coupled with microaggressions and outlandish comments by peers and higher-ups of the like.

I have seen many mentions of this novel being compared or placed side by side with the film Sorry to Bother You, which might I add was fantastic but the ending was so strange at the same time. While these are both stories that follow Black men in the startup world, I believe they both have different takeaways. I was able to hop onto one of the author's Instagram lives and asked his thoughts on the comparison of his novel with this film - he brought up how he wanted to be the first one to tell a story of a Black man in a startup, but conversely how that is a scarcity mentality.

Overall, this book was fabulous (and made the NYT Bestseller list, congrats!) It made me really feel angry about many things that happened throughout the novel (btw Clyde sucks).

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the gifted e-book!

Black Buck (2021) by Mateo Askaripour is a satirical modern-day hero’s journey of a young black man at a tech startup. Darren “Buck” Vender is 22 and smart. He is still living at home with his mother, has a steady girlfriend and a job at Starbucks. He was his high school valedictorian and never attended college. As the story begins, he is poached away from Starbucks by the CEO of a tech startup called Sumwun. As the only black person he is exposed to all the white cultural craziness, prejudice, and racism in the company. He is challenged at every turn because of his color and lack of Ivy league education. Yet he (mostly) prevails. Askaripour handles all the issues with tremendous skill and humor, and his book is an accessible and enjoyable reading experience. My thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for an honest review.

Darren is a 22 year old Starbuck’s barista and he’s very content with his life, but has the potential and talent for so much more. When he upsells the right person, his life changes and he finds himself working in a startup and a name for himself.
I don’t often enjoy satirical fiction, but this was so well done reading as part memoir, part thriller and part cautionary tale. I alternately rooted for “Buck” and hated his choices, but found that I couldn’t put it down once I started. It definitely takes aim at current culture and the concept of the American Dream. I didn’t particularly love the ending, but I understand why it was written that way. Overall, it was funny, smart and highly entertaining.

I absolutely loved the book. It was a fast pace read and wow, it was full with contemporary issues. Buck, a former Starbucks barista starts a new job as a sales person in a new start up. It's a very toxic environment and he is the only African American on board. Determined and ready to succeed he doesn't give up in this environment and makes it to the top. And making it to the top always comes with it's price and this story is like a roller coaster about work issues, race issues and much much more . Absolutely adored it and can't wait to read more from Mateo Askaripour!

Darren is 22-years-old, living in Bed-Stuy with his mom, content to work at Starbucks as he has been doing for the past four years. His mom sees his potential, but he's fine working at 'Bucks and spending hanging out with his girlfriend. Darren is presented with an opportunity in a chance encounter with CEO of Sumwun, Rhett, Darren is hesitant to take it, but his mom encourages him to seize it. Despite not having a college education, despite his lack of connections many of the other staff on the team have, despite the fact that he is the only Black man in the company. And above all, the fact that the head of the sales team, Clyde, pulls some racist hazing...Darren finds a way to success.

This is the story of Darren aka "Buck" as he fast-passes his way through start-up corporate America in a satirical novel that echoes the unbelievability of American Psycho, intensity of Wolf of Wall Street , and a dash of powerplays and chess moves from Starz's Power. Darren is a likeable character who makes some (REALLY) dumb mistakes and loses himself to the siren song of corporate America. In his downfall, he finds a way to buck the system. The novel is written like a handbook for folks wanting to go into sales, which was very meta. The pace was a little too fast in terms of the timeline for Darren to be so into Sumwun and have such a strong connection with Rhett, but again, it highlights the cult-like atmosphere.

Anyone who has had any experience, even peripherally, with corporate culture, can appreciate some of the references and recognize the shifting of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts of many companies. Very fun, twisty, over-the-top (maybe not so over-the-top?? Especially considering some BIPOC folks at a cloud-based company who have recently shared their experiences of microaggression and exclusion with the interwebs...) read that made me shake my head, cringe, groan, laugh. I can't wait for more from Mateo Askaripour!

I’m judging a 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.

“It’s important for you to know that we weren’t poor, that not everyone living in what some white folks think is the hood is poor.” -I was grateful for the beginning of what proved to be a neat and complicated narrative.

Black Buck is a well written story involving topics of racism, ambition, feelings, wishes. It is entertaining. Being a Starbucks addict, I really enjoyed it!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

This book was unlike anything I’ve read before and I can’t believe it’s the author’s debut novel. I think it’s better to go into it not knowing much about the story. It’s definitely a book that will make you think and feel. Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour.

What an innovative and unique read. It's definitely satire, but with the kind of laugh that has a bite to it. Like when someone says something painfully true to you, followed up with "just kidding!" This book could probably fill a few weeks of a college course about capitalism, modern America, and being black. Definitely a lot to unpack.

Darren's life is modest, but happy. He lives in a brownstone that him and his mother own. He has a devoted girlfriend, and a nice job at Starbucks. And while supervising Starbucks isn't a job to shout about, he loves it, and he's good about it. But Darren knows that there's more out there, and for the sake of his hard working mother, he's anxious to find it.

So when a wealthy looking businessman comes in and tells him to come in for an interview, Darren is hesitant, but cautiously optimistic. But he never could have imagined how quickly and dramatically his life would change. Even his name is different, Buck, for his previous life at Starbucks. But can he keep all of the things that matter while he works hard to have it all?

Holy cow, right when you think you've hit the climax of the book, and things can't possibly get harder, you realize that you've barely made it up the mountain and there is still SO far to go. This book dives deep into the ugly world of hardcore business, and doing it while black. And while it did get campy and extreme at some turns, it also shines a harsh light on many realities of today. The ending was a bit unsatisfying, but overall, I was so immersed in the world that Askaripour created, and I would happily read more of his books.

I really wanted to like this book. The first part I was all in but after the first 100 pages or so I found the stereotypes and satire were just too much for me.

Rarely does a novel leave me reeling like this one has. I generally write my reviews immediately after finishing a book but I had to take some time to process this one first.

This novel is not what I was expecting at all. I thought it would be a light, funny read. It absolutely is not. There is some dark humor that I appreciated but overall this is a story that will knock the wind out of your repeatedly.

This is a story about race in America's workforce. The writing is sharp and stunning. It's about stereotypes and how they play out in real life. It's also about identity and family, how to deal with societal expectations and stay true to oneself.
It gives the reader a look at startup companies in the US, and how good intentions can quickly go south when faced with the possibility of wealth.

I highly recommend this book to readers of literary fiction.

I loved this book.
Black Buck tells a compelling tale about racism greed and helping those with an unfair advantage.
From cover to cover it had me hooked.

Unfortunately this book did not resonate with me. I did not enjoy the writing style and did not finish it.

Darren Vender is a black man in his 20s, lives in Bed-Stuy with his mom, never went to college, and is working at Starbucks in a skyscraper building in Manhattan. When he captivates Rhett Daniels, CEO for a tech startup called Sumwun, he is offered a position at the company and his life changes.

I honestly had no idea where this story would go, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride! It definitely read like a movie or TV series - kept me intrigued from beginning to end.

Askaripour is an extremely talented writer and developed these layered, complex characters. His writing is vivid, touching, comedic, inspiring. I can't wait to read more from him.

This book blew me away! I was unable to but it down. Perfect, dazzlingly, very well written. The details the author described throughout the book was so amazing. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

I was a bit conflicted with this one, tried to sit on it for a few days after I finished the book. I was in Marketing for 23 years so I know how sales operates. It might not be this over-the-top, exaggerate scenarios, but I know how sales training can make or break your career. When you good, you are really good.

Darren Vender, unambitious twenty-two-year-old lives in Bed-Stuy with his mother. After graduating valedictorian in high school, he does not make use of his potential and contents himself working in Starbucks. Then he met Rhett Daniels, CEO of Sumwun, NYC’s hottest tech startup. While ordering his usual beverage, Darren offers him different one that makes Rhett agrees. Right then and there, Rhett sees the potential in Darren and invite him to the part of his elite sales force. Being the only Black person in the company and enduring hell week of training, he is suddenly transform into a ruthless salesman unrecognzbale to everyone. When things are turning south and his plans of bringing in more people of color not just in the company but the whole of corporate America and the world, things get our of control and changes everything.

This book started strong and I like how it was presented as a memoir type, giving out sales tip to readers, and being satirical with laugh out and cringey moments. Uncomfortable for some but these workplace microaggressions are real and happening. Though presented as satirical novel, these have more dramas in it. Once it reach the middle story, I feel like it was all over the place until the end. I did not like where the story is leading and the ending. I also find it too long, can be shorten with our affecting the story. While reading it, I feel this will a good plot for a movie. Though this book is written not for the most of us and we won’t be able to experience those presented here, I still enjoy the ride and reading this book. A solid debut and I cannot wait to see what the author will write next.


Thank you NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was not at all what I was expecting, but I really enjoyed it! I was surprised to find that the first and second halves of the books felt like two different books, and I appreciated that the author broke the book up into different parts. Each part had a definite tone that correlated with the events of that part. I felt myself simultaneously rooting for and disliking the main character, Darren (Buck). I liked the plot and felt that the way the author set up the point of view was very unique. And the ending! What a complete surprise to me. This book was definitely worth the read.

This was unlike anything I have ever read before. The idea to write this book as a sales pitch was inspired. Watching Darren become Buck and get sucked into the cult of Sumwun was terrifying. You find yourself genuinely caring for Darren and wanting the best for him, while at the same time knowing that everything in his life is going to be changed.