Member Reviews

Well, when I started the book I wondered what on earth I had selected to read - it's written as a self-help manual, and it starts in such a convincing way that I thought I must somehow have requested a self-help book on sales and selling and how to earn my millions by becoming an amazing salesperson! So, some convincing writing right there! I did realise, after a little while, that I was indeed reading a work of fiction! And I really enjoyed the beginning of the book. Darren is an engaging character. You like him, you want him to succeed and do well. And so when he gets his chance at the start-up company, it makes for some very hard reading to see the way he is treated there, all the micro-aggressions. But because it's Darren writing the sales manual, you have high hopes for a successful outcome to the story.
My problem with the book began as Darren began to change in character. I understood why, but it just felt very difficult to read, and I wasn't sure I would stick with the story to see how things turned out for him because honestly, I wasn't sure I cared very much any more if that's how he was going to be.
The final third of the story seems to flip into a different sort of story again, and whilst it's a little hard to believe in places, I still kept on reading to the end. Part of me wanted to say that things like that couldn't possibly happen, but then of course we've all just witnessed Trump's final days in office and actually, things like this really could and do happen.

There are moments that are uncomfortable, there are moments that make you cringe, and there are moments that are funny, and moving too. It's a good range, with some challenging ideas, so I'm glad I read it.

Was this review helpful?

This wasn’t really for me. I found most of it sort of cliche and cheesy. A lot happened at fast rate a lot of which was also pretty unrealistic and unbelievable.

Was this review helpful?

This is the sort of book I’d love, I thought, given the premise and storyline. That’s not to say I was disappointed - it’s more that I struggled with it towards the end, feeling that it labours the point a bit too much.

‘Black Buck’ is about Darren Vender, a resident of Brooklyn, who manages a Starbucks in midtown Manhattan. One day, he convinces a steely regular customer, Rhett, to try a different blend of coffee - and such is his skill and effect, Rhett convinces Darren (known as ‘Buck’) to come work for him at Sumwun, a hugely successful enterprise.

It’s never completely clear what Sumwun does, other than improve people’s lives. The induction is tough; Buck’s colleagues and vile, narcissistic and driven by money. Buck becomes very successful, very quickly; then the dream turns sour and along comes his own business idea, Happy Campers.

There is a tragic human story at the heart of this novel, with the loss of Darren’s mother and the destruction of his relationship with Soraya. Later, near the end, it’s clear that this story is being told from a place than Darren/Buck is in - a terrible result of the mistakes he made, plus the manipulation of others. It’s about race - and BLM is at the fore, so much so it completely implodes the life that Buck has made for himself.

The ‘voice’ is interesting - the somewhat cliched vernacular works, although it is a smidge irritating. I enjoyed it but as to whether it’s a brilliant satire, I’m not too sure. Shaving off some of the book, condensing it, would make me think otherwise, I think. I wonder what others feel - be interesting to know!

Was this review helpful?

Fast-paced and funny, Black Buck pulls you and then drags you merrily along for the ride. It reminded me of a novel version of the film, Sorry to Bother You - another excoriatingly funny send-up-with-a-serious-message about race and culture and business in the US today. Very much recommend.

Was this review helpful?

I really wanted to love this book. The premise was so great and I was ready to root for Buck. But it's not brilliantly written, and the sloppy writing makes the characters hard to engage with. There's a lot of 'telling' rather than 'showing' so the plot sometimes felt like a series of lists . Didn't live up to its promise.

Was this review helpful?

Black Buck is about a young black man called Darren who is given the opportunity to become a sales man at an all white start-up company and how this impacts on all aspects of his life.

Some of what Darren goes through is truly shocking, and I would have left that sales company within a week, but I could also imagine that some of this is very real and true. For example, on being introduced to Darren, white colleagues, compare him to looking like a whole range of famous black people.

The book also addresses issues of opportunity and racism and what, in the UK, we’d call the old boys network.

I really enjoyed the first two thirds of this book, and it had a very natural end point but then it carried on for around another 100 pages. That section does focus on some important aspects of how some white people respond if they feel threatened by progressive policies. For the actual story of Darren I didn’t feel that these additional pages added anything, and I found the actions of one character really started to stretch what I felt was believable enough motivation for their behaviour. I would have much preferred the earlier potential ending.

I’d still recommend it as read, for Darren’s fabulous sales advice if nothing else. It would be a great book to study as it’s quite complex in terms of who is or isn’t a positive influence on Darren’s life and all of the race issues touched on and I’m still mulling over that.

Thank you to @tworoadsbooks and @johnmurrays for gifting me ebook access.

Was this review helpful?

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

I loved the first half of this book but I do feel the second half could have been tighter. All in all, it’s a great debut, and I look forward to reading more from this author. 3.5 rounded up

Was this review helpful?

The Wolf of Wall Street wouldn't be my choice of viewing and I'm not black (though Buck gave me permission to read as an honourary Black person) so maybe it was a stretch I'd take to Black Buck. The language (street slang and liberal use of the f word) was another challenge. The genre, satire with self help sales manual on the side, was unusual. I think the advice was meant to be for real, including quotes from John C. Maxwell, Albert Einstein and the Bible, no less but in sales it can be a fine line between sincerity and parody. I couldn't help feeling the whole way through the book that Askaripour was trying to have it both ways. I like satire to be sharply focussed, to have a clear target and conviction. Narrative development felt a little ad hoc, Buck's career development halfway through the book seemed too sudden and another development near the end seemed like an interesting idea but it felt a bit like an afterthought on Askaripour's part.

And having said all that, there was never any question of putting the book down. Black Buck has a message and it's an entertaining read.

With thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Was this review helpful?

Sunday Review:💰Black Buck💰

Mateo Askaripour’s debut novel #blackbuck centres around Darren Vender a Starbucks barista who lands himself a sales job in a controversial tech startup .

A searing tale of how “all that glitters is not gold “. Illuminating the racism and socio-economic disparity experienced by so many .

The racism directed at Darren is exhibited in a slow and continuous manner . Making it as infuriating and uncomfortable as it should be , a credit to the author @askmateo

This is a fast paced and sparkling tale which will pull you in and hook you from its first pages. A book which starts one way and ends in another altogether.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to @netgalley and @johnmurrays for my first E-ARC in exchange for an honest review !

Was this review helpful?

Darren was the smartest boy in his school but didn't go to college and now works in Starbucks. An impromptu piece of salesmanship prompts a businessman buying his morning coffee to offer Darrn a job and he is off on a mission to becomes the best salesman in the world. When he achieves success and is living the dream a chance encounter with a down and out stimulates him to start teaching his selling skills to other disadvantaged kids - and now starts a roller coaster ride of actions and consequences. Its a clever and complex plot which keeps you hooked.

Was this review helpful?

This is a stunning debut novel from Mateo Askaripour. He has an original voice and style full of racial angst. Perhaps my mature white background found it difficult to comprehend at times! The “patois” is often challenging but enlightening.

So Buck (nickname from his time at Starbucks) has a happy relationship with his mother, girlfriend and street buddies. After a chance meeting with Rhett (an entrepreneur) in Starbucks, he changes his job to a trainee sales executive. The training is excruciating and Buck is subjected to abuse and racial taunts by Clyde (a Trumpian director of the firm). Buck is very aware that he is in a white environment. This is a big conflict for Buck – many of his street friends think that he has sold out! His family along with Rhett are very supportive and encourage him to accept the training methods.

Buck makes rapid progress and becomes a star salesman. It is a time-consuming job and the relationship with his family and girlfriend breaks down. Rhett is becoming a huge influence on his life. Buck does not want to see the dramatic change in his attitude. All the time Buck is railing against the lack of opportunity and freedom for non-white people. This becomes pivotal and Buck creates his own sales training company for non-white people. This eventually brings him into conflict with Rhett and especially Clyde who has by this time resigned from the company because of Buck.

By the end of the story, Buck has found his freedom. His freedom may be significantly different from yours! Not only are the racial observations very pertinent but his own journey is interesting. The whole story is well written with many wry observations and witty episodes: a book for modern times.

Was this review helpful?

Mateo Askaripour writes a biting satire on the state of the US corporate world and race, it unfortunately carries an all too real a depiction of the contemporary realities that it often makes for a deeply uncomfortable reading experience. The young, bright and black 22 year old Darren is reasonably content with his life as a barista at a busy Manhattan Starbucks, with his girlfriend, Soraya, although his mother thinks he should be aiming higher and do justice to his talents and abilities. Thinking that a customer of his would appreciate another drink more than his usual choice, Darren persuades him to change. The customer, Rhett Daniels, is a CEO of a tech start up, Sunwum, he is relentlessly determined that Darren should come work for him on his sales team, and Darren eventually agrees.

Darren joins the all white ambitious sales team, racist, aggressive, with its ruthless dog eat dog culture, undergoing a hell week of training in this hostile environment, and is called Buck, because of his Starbucks association, and exploited as the face of diversity for the company. Buck changes his entire personality to succeed at sales, shaping a new identity, transforming himself into becoming single minded, money driven, to become someone his family and friends no longer recognise. A tragedy, a loss, triggers a crisis within Buck, one which triggers an initiative to help and advise people of colour enter the American sales force. This is a powerful, well written, profound and thought provoking novel, presented in the style of a memoir, a self help sales manual, which works really well.

Askaripour's novel is funny, shocking and cringe worthy on occasions, full of twists and turns, and portrays many of the ghastly reasons why America struggles when it comes to employing a diverse work force. To be honest, it was a difficult read for me at times, but its core themes could not be more relevant in the American work place of today. Many thanks to John Murray Press for an ARC.

Was this review helpful?

A modern black “Wall street” in the tech industry, a powerful engaging story which kept me up throughout the night as I could not put it down. I had not read a book in one sitting for quite some time but this one sucked me in from the first pages. Written with humour and compassion, the streets of Bed-Stuy are colourful and authentic, the main character so very human and relatable.
A coming of age novel mixed with intrigue but most importantly a real social commentary on being black in the workplace and the question of positive discrimination. An absolute must read which does not take the easy road and avoids unnecessary cliches, a classic in the becoming!

Was this review helpful?

I'm having a really hard time reviewing "Black Buck". Maybe it wasn't a book for me in the first place. I really liked the dark humour as a clever way to show racism in America. I know it's supposed to be a satire and it focused mainly on social injustice and a rat race but somehow I was missing a plot. The story was dragging and I really struggled to connect with any of the characters, especially Buck. I hated him from the start.

For the plot - There was a clever black guy Darren/Buck, working in Starbucks, he got a chance to join a successful start-up called Sumwum. With the support of his mum and girlfriend, he makes it to the top, even though his road was filled with white, racist people. Even though Buck starts making more and more money, living a glamorous life he lost a lot.

Now, I don't want my review to contain a spoiler, but I was personally hoping that this story will show people what's really important in life and also cancel some of the hurtful stereotypes. Well, it didn't happen but of course, I can't blame an author for having a different vision from me. 

I will definitely follow Mateo Askaripour and read any of his future book. He didn't sell this one to me.

Was this review helpful?

Black Buck tells the story of 22 year old Darren who still lives at home in a rundown part of town with his ailing single Mother and dates the girl he's loved since he was 12. Although academically brilliant (he was the valedictorian of his prestigious high school) he didn’t go on to university, opting instead to stay at home to help his mother, and has worked as a Starbucks manager for the last 4 years. When Darren successfully talks Rhett, CEO of a tech startup, into changing from his usual coffee order he receives an offer that is set to change his life.

This story focuses on race within the predominantly white world of tech start ups, and more widely, what it means to grow up black in America.

It’s easy to pick holes in the this book; Darren’s character seems to ebb and flow with whatever the storyline needs him to be at the time, the book was packed with terrible stereotypes and ludicrous, impeccably timed good fortune BUT, if you’re willing to overlook all that, it’s a very readable story, told in an endearing first person conversational style. Although I don’t think the story will stay with me for long, I found this book an absolute tonic and it was exactly what I needed to get me out of a reading slump.

Was this review helpful?

‘Black Buck’ follows the narrative of Darren (or ‘Buck’), an unambitious starbucks barista, who is given an opportunity to work for the hottest new tech start- up company by the CEO. He is soon to realise that he is the only black person in the company and the reader gets to learn the challenges he faces with this.

This is a satire which critics modern day office culture and explores the themes of ambition and race. The pace of the first half was a little slow and I did take a bit to get into reading this. However, it did a good job of setting up Darren’s character and establishing his relationships with the other characters. The second half of the novel took an unexpected turn and was definitely more eventful! While I preferred this half of the book, I did think some parts felt over the top. Overall, this book succeeded in showing an insight into the inequalities in society still occurring today and the challenges minorities face.

I enjoyed how this was written in first person with a conversation tone and there were often interjections directed straight to the reader. I also liked how starting from the Author’s Note at the beginning of the book, it is set up as a satirical memoir/self help guide and sought to help the reader have a better understanding of today’s issues and to empower them to make changes in their thinking.

I have given this a 3.5 (rounded up to 4) out of 5 stars, as while the themes and topics explored are very eye opening and important to represent, I did think some of the characters were a bit too stereotypical!

Was this review helpful?

This is a fast-paced roller coaster ride of a novel - which reminded me of another hilarious comedy ‘How to get ahead in Advertising’, except this serves as a treatise on how to make the big time in Sales, with biting social commentary on American race relations thrown in.
It is admittedly full of stereotypes, as is the way with satire, but nevertheless an entertaining and provocative look at the rise of US victim culture and identity politics.

Was this review helpful?

Wowwwww!!! A hyper-real novel, with believable and very real characters going through events that whilst plausible, are heightened and pushed to their extremes. I’ll be taking the lessons of this book (less the sales tips, more the worldview) into my day job, which is incidentally at a tech start up! Witty, fast-paced, never quite satirical but always nudging in that direction, this isn’t a book I’ll be forgetting any time soon and will be recommending widely.

Was this review helpful?

Darren is an un-ambitious guy happy to manage his team at Starbucks, live at home with his beloved Mum and hang out with his girlfriend and friends in his Bed-Stuy neighbourhood. But as valedictorian of his year at college, those closest to him want nothing more than to see him fulfil his potential and a moment of brilliance with internet start up director, Rhett Daniels, gives him that chance. Finding himself thrown in at the deep end as the only black salesman in the secretive ‘Sumwun’ team ‘Buck’ is born. We then hang on as ‘Buck’ goes on a wild ride that sees him making more than his fair share of dubious decisions, struggling to balance home and work and try to fight his way to glory against unbelievable odds.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I liked Darren/Buck, he wasn’t perfect but was ultimately a very human protagonist. Although I couldn’t be more opposite to him, in that I am a white woman from the UK, I was still able to relate to him in a lot of ways. Of course my eyes were also opened to a lot of things that made me laugh, cry and rage! I would recommend this book as a wild, funny and heartfelt tale for any reader. I didn’t agree that Darren needed to apologise and make amends as much as he seemed to have to at the end though....I was team Darren/Buck all the way. Soraya and Jason....just not a fan! When you read it let me know if you agree 😊

Was this review helpful?

I have to admit that when I started reading this book I thought that the way it starts off that it was non-fiction, only when I double checked the description was I proved wrong. It had some great writing and I saw some hints of Glengarry Glen Ross but with the satirical approach some reviewers didn't quite get.

I thought it was a good book, and quite insightful Iook into the world of sales, but also how it can be interpreted by all levels of education and social environments.

Was this review helpful?