I LOVED this book! It was such an easy read- while still tackling the honest truth of race in the work place. I felt like I was getting a behind the scenes view of something I wasn’t supposed to know- and it read like a real life story. I would recommend it again and again

An excellent story, darkly humorous and well written.
It's funny, thought provoking and disturbing at the same time, a mix that makes it a page turner you cannot put down.
I loved the style of writing, the storytelling, the character development and the descriptions of the tech world.
A great book that I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This book was a roller coaster. It's pitched as the satirical story of how Darren ("Buck"), a young Black man, goes from being a Starbucks barista to the top salesman of an ultra-white NY tech startup.

This book made me laugh at times, furious at other times... I even teared up a little bit at one point, which I did not expect at all! And those emotions are all things I experienced just from the first half of the book.

I'll put it like this:
1) A LOT of shit goes down in this book,
2) it is extremely fast-paced, and
3) the events of the book get more and more intense (and sometimes outlandish) as the story progresses.

By the end, I kind of felt like I had a bit of whiplash. But beneath the satire and over-the-top sequence of events, Askaripour highlights very real issues that Black Americans face: racism in the work place, gentrification of neighborhoods, unfair criminal justice laws. Honestly, if you look at each element separately, how outlandish and unbelievable are they, really?

I will note that it felt like the satirical tone ebbed a bit in the middle, and then cranked back up again in the second half, which took me a bit off guard. I actually had to remind myself that it was satire at some points, so I wish the tone had been a little more consistent throughout. There were also some parts of the book (namely, Darren's methods for "sales training") that I found questionable to the point where I couldn't see how they were relevant to learning sales.

In addition, some warnings: as other reviewers have pointed out, a certain character casually throws around the r-word. Also, if you're turned off by any mention of HP, there are a couple references to that scattered in as well (though I can only speak for the eARC).

So while this book is not without its flaws, it left me with a ton of emotions and I was satisfied by the ending, which was both sobering and reflective. I think it is a worthwhile read if you like satire.

Thank you to NetGalley and HMH Books for providing me an advanced readers copy of this book. BLACK BUCK is out now!

A satirical novel that tackles race and work in the United States. It doesn't always hit like it should, but it does at times. It tackles a lot, and it suffers from trying to do too much at once. There are funny and pointed moments throughout.

Black Buck is a book about a mixed kid, Darren, who goes from being a Starbucks barista to become a high powered salesman in New York. It's a rag to riches story with strategies for being a great sales man but also serves as a cautionary tale. The dynamics of all his relationships shift as he enters the cult like world of a tech startup and is willing to do anything to become a great salesman.

I had no expectations reading this book, I didn't even remember what the synopsis was about but when I started reading, I couldn't put it down. It started out with a hilarious intro, dude was really feeling himself and then it just went crazy with numerous twists and turns that I didn't even see coming. The storyline was brilliant, it kept me reading and my heart racing. All the while rooting for Darren, even as he made stupid decisions. With the right director and actors, this would make for an excellent movie, like something 50 cents would produce :).

Abi's Rating: Loved it: 5 stars

I was extremely excited to read this book. I am have been very interested in supporting Black authors and this book just really caught my attention. I can’t say that I loved every part of it. I am not a sales person and the ruthlessness of the company and the head people involved made me so uncomfortable, but I am pretty sure that was the point. I believed you were supposed to feel conflicted about Rhett. Making excuses for the micro-aggressions that came out of his mouth and Clyde was a jerk from start to finish... no spoiler there. I loved the arc of Darren (Buck). Even though he frustrated you with decisions that were made, he was a good person deep down and it was great that you got to really see him.
I highly recommend this book. The writing style is great! Any book that talks to the reader, that can use second person correctly, makes me so happy as an English teacher! But aside from that it really bring to light what Blacks in corporate America have to deal with. The constant feeling of being “less than”. You could help but see similarities in the Proud Boys and BLM. As much as it is a satirical novel, the realism and seriousness of the topics addressed in this book make is a must read for 2021!

Absolutely brilliant and biting look at being Black in corporate America. Set-up as a sales manual/self-help book, Black Buck grabs you from page one and doesn’t let go until the very end. Truthfully, it wasn’t always an easy read, but that’s the point, no? To be there to witness the story and basically go along for the ride with Darren/Buck? I found myself rooting for him even as I was mentally shouting “DON’T DO THIS.” By the third act, I was so anxious about where the story was leading that I was legit holding my breath while reading. Do not sleep on this one, y’all.

I have honestly never read anything quite like Black Buck before, but boy did I enjoy it! I’ve seen it compared to The Wolf of Wall Street. And although I haven’t read that book, I have seen the movie and I can definitely see some similarities. The character development was fantastic, and I loved the asides from Darren that made it feel like I was taking a business class from him.

There is so much depth to this story, and I loved the author’s fresh and sometimes over-the-top satirical take on some very real issues in our society. This book is unique and it is important. I definitely recommend picking it up. Mateo Askaripour’s talent shines through in this debut book and I look forward to reading more from him in the future!

I'm pretty sure I was the wrong audience for this book - business books might be my least favorite genre to read, and this book occasionally decides to play with the style of business book where A Noted Business Leader Tells You Their Story and Passes Along Some Tips, though I might have liked it more if it actually committed to that instead of just throwing in a "TIP: " section every so often to remind you that's where the voice it's using is coming from.

The two movies being thrown out in the description of this book are _Sorry to Bother You_ and _The Wolf of Wall Street_. I only paid attention to that first descriptor, which may have been another reason it wasn't for me. I kept waiting for the over-the-top elements to lead to something weird, sinister, and tablecloth-pulling in terms of plot, and it never came. If this was a dubstep song, I got stuck waiting for the drop. The character is a black man who starts as low man on the totem pole, and there's some social satire elements that are trying to make a point like _Sorry to Bother You_, but that's about it, and the satire is either too over the top or not over the top enough to be satisfying.

If I had known this was more _Wolf of Wall Street_ or in the style of a business memoir, I might not have picked this up, but it might be your thing if either of those sells you on this.

This novel didn't work for me. The narrator is full of unexamined misogyny and even when labeled "satire", I just couldn't excuse it. That said, I wanted to know what happens so I kept reading until the end.

Oh my gosh this book made me so uncomfortable on so many levels! For a good portion of it I was waiting for someone from HR to come grab the book out of my hands. Whew! Why? Well, because the Mr. Askaripour holds nothing back when he writes about racism in the workplace. It was a total HR nightmare. No matter how much you want to say this is satire, it is exactly what happens, though hopefully not all at the same time! Of course, despite the strong non-fiction vibe of the introduction, this book is fiction. Right? And we can laugh at the ridiculous situation that Buck is placed in and pretend it isn't anything close to what happens in the real business world. Right? And we can cheer when Buck takes a stand and feel like we are on the side of good. Right? Through is dark, dry humor, Mr. Askaripour shines a light on many of the issues still rampant through corporate America. He doesn't let anyone off the hook, but instead hooks them with his powerful story telling and irresistible characters.

Darren is a good kid who loves his family and friends, and tries to be a decent part of his community. Then he’s given an “opportunity” at an agency, where, being the only kid of color, he’s hazed horribly. As a result he starts passing on the crap he’s taken, and his character takes a turn for the worse. At that point he, and the other characters, become caricatures as the book levels its sarcasm artillery at the corporate world—becoming a completely different sort of book than it seemed at the start.

It felt as if the author tried to get in all the dire Messages he’s felt piling up, and thereby lost control of the narrative. While I sympathize with, and agree with, the injustices, I was left thinking that an essay might have been far more effective than a novel that becomes a polemic.

On the other tentacle, even though my impression was that this particular book was a hot mess, the heat is what makes the author someone to watch.

I was hoping to like this book so much more than I did. I found the characters largely unlikeable & the asides about sales were off-putting to me. It was just ok in my opinion.

I’ve been on this corner long enough to see tens of thousands of transactions go down. And what I learned is that either you sellin’ somebody on yes or they sellin’ you on no. No matter what happens, some ** gon’ be walkin’ away worse off than the other **, so you gotta figure out how tha’s never you, you feel me?”

Yallllllllll. Y’all did NOT prepare me for this book. AT. ALL. First, get this on audio. It’s amazing. Zeno Robinson delivered this book to its true potential. 🤯 Let me try to get through this review without gushing.


Y’all watch Wolf of Wallstreet and just think, “Damn, y’all are wild!” Or, “You’re in a cult, call your dad”. That’s Black Buck, but, funnier, and with a head on approach of racism in the workplace. Plus, a dash of real life and how people actually have lives and struggles outside of work.

On the surface, it’s a basic starting manual on the dos and donts of trying to make it in corporate America. On the deeper side, It’s like a starting manual of what it’s like being Black in corporate America. How boardrooms may only have one Black person in the room, how racist pranks are degrading AF and not for “just playing”. I love how Black Buck is formatted. It’s different and unique way of writing and y’all, it works.

Black Buck is not just about trying to achieve this “American Dream”, but literally trying to survive in a world that’s designed to make sure you never survive. It’s about staying true to yourself and your community while still trying to assimilate into the whitewashed corporate culture.

This book took so many twists and turns I did not expect. You loved Buck, you hated Buck, you booed Buck, you cheered for Buck. I loved how the book wrapped up every loose end in the end. This was not at all the journey I expected I was going to go on, but I am oh so glad I did.

Thank you so much @Libro.FM, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Blackstone Publishing, & @NetGalley for the gifted copy. Black Buck is out tomorrow (01/05/2021) and is a book that deserves all the praise.

TW: use of the “r” word, whitewashing (like literally.. white washed), cancer, illegal drug use, assault, racism

Well well well, this... is a surprise for me. since I never got along well with books about business and sales. But a fiction about business and systemic racism tho...

In Black Buck, we follow Darren "Buck" Vender, a former employee in Starbucks, met by a life-changing opportunity from the CEO of an uprising start-up company in New York and a more promising position than being a master barista. Of course, nothing will be ever easy when you are an inexperienced black man working in an all-white office where people tell you they are, in no way, racist but then proceed to be as blatantly racist as possible.

A lot of things go on after this point, like, A LOT. Which is probably why I found the book really gripping. Many events, many characters, and his interactions with them come into play, and these influence greatly our main character and his decisions, with a bunch of sale lessons inserted here and there. Still, I'd have loved to stretch the book a bit more, since some details seemed to be out of nowhere, and other subplots didn't find their closures.

Besides the satire, which was so ridiculous yet realistic and thought-provoking, I don't have much to say about Askaripour's writing. But I was suggested to have an open mind and I'd also recommend other readers to try this too.

Basically, a great and fun read. 4/5

Thank you NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
I have some really mixed feelings about this book. First I would like to say that I have never really worked in corporate America. I have mainly worked in retail and more recently in education. I have also never lived in or even been to New York City or any other big cities others than Houston, TX which is a very diverse place. If this is the way corporate America really is then that just makes me really sad. In this book Darren is a good kid who, while he may not have it all figured out, he does love his family, his girlfriend, his neighbors, and really has a sense of who he is as a human. He has a good heart and his family comes first. On a whim he is given a major opportunity at a really sketchy sales agency is subjected to some of the most horrific things during his "hell week" at the company. Since he is the only POC who works for the company most of these incidents are race related. After hell week there is a tragic turn of events that boosts Darren AKA Buck at this point into a major career and from here he completely forgets who he is. I understand that some people change when they start making the big bucks but his change in character was really tough to read about and there were a lot of things said to the people who matter most in his life and he ends up pushing them away and becoming closer with these horrible people that he works with that may not have done these things to him but have all stood by and done and said nothing. The things he starts doing really are just not in his character. At this point things take another turn and just completely go off the rails. This book just got crazier and crazier with every turn of the page. I would have to rate this book a 2 out of 5 given that I definitely couldn't stop reading.

Black Buck is an amazing satirical look at society, racism, and salesmanship. Author Mateo Askaripour cleverly ties the story of Darren Vender and tips on how to become a winning salesperson. As the narrator, Darren tells his story. When asked what he is going to do better his life, Darren tells his mother and friends that he is waiting for the right opportunity to come along. In the meantime, he squanders his knowledge and talent away working as the head barrister at Starbucks on Park Avenue, a whole lifestyle away from Bedford-Stuyvesant. He’s earned respect from his childhood friend, his elders and his girlfriend’s father. They all want to see him succeed in life, especially his mother who works in a bleach factory. Learning street smarts from living and gaining wisdom from neighborhood elders gives Darren an extra edge over other young men his age. Nonetheless, something in him holds him back.

When he tests his gift of selling customers something they didn’t know they needed, he sparks the interest of the head of a tech startup company. From that day on, his life was never the same. His fall from grace begins with convinces one particular guy that the cup of Starbucks java he ordered isn’t the one he needed. Impressed, Rhett invited him to visit his Park Avenue office. Without missing a beat, he is hired at Sumwun and quits Starbucks. The next thing Darren knows he is literally being hazed by a group of white employees at Sumwun as a part of his training. He gets a load of racist rhetoric thrown at him by, Clyde who doesn’t want Darren there. Darren didn’t take the bait because Rhett “sold” him on how rich he would get with his talent, then treated him like a “brother”. The concepts of greed and power intercept the Darren everyone respected. That was all he needed to sink deeper into the abyss of a different kind of lifestyle.

I admit some of the incidents that occurred were downright crazy, but this book had my attention from the start. It would be incredible to see this book picked up as a movie. It opens a dialogue on the topic of racism and fitting into society when you look and think differently. Kudos to the author for making me love, laugh, cry, and sometimes get angry at Darren Vender. The bold print tips on selling are an added bonus to the story.

Well written, thought-provoking book!

Darren lives in Brooklyn and was the valedictorian of his prestigious high school. At 22 yrs old, he's working at Starbucks in a Manhattan office building and still living at home. One day the CEO of a tech start-up notices him at work and gives Darren a chance to join his elite sales team. It's a high stress sales job and Darren is the only Black man at the company. Will Darren, now nicknamed Buck, be able to find his purpose and stay grounded in this high pressure world?

I liked that this book was written as more of a sales manual and Buck would break the 3rd wall and talk directly to the reader. Mateo Askaripour was able to weave an engaging and thought-provoking novel that is very relevant for the current racial climate. Would recommend & would be a great choice for a book club!

Thank you Mateo Askaripour, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. #BlackBuck #NetGalley

This is my first 5 star read of 2021 and man... not sure what can top it. I loved the story. I loved Buck, even when I knew he was making a mistake I loved him. He was so human. He wanted to do good. He didn’t always succeed but he always tried. Several times I found myself saying “what?” and more than once I shook my head while reading, which is to say I was invested! I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. I can’t believe it’s a debut! There is so much I want to say but I’m afraid to spoil it by giving away too much. Maybe once I have time to gather my thoughts and process what I experienced with this book, I can update my review. But do yourself a favor and grab this book! Grab 2 or 3! You will want to share this with everyone!

Satire is what closes on Saturday night
– George S. Kaufman (1937)

Mateo Askaripour is alleged to have said this novel was written “just for Black readers, though white readers are welcome to 'come along for the ride.' ” As if to prove this, I (a white person) was not only given a free electronic copy of this book in review, I even received an email invitation to download and read it. I respond well to indications, in any form, that someone somewhere values my opinion, so I clicked right on over to Netgalley.

I just thought it was easiest to get the whole skin color thing right out there, however inelegantly, from the start.

I started this book and for the first couple of chapters said to myself “Wow, this is great!” I really liked the initial set-up, wherein we get to know the hero, his family, neighborhood, job, routine, etc. It was really impressive display of polished but unpretentious writing, simultaneously entertaining and informing.

But when the hero gets his big break and starts to climb the ladder of success, well, after a while, the book takes a more corrosive tone. I got bogged down in the unpleasantness and put the book aside in favor of other reading. Life is very stressful now, even if you benefit from privilege. I felt that I was dealing with enough seemingly intractable problems in real life. I didn't feel like engaging with anybody else's.

Then, after while, I picked it up and read it with enjoyment again. I said to myself: “This is pretty good, why did I put it aside?” I zipped through another half-dozen chapters or so, before again finding the parade of unpleasant hypocrites who propel the novel's plot forward were an unwelcome addition to my life, which was already full of a parade of unpleasant hypocrites appearing in the news.

So it went for another few cycles, before I finally powered through the end of the book.

Through no fault of the author's, I think that this book is appearing at the wrong moment. Best satire hits hardest and rings truest when a society is at its most triumphantly puffed-up and self-satisfied. That's not where we are today. Emotions are too raw, too much suffering is too visible. That's why, although the book is worthy and the author clearly very talented, reading it sometimes seemed like a chore.

Still, I'm glad I kept on until the end. Clearly the author is someone to watch.

I received a free electronic galley copy of this book from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via Netgalley. Thanks to all for their generosity.