A New York Times Bestseller A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! Longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize“Askaripour closes the deal on the first page of this mesmerizing novel, executing a high wire act full of verve and dark, comic energy.”—Colson Whitehead, author of The Nickel Boys “A hilarious, gleaming satire as radiant as its author. Askaripour has announced … gleaming satire as radiant as its author. Askaripour has announced himself as a major talent of the school of Ralph Ellison, Paul Beatty, Fran Ross, and Ishmael Reed. Full of quick pacing, frenetic energy, absurd—yet spot on—twists and turns, and some of the funniest similes I’ve ever read, this novel is both balm and bomb.”
—Nafissa Thompson-Spires, author of Heads of the Colored People
For fans of Sorry to Bother You and The Wolf of Wall Street—a crackling, satirical debut novel about a young man given a shot at stardom as the lone Black salesman at a mysterious, cult-like, and wildly successful startup where nothing is as it seems.
There’s nothing like a Black salesman on a mission.
An unambitious twenty-two-year-old, Darren lives in a Bed-Stuy brownstone with his mother, who wants nothing more than to see him live up to his potential as the valedictorian of Bronx Science. But Darren is content working at Starbucks in the lobby of a Midtown office building, hanging out with his girlfriend, Soraya, and eating his mother’s home-cooked meals. All that changes when a chance encounter with Rhett Daniels, the silver-tongued CEO of Sumwun, NYC’s hottest tech startup, results in an exclusive invitation for Darren to join an elite sales team on the thirty-sixth floor.
After enduring a “hell week” of training, Darren, the only Black person in the company, reimagines himself as “Buck,” a ruthless salesman unrecognizable to his friends and family. But when things turn tragic at home and Buck feels he’s hit rock bottom, he begins to hatch a plan to help young people of color infiltrate America’s sales force, setting off a chain of events that forever changes the game.
Black Buck is a hilarious, razor-sharp skewering of America’s workforce; it is a propulsive, crackling debut that explores ambition and race, and makes way for a necessary new vision of the American dream.
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I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
I had initially received a preview of Chapters 5&6 through Bookish First Impressions.
This excerpt begins with Darren Vender who seems to be satisfied working at Starbucks and hanging out with his girlfriend, Soraya. He is swooned to work for Rhett Daniels, CEO of Sumwun a start up company as a sales representative. This seems to be a fortuitous opportunity for him to change his family’s financial situation. His mother works for a chemical company and has a letter of interest on the sale of her home, “should she need” it. He assures her that he will be successful and alleviate any financial woes.
On his first day at Sumwun he feels like he walked into the twilight zone. Aside from being the only black person he seems to be surrounded by hyped up loud and obnoxious sales team. It seems they give all newbies nicknames which coins him as “Buck” due to him working at Starbucks. Every Monday is Sales Week fury and excitement celebrated with food and drinks. He is flummoxed when white paint tips in his head as a “welcome joke” so he wouldn’t be the only Black person. This story had me cringing as I wondered what lengths the sales force will go to achieve success!
Although labeled as satire some parts just didn’t feel too funny for me. When things seem too good to be true they usually are. Being the only person of color at this company certainly made him a target for Clyde who was determined to see Buck fail. The company is oddly representative of all things inappropriate with the names of the conference rooms to team groups. When Clyde claims not to be racist you know it’s because he is the definition of the word. He is a totally unlikeable character who is unfortunately present in most work places.
Buck represents the epitome of what one can achieve with determination and hard work. He literally bucks the status quo to prove he is worthy of success. There are many times when he wants to quit and go back to Starbucks where he had more control over his day. The story does end chapters with side comments and advice in a clever manner. Bucks internally processing is amusing as he maneuvers his way though obstacles that don’t appear for other employees.
The author states that he wrote this book as inspiration for other struggling black workers to realize it is possible to be successful. If you are not a person of color then you will most likely get a sense of how life experiences can be different based on the color of your skin.
Black Buck is about Darren, a smart, young, (initially) unambitious black man, who is recruited from his job as a Starbucks manager to work in sales at a high pressure startup. Darren lives with his mom in Bed-Stuy in a brownstone that they own. He has an awesome girlfriend that he is really into. At the startup he is the only POC and encounters microaggressions to ugly racism. His success in his new job is accompanied by a moral decline in terms of his treatment of his family and friends. Buck, as he is nicknamed at the startup, remains a sympathetic character even as he starts drinking, snorting coke, sleeping around and treating those that love him the most like crap.
He eventually learns his lesson and channels his newfound skills into helping others.
Black Buck is a well-written, satirical, clever, unpredictable, fast-paced modern fable which touches on many issues: success and failure, workplace culture, racism and white privilege. I’m still thinking about this book and it will stay with me.