'Askaripour's satire of the tech industry . . . will appeal to fans of Paul Beatty's Booker-prizewinning novel "The Sellout" and Jordan Peele's film "Get Out"' The Economist 'Mesmerizing. . . a high wire act full of verve and dark, comic energy.' Colson Whitehead, author of The Underground Railroad 'I love this so much. It's effortlessly funny, smart and satisfyingly self-aware' Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie Meet Darren. An unambitious twenty-two-year-old living with his mother and working at Starbucks. All that ...
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'Askaripour's satire of the tech industry . . . will appeal to fans of Paul Beatty's Booker-prizewinning novel "The Sellout" and Jordan Peele's film "Get Out"' The Economist 'Mesmerizing. . . a high wire act full of verve and dark, comic energy.' Colson Whitehead, author of The Underground Railroad 'I love this so much. It's effortlessly funny, smart and satisfyingly self-aware' Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie Meet Darren. An unambitious twenty-two-year-old living with his mother and working at Starbucks. All that changes when a chance encounter with Rhett Daniels, the silver-tongued CEO of NYC's hottest tech startup, results in Darren joining Rhett's elite sales team. On his first day Darren realizes he is the only Black person in the company, and when things start to get strange, he reimagines himself as 'Buck', a ruthless salesman, unrecognizable to his friends and family. Money, partying, and fame soon follow Buck, and wherever he goes more is never enough. But when tragedy strikes at home, Buck begins to hatch a plan to help young people of colour infiltrate America's sales force, setting off a chain of events that forever changes the game. An earnest work of satire, Black Buck is a hilarious, razor-sharp skewering of office culture; a propulsive, crackling debut that explores ambition and race, and makes way for a necessary new vision of the American dream. 'A crackling satire of corporate America' Guardian 'A wonderful, riotous romp. A razor sharp, humorous examination of American workplace dynamics in the tech industry' Irenosen Okojie
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If you�re looking to start your year off by being sucked into a book, pick up BLACK BUCK. The story follows twenty-two-year-old Darren who lands a sales job with an edgy startup. Things immediately go sideways and continue to spiral. BLACK BUCK has been compared to The Wolf of Wall Street and while I haven�t seen the movie, the book seems to line up with the clips I�ve seen and reviews I�ve read. The author explores the dark, whacky sides of sales culture and startups, racism, classism, and gentrification all in one entertaining book.
It�s satirical for sure, but parts can be extremely dark and uncomfortable to read at times. The racist actions towards Darren in the beginning of the book in particular had my blood boiling. The story is told in almost a business self-help sort of way, which I thought was genius. As someone who works in the sales world, I know how popular sales self-help books can be in the industry. Using that format to tell Darren�s story made it more interesting than if it was in a straight fiction format.
I�m already seeing BLACK BUCK all over bookstagram, so I�m sure many of you will be reading it this year. I am really looking forward to reading more from Mateo Askaripour!
