Black Buck: A Read with Jenna Pick

Mateo Askaripour

Jan 2021 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

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 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.

Ratings and reviews

I received a free electronic ARC of this debut novel from Netgalley, Mateo Askaripour, and Houston Mifflin Harcourt. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read Black Buck of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. Askaripour writes with a fluidity and rhythm that catches your mind and won't let go. He is an author I will follow. Black Buck is a novel about a young man living in NYC. Twenty-two-year-old Darren lives with his Mom, has a great girlfriend, and when given the opportunity to reach the top of the retail worker's chain, he is hesitant to make any changes in his life. Written in the first-person perspective of a black youth, Darren Vendor, who is the supervising barista of the Starbucks located on the ground floor of the building housing a fairly new company, Sumwun, specializing in a program that employers may sign into, with connections to an associate who will council disenchanted or disgruntled employees, bringing them back to fully supporting and productive employees. When Darren talked the head of Sumwun, Rhett Daniels, into trying a new coffee basically against his will, Rhett is very impressed. Within days he offers Darren a position upstairs, which he is encouraged by his mother, girlfriend, and various friends and neighbors to grab with both hands. He does, but his disenchantment, though slow-growing, is always there, and only the knowledge that his mother, showing signs of aging and ailing, would be terribly disappointed keeps Darren with his nose to the grindstone. I was impressed with the accuracy of the emotions experienced by Darren - called by his boss and coworkers 'Buck' - and how true to life I found them to be. And in every instance, you can change the speaker to that of any woman or most especially a black woman, and it will be spot on to the experiences most of us have faced in our working lives. Definitely, a coming of age tale told very well. Interspersed throughout the tale you will find bold hints to the Reader, to improve your participation in retail selling, all very important, accurate, and well-intended. This was an interesting, enlightening experience. Again, thanks for sharing your hard work. pub date Jan 12, 2021

Black Buck is a satirical novel about a young Black man who gets a job at an intense start-up -- where everyone else is white. I'd call this one a must-read for anyone who liked House of Lies, especially Marty's character. It's sharp, and at times a bit in-your-face. The book begins with Buck speaking directly to the reader, explaining that his goal is to teach us how to sell. That conceit is carried throughout; this book is a novel told like a memoir under the guise of being a sales manual. I do think it was a bit long -- around the halfway point, it felt like there'd been enough book for it to start wrapping up -- but that's a minor criticism. There's plenty to keep the reader engaged. What I liked most about this one was its tone. Askaripour manages to be irreverent and cutting -- and in his debut novel, too. An exciting new voice in literature for sure.

I have mixed feelings for this book. First off, I was not a fan of all the swearing. That always throws me off a book. I think this book felt like two books though. The first half was Darren becoming Buck and he was likable for most of that part and I rooted for him in his hard work to be successful despite all the racism and hard times. Once he started drinking and doing drug though, it was harder. Especially when he pushed away all the people around him from his mother to Mr. Rawlings to Soroya. That was all in the first half. The second part seemed like a totally different guy. Darren had thrown off the old self and become Buck through and through. It was great that he decided to help others with the Happy Campers but I wish he could have done more to help all the ones that he had pushed away when he became Buck. Not quite a happy ending either. This is not the kind of book that I usually read. It was not bad but I was not a fan.

About the author

MATEO ASKARIPOUR’s work aims to empower people of color to seize opportunities for advancement, no matter the obstacle. He was chosen as one of Entertainment Weekly’s “10 rising stars to make waves in 2021,” a 2018 Rhode Island Writers Colony writer-in-residence, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Entrepreneur, Lit Hub, and elsewhere. His debut novel BLACK BUCK was an instant New York Times bestseller and a Read With Jenna Today Show book club pick. He lives in Brooklyn. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter at @AskMateo.