Black Buck

I requested this book after hearing Mateo Askaripour speak at a session at the Ontario Library Super Conference a couple of weeks ago. His plot sounded interesting and he was quite engaging as he spoke about his debut novel. 

This is a story about a Black barista who is suddenly recruited by a big wig and thrown into the hectic pace of a corporate sales within a company that is the antithesis of diversity. I enjoyed the first quarter of the book - Darren's drive to do better, his family support and the diversity of the characters. I also liked that Askaripour was tackling concepts of racism, tokenism, sales culture, microaggressions ... but these issues were glossed over, and I think this book was trying to be too many things, giving the story a disjointed feel. 

In the remaining three-quarters of the book, the story lags considerably and becomes melodramatic with odd self-help/business blurbs added in, stiff dialogue and cringeworthy phrases with 'drier than a nun's vagina' being the low point. I ended up putting this book down several times and was disappointed with the character development and its far-fetched ending. I'm new to satire and perhaps it's simply a 'it's me, not you' thing so please read my comments with that in mind.

This is an ambitious debut that had its ups and downs for me, and I went into it wanting and expecting to like it a lot more. I appreciate what the author was going for and I realize that it is purposefully over-the-top, but this disjointed combo of satire and self-help/business how-to didn't work for me.

Disclaimer: I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 2.5 stars

Author: Mateo Askaripour

Genre: Satire, Contemporary Fiction

Type and Source: eBook from publisher from NetGalley

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

First Published: January 5, 2021

Opening Line: The day that changed my life was like every 

other day before it, except that it changed my life.

Book Description from GoodReads: "For fans of Sorry to Bother You and Wolf of Wall Street: a crackling, satirical debut novel about a young black man who accidentally impresses a CEO while serving his Starbucks order, catapulting him into the opportunity of a lifetime-a shot at stardom as the lone black salesman at an eccentric, mysterious, and wildly successful startup where, he will soon learn, nothing is as it seems."