Reviews tagging 'Death'

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

21 reviews

narbine's review

challenging emotional funny informative reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Didn’t care much for the beginning but it redeemed itself last half

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Alcohol, Bullying, Death of parent, Racism, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Grief

jillaay_h's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Death, Racial slurs, Cancer, Classism, Alcohol, Racism, Drug use, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Medical content, Mental illness, and Violence

cheye13's review

challenging funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Wayyy too boot-licky for me.

This is excellently written and maintains a strong voice throughout. The depiction of race relations did not pull punches. The story surprisingly sustained a sense of broad hope.

I wanted more of everything. I wanted it to push further in every way. I wanted a deconstruction of capitalism, I wanted a deconstruction/exploration of masculinity (esp in white vs black spaces), I wanted a deconstruction of ambition. I disagree with reviews that say the back end went off the rails - it didn't go far enough off the rails.

Ultimately, it felt like a middle class cishet black man's white collar day dream - he gets to be a jetsetter, he gets to earn big bucks, he gets a nickname, a driver, a girl - he gets to Save The World. Which is a very good and important story to tell - there's plenty of those white stories out there, and this is miles better than any of those. But pitching it as a Sorry to Bother You comp does it a disservice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Classism, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Medical content, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Cancer, Slavery, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Toxic friendship

also: minor mention/depiction of lynching (in a photograph), moderate discussion of incarceration, discussion of drug dealing in addition to drug abuse. A brief discussion of outing somone, not followed through. The hate crime I tagged is a scene of white coworkers "pranking" the only black employee by dumping white paint over him; not sure if it qualifies as a hate crime, but it definitely felt like one in context.

peachani's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Hate crime, Bullying, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Racism, and Cursing

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, and Grief

Minor: Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Ableism, Addiction, Classism, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

ecn's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It felt like a more real life version of Sorry to Bother You - like almost exactly. It was a good story but because of how similar it was to the movie, I kept thinking or wishing for something big and crazy to happen. A fun read but probably would have been better if you didn’t see the movie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, and Drug abuse

annabulkowski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, and Cancer

chelseakasten's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Racism, and Death

meghopee's review against another edition

challenging dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, Xenophobia, Torture, Slavery, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Grief, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Death, Cancer, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

leah_alexandra's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book was good. It got a bit heavy-handed at times, but it's satire, so not that unexpected. I thought the starting characters were really well-developed, but by the time we get introduced to new characters in the second half of the book, I never felt like we really got to know them as people. All-in-all, an interesting read that won't shift your perspectives too much if you already have a fully cynical outlook towards corporate America/start-up culture. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

balkeyeston's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

Moderate: Death, Cultural appropriation, Bullying, Alcoholism, and Hate crime

Minor: Torture and Grief