Reviews with content warning for Ableism - Black Buck

Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

19 reviews

madelonpaige's review against another edition

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There were ableist slurs and I don’t care if it’s a satire, there’s no place for them in modern language.

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kasey_reads's review against another edition

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dark funny medium-paced

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

2.0

I really wanted to like this book, but the author's choice to use comparative language at least once per page was not my style. I was also turned off by the use of the r-word when it could have been subbed with a host of other words (or even some more comparative language!) could have done. I enjoyed the concept of this book, and I didn't mind the satire, but this type of writing was very much not my jam.

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joceraptor's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-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

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icedlavenderlatte's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

1.0

Black Buck follows a Black salesman named Darren who climbs the ranks of a white led start up company in NYC. I'm not even going to attempt to further summarize because there's soooooo much that happens here, so if you plan to read this be prepared for a wild ride. After hearing the author talk about this book, I was really excited for a satirical novel that tackles topics of racism, start up culture, climbing the ladder, etc. and I'd heard from several that the audiobook was the way to go because it was so well done. So I'm just going to jump right into my issues:
- There's a loooooot of yelling in the audiobook. Yes, the narrator does a great job, but I grew tired of this quickly. This was the first issue I had with the book and I was able to look past it initially.
- Using a character with coprolalia Tourette syndrome,

who later is magically cured of this by meditation

, as comedic relief, and then later a character with a stutter for the same purpose. I'm just not sure what the intention was here.
- Excessive use of the word "retarded" in the first 25% of the book made me cringe. Again, not sure the purpose of this.
- Very lazy metaphorical language throughout the entire book that by the end of it I was just constantly rolling my eyes. There's an AIDS in Africa joke and just so many other played out phrases I couldn't even keep track
- Dialogue was so extremely juvenile and I think this was exemplified by how trope-y and stereotypical the characters were made to be.
- The plot is such a mess that by the end I forgot that

he had a whole ass mom that died

and I couldn't even wrap my head around how Darren got to his position besides

two acts of luck

.

I loved the idea of the Happy Campers. A network of BIPOC business professionals that infiltrate these white start ups from the inside out. I feel like there was so much potential here if this would have been the main focus. Instead I think the author's idea of satire was just to make the plot as absolutely ridiculous as possible.

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naturemamareads's review against another edition

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funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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cavernism's review against another edition

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dark funny tense fast-paced

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

2.5

It felt bizarre to read this book that's published in 2021, because it feels like it was written 5 years ago and so a lot of the details feel out of date - like the start-up company's "crazy" idea is basically BetterHelp/online therapy - not exactly groundbreaking or new. The "amazing" salary Darren is offered is $40,000 a year plus a bonus. I live in the Midwest and 40k is not a big salary...I can't imagine it would cover costs in New York City.

I'm pretty okay with things in satire being exaggerated/over-the-top - that's the point. I'm not okay with setting up promises to the reader - "This character is going to put these other character in situations where they'll have to use sales techniques" and then ignore them - "the characters will actually just panic and run away." This situation happens twice in the space of a few pages.

And then, there's the Supportive Girlfriend. Her characterization is basically being curvaceous and going to nursing school and supporting her boyfriend. I'm over it.

There were things I enjoyed - I definitely wasn't sure where the plot was going to go so that made it at a fast read, but overall it ended up being a frustrating read, and the fact that the marketing compared this book to the movie Sorry to Bother You made this feel even weaker, because Sorry to Bother You is a much more inventive, strange, and memorable story about race and capitalism.

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