Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

11 reviews

evhanson's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Torture, Terminal illness, Hate crime, and Drug abuse

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.

gotem's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

I was not the audience for this book, so I don't think it's fair for me to rate it. What I will say is this definitely is not fast-paced. This is extremely well-written, just that it is approximately 200 pages of the same experience in different scenarios, with 100 pages to set the scene and main characters up and 100 pages that wrap everything up in a conclusion. So if you enjoy reading those types of things (re: groundhog day but instead of the day resetting it is another toxic workplace experience that corresponds with a negative inter-personal experience) then genuinely consider adding this book to your pile. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Hate crime, Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Classism, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Drug abuse

Minor: Death of parent

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

sfkrug's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Drug abuse

Moderate: Torture, Violence, and Racial slurs

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

onkenzisshelf's review against another edition

challenging inspiring tense fast-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

5.0

What I Liked:

• Everything. Seriously, this book was incredible.
• This was SUCH a good look into racism and ableism in the workforce, as well as a good picture of how greed and money can change someone.
• This book made me uncomfortable and made me think, for all of the right reasons.
• I HATED the characters I was supposed to hate, and loved the ones I was supposed to love. The author rounded his characters out beautifully.
• The narrator of this one was FABULOUS. One of the best narrators I've listened to.

You Should Read If You Like:

• If you're working towards antiracism, I highly suggest this one.
• DEFINITELY look at the TWs before picking this one up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Ableism, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Addiction

Moderate: Torture

abbie_reads_books's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, and Racial slurs

arireadsitall's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

4.5

Black Buck was nothing like I expected but everything I want in a read. I laughed, I cried, I got irrationally mad, I was definitely frustrated, and still I would recommend this book! I couldn’t believe this was a debut book because of all the emotions that it invoked. 

Darren is working at Starbucks when he’s offered a new opportunity to move into the corporate world from Rhett, one of his customers. Watching Darren upsell Rhett was an unforgettable and inspiring scene about taking a chance. And it worked out. Now Darren (nicknamed Buck) is working at Sumwun with everything to prove as the new guy and one of the only black men that work there. 

Cue the Wolf of Wall Street soundtrack. What follows is a story of a dog eat dog world where if you’re not on top, you’re failing. Darren experiences the highest highs and the lowest lows. It’s a satire on the corporate world and the American Dream and how far one will go to achieve it and who is left behind. It was wild to me how quickly things change in that world and frankly I was happy to not be part of it! 

Though full of dark humor, this book does deal with series subjects like race relations, white privilege, stereotypes, and drug use. But it was so well done and feels like a very important read for the world today! The audio of this is A+ and I actually used it and the print which made an even more immersive experience

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Drug abuse and Alcoholism