Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

37 reviews

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

literarylion's review against another edition

dark funny 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

3.75

Pros:

• Sharply satirical but not overly didactic 
• Strong character development

Cons:

• The first half far outshone the second, in my opinion
• Pacing seemed uneven -- very fast at some points and much slower at others, without a discernable reason

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racism, and Violence

reading_between_the_trees's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was a sharp exploration of hiring discrimination and toxic workplace culture. The writing was fast with a quip at every turn, and the both the plot and characters drew me in. I really enjoyed the structure in that Buck gives the reader advice on being a good salesperson, and he does so retrospectively of the events in the book. That added a level of reflection as well as suspense. I also liked how the racist and toxic/abusive characters were developed in a conflicting and layered way, making it more likely for readers to see their flaws as things to interrogate in themselves. Overall a great read. I listened to it on audio and thought the narrator was great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Death of parent

Moderate: Violence and Drug use

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

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

sarahsthoughtsonbooks's review against another edition

This review is for the audio version, fairly certain if I had the print, I would have skipped to the end and put the book down a lot sooner. I might pick it up again the future.

Likely a reader-book mismatch, because I don't do well with satire (which is why I opted for audio over print, figured I'd get the nuances that I would miss in my own reading). What ended up happening is me cringing through a good portion of what I listened to. The microagressions, the horrible sales techniques. The about face in the character, from someone caring to someone that was a giant douche canoe (but not the biggest douche canoe, cause Clyde is a racist douche canoe)

I wanted to keep going to find out how it ends up, but I kept getting frustrated by Darren's behaviors. Luckily found a very detailed review and decided I didn't need to waste more time.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, Sexual violence, and Alcoholism

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Car accident, and Pedophilia

notsowellread's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Violence

piperlee's review

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Grief, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: Torture and Kidnapping

sartastic's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Racism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Drug use