Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

9 reviews

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

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

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

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

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

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

maggz's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug use

Minor: Death of parent, Police brutality, and Cancer