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notesbynnenna 's review for:
Black Buck
by Mateo Askaripour
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
Well that was quite a ride! It was an entertaining read in which the author explores the topics of race, start-up and corporate culture, ambition, family, and more.
The story is about a young, Black man named Darren who’s working as a barista in Starbucks when we first meet him. All that changes when he has an encounter with the charismatic CEO of a start-up called Sumwun and lands a job offer at Sumwun that will change the course of his life forever.
The book’s description states that it’s for fans of The Wolf of Wall Street and Sorry to Bother You, and I thought both of those comparisons were apt. In fact, the first time I read the synopsis, Sorry to Bother You immediately came to mind and I also got The Wolf of Wall Street vibes when Darren walks into the Sumwun office for the first time. He’s the only Black employee at the time, so of course he’s tokenized. At one point, he says something along the lines of “they acknowledge my Blackness when it suits them and ignore it when it doesn’t” and wow, does that sentiment hit home.
We see what Darren will endure in order to keep this job so that he can take care of his mom, all the micro- and macro-aggressions that he deals with at work. It felt especially hard reading about everything that Darren goes through this particular week (the same week that violet rioters attacked the Capitol). But at the same time I was right there with Darren, shaking my head at the insults that he has to swallow to stay in the game and succeed at his job. He decides to play the game so he can get ahead, but the question is, is it all worth it in the end?
I don’t know that I can say it was an enjoyable read, because it was somewhat painful to read about everything that Darren goes through, and I wouldn’t say this was a light read either. But again, I think a lot of that was due to the timing of when I read this. It was a great read, and a smart, sharp, and well-written debut novel. I could definitely see this as a movie too.
Well that was quite a ride! It was an entertaining read in which the author explores the topics of race, start-up and corporate culture, ambition, family, and more.
The story is about a young, Black man named Darren who’s working as a barista in Starbucks when we first meet him. All that changes when he has an encounter with the charismatic CEO of a start-up called Sumwun and lands a job offer at Sumwun that will change the course of his life forever.
The book’s description states that it’s for fans of The Wolf of Wall Street and Sorry to Bother You, and I thought both of those comparisons were apt. In fact, the first time I read the synopsis, Sorry to Bother You immediately came to mind and I also got The Wolf of Wall Street vibes when Darren walks into the Sumwun office for the first time. He’s the only Black employee at the time, so of course he’s tokenized. At one point, he says something along the lines of “they acknowledge my Blackness when it suits them and ignore it when it doesn’t” and wow, does that sentiment hit home.
We see what Darren will endure in order to keep this job so that he can take care of his mom, all the micro- and macro-aggressions that he deals with at work. It felt especially hard reading about everything that Darren goes through this particular week (the same week that violet rioters attacked the Capitol). But at the same time I was right there with Darren, shaking my head at the insults that he has to swallow to stay in the game and succeed at his job. He decides to play the game so he can get ahead, but the question is, is it all worth it in the end?
I don’t know that I can say it was an enjoyable read, because it was somewhat painful to read about everything that Darren goes through, and I wouldn’t say this was a light read either. But again, I think a lot of that was due to the timing of when I read this. It was a great read, and a smart, sharp, and well-written debut novel. I could definitely see this as a movie too.