Black Buck

I have mixed feelings for this book. First off, I was not a fan of all the swearing. That always throws me off a book. I think this book felt like two books though. The first half was Darren becoming Buck and he was likable for most of that part and I rooted for him in his hard work to be successful despite all the racism and hard times. Once he started drinking and doing drug though, it was harder. Especially when he pushed away all the people around him from his mother to Mr. Rawlings to Soroya. That was all in the first half. The second part seemed like a totally different guy. Darren had thrown off the old self and become Buck through and through. It was great that he decided to help others with the Happy Campers but I wish he could have done more to help all the ones that he had pushed away when he became Buck. Not quite a happy ending either. This is not the kind of book that I usually read. It was not bad but I was not a fan.

I don’t know what I was expecting from Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour, but it wasn’t what the book ended up being, in the best way. 4.75/5 stars (bumped to a 5 on all review websites) This novel is a satirical humor, built around the world of minorities in sales positions. We start off with Darren (Buck) getting a job of a start-up therapy sales company and going through hell week. We are taken through “hell week”, through tragedy, loss, and success. Bucks changes and character arc throughout this story was absolutely incredible and made him one of my all time favorite characters. This novel is written in both a how-to and novel format, small peaks of hits and tips popped in. Those are were I saw most of the funny moments. The humor in this book is mostly satirical and so it is extreme irony. I don’t read a lot of satire, so I may not be the best judge, but I really enjoyed the setup and the way it was written. From the beginning to the end of this novel, we are taken through a lot of emotions. It is very realistic and very described in a way that makes you feel like you’re going through those emotions on this wild ride. There were moments where I was screaming at the main character, cussing them out and cheering Buck on. And the revenge story... did not see that coming, but oh my god did it add so much to the ending! This book comes out today, and I highly suggest checking it out. Thanks so much to the publisher for my gifted copy!