"An unambitious twenty-two-year-old, Darren lives in a Bed-Stuy brownstone with his mother, who wants nothing more than to see him live up to his potential as the valedictorian of Bronx Science. But Darren is content working at Starbucks in the lobby of a Midtown office building, hanging out with his girlfriend, Soraya, and eating his mother’s home-cooked meals. All that changes when a chance encounter with Rhett Daniels, the silver-tongued CEO of Sumwun, NYC’s hottest tech startup, results in an exclusive invitation for Darren to join an elite sales team on the thirty-sixth floor. After enduring a “hell week” of training, Darren, the only Black person in the company, reimagines himself as “Buck,” a ruthless salesman unrecognizable to his friends and family. But when things turn tragic at home and Buck feels he’s hit rock bottom, he begins to hatch a plan to help young people of color infiltrate America’s sales force, setting off a chain of events that forever changes the game"
Much of Black Buck is stylish, satirical take on the persistence of racism within corporate America. It’s also an updated version of Glengarry Glen Ross, with folks like Rhett and Clyde taking on the role of the Alec Baldwin character from that film. Askaripour’s Darren/Buck litters his book with Stephen Covey and Dale Carnegie style quotes on how to be a salesperson (Sales isn’t about talent, it’s about overcoming obstacles, beginning with yourself.), but adds to them as well:
Reader: If you are a black man, the key to any white person’s heart is the ability to shuck, jive, or freestyle. But use it wisely and sparingly. Otherwise you’re liable to turn into Steve Harvey.
The books message is obvious, and is seemly designed to make anyone a non-POC cringe with some of the more absurd aspects. I know it takes a certain person to be able sell stuff no one really wants, and the I know some companies, some people within those companies believe the only way to make a great salesperson is to break them down, humiliate them, and drive them to the brink of quitting, before building them back up, but the things that happen here are sometimes a bit too much to believe. I’m not sure if any company can do what happens in these pages; the sort of company sanctioned racism and hates crimes, and get away with it. But reading a tale about a Black man willing to sell his soul to the White man and not only realize what he’s doing, but accepting it makes Darren a bit disingenuous.
Still, the supporting characters are fine, if not trope filled (Jason was the worst). And I did get a bit weary of that everyone thinking he was the Messiah of the neighborhood –the one and only Black man who was going to make it. The Chosen One.
Much of the second half falls apart, as Askaripour seemly takes on too much story and ends up tossing out a lot of what made the first half so scary good. The message about racism, microaggressions and cultural appropriation is really never fully addressed and the theme “each one, teaches one", while a fantastic idea, sort of devolves, and falls away in those final chapters.
It’s still a great, dark satire, but Askaripour really never gives us a clear direction on how to solve the racism and lack of diversity within the upper echelons of corporate America.
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