The decision to read Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour was not made easily, but that is often true with a lot of books about race, fiction or nonfiction. But at the end of the day, the overall premise of the book won out over any apprehension I had about where that premise would go. And honestly, the experience I had reading it was just about as I expected.
The Situation: Darren Vender is a 22 year-old living in Brooklyn with his mother. By day, he works at the Starbucks in one of those fancy high rises in New York City, and he is good at his job. So good that he managed to convince one of the regulars, the leader of a startup whose offices are on one of the higher floors of the building, to try something other than his usual order, and the man is so impressed that he wants to meet with Darren in his office. The meeting turns into an opportunity, and seemingly overnight, Darren is one of the newest recruits working in sales for one of those tech startups that allows employees to bring their pet pigs, names conference meeting rooms after religious texts, gives nicknames to new recruits, and only has one person of color on staff, and that person is Darren. After being given the nickname of "Buck," Darren endures the "hell week" of training, and manages to earn his spot on the sales team, despite it being clear that some do not think he belongs.
The Problem: What Darren endured in "hell week" was often targeted abuse, either because of his skin color, his lack of experience and education, or both. Even so, Darren manages to shrug it off and get to work. But right when he begins doing well, the company, Sumwun, suffers major setbacks. And Darren's commitment to Sumwun, and to his boss Rhett, is paying a toll on his relationships in Brooklyn: his girlfriend Soraya never gets to see him anymore; his mom's health is clearly failing, but she insists she is fine; and his best friend no longer wants to talk to him, feeling like Darren has changed and now looks down on the people of his neighborhood. And when the unthinkable happens, Darren makes a choice that sets a course for the next few years, one he never thought he would follow. But what he ultimately wanted to become was the best salesman he could be, and the best version of himself, and he has to ask if it was all worth it.
Genre, Themes, History: This is a fiction book set in modern-day New York City, with Darren "Buck" Vender telling the reader his story, though he pitches it as more of a "How-To" book. His objective: to teach the reader about what is means to be the ultimate salesman. Instead of footnotes, Darren will speak directly to the reader through bold and enlarged font, right in the middle of a page. In Brooklyn, the reader meets his mom, his girlfriend, his girlfriend's father, Darren's best friend Jason, Mr. Rawlings who lives on the first floor of Darren's building, and Wally Cat, the old man on the corner whose advise is half-nonsense, and half-truth. There is another cast of colorful characters at Sumwun, lead by Rhett, and Darren's trainer, Clyde, who clearly does not care for his latest trainee. But not only does Darren manage to power through, but he ends up becoming somewhat of a Sumwun legend, and is able to bring his expertise to other young black people. Of course, everything has a price, and even Darren admits to the reader that the cost of success if high, and everyone has to decide for themselves if they are willing to pay it.
My Verdict: This book is so stressful, more stressful than I thought it would be. There is a period near the middle where things kind of slow down, but Darren takes every chance he can to stir everything up again, almost as if he does not want the reader to have one moment of peace. The frantic pace of the narrative also does not help the stress factor, as so much story happens in the first half of the book, with no signs that the action will ever slow down. If I had any issue with the book - aside from the stress of reading it - it would be with Darren. Askaripour introduces many wonderful characters, both in Brooklyn and at Sumwun, and Darren is (almost) the worst of the bunch. He starts out nobly enough: He wants to be a better version of himself for his mother and prove that he can make it in sales. But pride is a terrible drug, and the destruction Darren causes makes it hard to root for him to be successful. In the end, I would say it is worth the stress to get to the book's overall message, but be warned, for some this may be a difficult ride.
Favorite Moment: There are at least five different white people who, throughout the book, tell Darren he looks like some famous black person. The people range from Morgan Freeman to Drake. The moments are both funny and annoying, mostly because this kind of thing does happen.
Favorite Character: I think everyone has someone in their life like Wally Cat. He is an older man with seemingly nothing to do, but endless advice to give. He can be someone you can look up to, while also being someone to often avoid.
Recommended Reading: If you want to continue with another fiction book, I recommend Deacon King Kong by James McBride, but I also think the nonfiction book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson would work as well.
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