There’s nothing like a Black salesman on a mission.

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.

Black Buck is a hilarious, razor-sharp skewering of America’s workforce; it is a propulsive, crackling debut that explores ambition and race, and makes way for a necessary new vision of the American dream.

2.5 stars

I’ve struggled to decide how to rate this book. On one hand, I wanted to see how it ended, so I forced my way through to the end. On the other hand, I had to force my way through it. My biggest beef with the book–I didn’t like a single character.

I felt bad for Darren/Buck through the whole book because there wasn’t a single person in his life who supported him unconditionally and treated him with integrity, even his mom and girlfriend. They pressured him into a different life, then got mad at him when he changed (how does a person NOT change when they’re in a different setting, doing different work, being exposed to different people, etc.).

I think the only person in the whole book who ever asked Buck how he was doing was the driver, and there wasn’t anyone who ever asked Buck how they could help him–they all used him for what he could do for him. I cannot imagine a sadder life than being surrounded by so many manipulative, self-centered people. The only character I even remotely connected with with Buck, and I just wanted him to get away from all of those toxic people to find someone who really cared about him.

I’m not really sure who I’d recommend this book to.

R-rated for some suggested content and LOTS of swearing–I generally don’t mind swearing, but these characters will yell the F-bomb at anyone, anytime. It was too much for me. Get your copy here.

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