Wow, what a fantastic debut! I could not believe this was Askaripour’s first novel. The writing has a fun, clever bite which was my favorite aspect of Black Buck.
In this novel, we are following Darren, who has become a little too comfortable working at his Starbucks job for the past four years. This business guy Rhett frequents Darren’s Starbucks several times a day with clients, and one day Darren surprises him when he remembers his order and pitches him a drink he believes Rhett would enjoy more...he does, and is impressed enough that he offers Darren a job at his marketing company. The rest of the book follows Darren (who is now nicknamed Buck by a coworker), as he climbs the proverbial corporate ladder within his company, and the ways he lets his obsession with power affect his relationships and family.
The book is written in a satirical way, and the last 100 or so pages definitely get into outlandish territory, which explains its comparisons to Sorry to Bother You (a movie I adore!) but I really enjoyed the extreme lengths the author took Buck and the story.
In the acknowledgments in the back, Askaripour says his next novel will be extremely different, and I will definitely be looking out to see what he does next.
In this novel, we are following Darren, who has become a little too comfortable working at his Starbucks job for the past four years. This business guy Rhett frequents Darren’s Starbucks several times a day with clients, and one day Darren surprises him when he remembers his order and pitches him a drink he believes Rhett would enjoy more...he does, and is impressed enough that he offers Darren a job at his marketing company. The rest of the book follows Darren (who is now nicknamed Buck by a coworker), as he climbs the proverbial corporate ladder within his company, and the ways he lets his obsession with power affect his relationships and family.
The book is written in a satirical way, and the last 100 or so pages definitely get into outlandish territory, which explains its comparisons to Sorry to Bother You (a movie I adore!) but I really enjoyed the extreme lengths the author took Buck and the story.
In the acknowledgments in the back, Askaripour says his next novel will be extremely different, and I will definitely be looking out to see what he does next.