Black Buck is about Darren, a smart, young, (initially) unambitious black man, who is recruited from his job as a Starbucks manager to work in sales at a high pressure startup. Darren lives with his mom in Bed-Stuy in a brownstone that they own. He has an awesome girlfriend that he is really into. At the startup he is the only POC and encounters racism ranging from microaggressions to blatant ugliness. His success in his new job is accompanied by a moral decline in terms of his treatment of his family and friends. Buck, as he is nicknamed at the startup, remains a sympathetic character even as he starts drinking, snorting coke, sleeping around and treating those that love him the most like crap.
He eventually learns his lesson and channels his newfound skills into helping others.
Black Buck is a well-written, satirical, clever, unpredictable, fast-paced modern fable which touches on many issues: success and failure, workplace culture, racism and white privilege. I'm still thinking about this book and it will stay with me.
He eventually learns his lesson and channels his newfound skills into helping others.
Black Buck is a well-written, satirical, clever, unpredictable, fast-paced modern fable which touches on many issues: success and failure, workplace culture, racism and white privilege. I'm still thinking about this book and it will stay with me.