BLACK BUCK

Happy paperback release to Black Buck! This unique and captivating novel was a wild ride. Its narrator/hero is Darren, a semi unambitious, super bright young man who works at Starbucks, loves his girlfriend, and just wants to make his mom proud. When Darren has a chance to work with the charismatic leader of a mysterious tech company, it seems like the dream opportunity he’d been waiting for. But racism and toxicity in his workplace wear Darren, who is Black, down - transforming him into someone entirely different. His new identity as “Buck” offers power, confidence and - he hopes - freedom, but threatens his long held values and integrity. To say more would spoil the plot, so just buckle up for this razor sharp, lightning fast roller coaster of race-based, corporate-culture satire.
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Wow, there’s a lot to unpack here! This book invites deep discussion about freedom and redemption. It also asks, are there limits to what means are ethically justified to right terrible wrongs? At times I felt frustrated - I wanted to jump into the book and warn Buck to stay true to himself if he wants to find freedom! But who Buck’s “self” really is may be the point: the best parts of who he was, and has become, will be his path to freedom. The book’s explosive ending begs the question, is symbolic freedom more valuable than the literal kind? And what is the cost of Buck’s redemption? It’s a dark, taut, creative novel with questions that will leave me thinking and processing for a long time.
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With its many coffee-as-metaphor filled breakfasts, Black Buck has plenty of pancakes, like these chocolate chip ones from Darren’s first meeting with Rhett. But after doing a deep dive into the author’s food choices thanks to @grubstreet feature “Author Mateo Askaripour Has a Waffle Routine” I had to make a gigantic batch of homemade waffles. Like Askaripour, I have an ancient waffle maker - and it just seems to get better with age! (He likes his waffles with sunflower seed butter, in case you’re wondering.)