A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick
An Indie Next Pick
Apple's Best of January
Amazon's Spotlight Best Pick of the Month
One of Barnes & Noble Reads "Most Anticipated for January"
One of Entertainment Weekly's "Best Books to Keep You Warm this January"
One of Washington Post's "10 Books to Read in January"
One of NBC News' 10 of the Best Fiction Books by Black Authors in 2021
One of Fortune's "Best Books for January"
One of Shondaland's Best Five Books for January
One of Essence's 21 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2021
One of WIRED's Picks for the 10 Books You Have to Read This Winter
One of O, the Oprah Magazine's 33 of the Best Beach Reads to Help You Escape
One of Vulture's 46 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2021
One of Elle's 55 Best Books to Read in 2021
One of Marie Claire's "29 Best New 2021 Books"
One of Vanity Fair's "Books to Get You Through Winter"
One of E! Online's 17 Books to Add to Your Reading List in January
One of The Root's PageTurners: We're in for a Hell of Year
One of AV Club's 5 New Books to Read in January
One of Marie Claire's 35 Must-Read 2021 Book Releases by Black Authors
One of Cosmopolitan's "Best New Books 2021"
One of the New York Post's Best New Books to Read
One of PopSugar's "Books Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2021"
One of Literary Hub's Most Anticipated Books of the Year
One of Parade's Best New Books to Read this Winter
One of Thrillist's 30 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2021
One of Reader's Digest's 25 Best Books by Black Authors You'll Want to Know About
One of PopSugar's Best Books of January
One of Book Riot's 10 Propulsive 2021 Books Everyone Will Be Talking About
One of Poets & Writer's "New and Noteworthy"
One of SheReads' "The Best 12 Books of Winter"
One of Alma's "Favorite Books for Winter 2021"
One of Book Riot's "January Book Recommendations"
One of Black Business Guide's 21 Books by Black Writers to Read in 2021
One of Debutiful's "10 Debut Books You Should Read this January"
One of Write or Die Tribe's 21 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2021
One of Sunday Evening Post's 10 Books to Start 2021
One of The Nerd Daily's Anticipated Debut Novels You Should Have on Your Radar in 2021
One of Grit Daily's Best Books of 2021
One of Entertainment Weekly's 14 Books to Read During Black History Month
Included on The Rumpus' What to Read When You Want to Celebrate Black History
A Skimm Reads Pick

An irresistible comic novel about the tenacity of racism in corporate America . . . [Black Buck] is alternately sly and sweet, a work of cultural criticism that laments and celebrates the power of money.

"Darkly comic . . . The message at the heart of this novel [is] very American, that the power is in the pitch . . . Black Buck is not unlike The Great Gatsby, in its own way."--NPR, Weekend Edition

"This winning novel -- or is it a self-help book? -- opens with a striking proposition: 'MLK, Malcolm X, James Baldwin, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Frederick Douglass were all salesmen' . . . Teetering between biting satire and complete earnestness (interspersed throughout are callouts with real sales advice), Askaripour's novel charts the unlikely metamorphosis of Darren Vender . . . [whose] quick wit provides cathartic delight."
--New York Times Book Review

Mateo Askaripour's voice is so fresh. The writing is so intimate. At moments, it's satirical and funny and then at moments, it's heartbreaking . . . The details are so intimate, spot on and beautiful. I found myself underlining constantly.
-- Jenna Bush Hager, Today Show

"A combination of character study, searing indictment of all the problematics of white corporate culture, and some good old-fashioned enjoyable sarcasm."
--Entertainment Weekly, "The best books to keep you warm this January"

A must-read . . . Buck's journey is one you should invest in for 2021 without question.
--BET, Is Mateo Askaripour's Debut Novel the Blackest Book of 2021?

"Mateo Askaripour begins his debut, which follows Brooklyn-dwelling Darren as he's plucked from his Starbucks manager job by a start-up CEO and crashed into a sales job as the only Black member of the company, with an author's note that the book might be used as a reference by aspiring Black salesmen. It's a satirical construct that informs this razor-sharp send-up of ladder-climbing office culture, and all the systemic and individual racism it perpetuates. Preorder for your 2021 reading list."
--Vanity Fair, "The Books and Totes That Will Get You Through This Winter"

"Askaripour wields a sharp satirical blade to deliver social commentary . . . He may have written the first satire that doubles as self-help."
--Los Angeles Times

A biting and brilliant novel, Black Buck is masterclass in self-reflection and meaningful satire.
--Shondaland, The Best Five Books for January

Proceeds at breakneck speed . . . Black Buck weaves in commentary about gentrification, class, race, and the American dream in between its punchy jokes.
--O, the Oprah Magazine, 33 of the Best Beach Reads to Help You Escape

Rhapsodic and incisive, Black Buck is a journey into a post-racial dystopia born of tech-fueled greed and racial ignorance. In other words: It's a doozy.
--WIRED, Picks f