Black Buck

Oof. I was excited by the premise- I love stories about corporate corruption and was very ready to like this book. The writing is... not good. But there’s also *nothing* new here, nothing insightful. Even the means used to setup the racism of the workplace are surely hooked from somewhere else- I KNOW I’ve seen that “you look just like ” thing before. Firstly, the book acts like he’s been recruited by Warren Buffet but this “opportunity” is to be a cold caller for online therapy. There’s a huge gulf between the projected opportunity and the reality of the company described- its laughable that a privileged Vanderbilt would give a shit about this job. The characters are all PAPER thin. Rizzla thin, even. Noble mom, check. Loving girlfriend, check. Ice queen, check- in fact, this book would be misogynistic in its treatment of women, if the men were written any better. I’ve not been this disappointed in a while. Don’t believe the hype. Better versions of this book exist. It’s slanderous to compare it to Sorry To Bother You.

I found it accidentally in a book store in France during summer holiday. Could not put it aside. Being a startup founder myself, there is so much I can relate to. Book is funny, ironic and uses exaggerations - I liked that.