The Financial Times called Blackass "strange (and) compelling, (...with) something to tell us all", and explicitly compared it to Kafka's The Metamorphosis.[6] Writing in The Guardian, Helon Habila lauded Barrett for "his ability to satirise the ridiculous extents people, especially Lagosians, go to in order to appear important."[7] Claire Fallon for the Huffington Post found it to be "blunt (and) transparently written", but also "subtle (and) circumspect."[8] Aaron Bady of Okayafrica stated that it is "the most unapologetically Nigerian book that American publishers have published in a long time".[9]
In 2016 Blackass won the People's Literature Publishing House and the Chinese Foreign Literature Society's 21st Century Best Foreign Novel Award.[10] It was nominated for the inaugural FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Awards,[11] the 2017 PEN Open Book Award,[12] the 2015 Kitschies Golden Tentacle Award,[13] and the inaugural Nommo Award for Best Novel.[14] In 2017 it was nominated for a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in the debut fiction category.[15][16]
