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"Baby, the first thing I need to know from you is do you believe I killed my father?"
So begins Upstate, a powerful story told through letters between seventeen-year-old Antonio and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Natasha, set in the 1990's in New York. Antonio and Natasha's world is turned upside down, and their young love is put to the test, when Antonio finds himself in jail, accused of a shocking crime. Antonio fights to stay alive on the inside, while on the outside, Natasha faces choices that will change her life. Over the course of a decade, they share a desperate correspondence. Often, they have only each other to turn to as life takes them down separate paths and leaves them wondering if they will ever find their way back together.
Startling, real, and filled with raw emotion, Upstate is an unforgettable coming-of-age story with a message of undeniable hope. Brilliant and profoundly felt, it is destined to speak to a new generation of readers.
Kalisha Buckhanon was born in 1977. She has been the recipient of awards and fellowships from the NAACP, Andrew Mellon Fund, Illinois Arts Council, Illinois Young Authors Commission, and the Chicago Black Writers Conference. Her work has appeared in such publications as the Michigan Quarterly Review and Warpland: A Journal of Black Literature and Ideas. Buckhanon holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from New School University and a B.A. in English language and literature from the University of Chicago. You can visit her at www.kalisha.com. Winner of the Alex Award Winner of the Terry McMillan Young Author Award A YALSA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults "Baby, the first thing I need to know from you is do you believe I killed my father?"
So begins Upstate, a powerful story told through letters between seventeen-year-old Antonio and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend Natasha. Set in the 1990s in New York, Antonio and Natasha's world is turned upside down, and their young love is put to the test, when Antonio finds himself in jail, accused of a shocking crime. Antonio fights to stay alive on the inside, while on the outside, Natasha faces choices that will change her life. Over the course of a decade, they share a desperate correspondence. Often, they have only each other to turn to as life takes them down separate paths and leaves them wondering if they will ever find their way back to each other.
Upstate is a well-told and unforgettable coming-of-age story with a message of undeniable hope, destined to speak to a new generation of readers. "Kalisha Buckhanon's debut novel, Upstate, starts out strong and never lets go."—The Philadelphia Inquirer
"In prose that vibrantly captures the way real kids in Harlem speak, Buckhanon reveals not only the lovers' Romeo and Juliet-like ardor, but also their intelligence and ambition."—BookPage
"Upstate is a sensitive portrayal of young lovers that moves beyond gritty fiction. The novel's inspiring story has a message of hope that’s sure to connect with readers."—Essence
"A realistic love story that’s set against an urban backdrop as gritty as its characters are memorable."—People
"Upstate packs a swift punch. The language is urban, urgent, and possessing a poetry uniquely its own."—Elle
"Heartbreaking and true . . . I'd read it again just for the power of the language."—Dorothy Allison, National Book Award Finalist and author of Bastard Out of Carolina
"Wild and beautiful . . . The story is told using the epistolary form with a brilliant skill not seen since The Color Purple."—Sapphire, author of Push
"A literary gem. Upstate is a stunning debut. Completely unforgettable."—E. Lynn Harris, author of What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
"Upstate is intimate, wrenching . . . A story about love, surviving love, and the forgiveness that only love brings."—Achy Obejas, author of Memory Mambo and Days of Awe
"A gripping debut . . . I was thoroughly impressed."—Mary Monroe, author of God Still Don't Like Ugly
"Buckhanon has unleashed brilliance in this debut novel. Upstate is creative, raw, and honest."—Darnella Ford, author of Rising and Crave
"A modern love story that is real and raw in its humor and tragedy."—Zelda Lockhart, winner of the Hurston/Wright Award and author of Fifth Born
"With e-mail being used for everything from business memos and meeting reminders to tender love notes, the epistolary novel—with a history stretching from the days of Samuel Richardson and Choderlos de Laclos' Liaisons Dangereuses to, more recently, Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road and Alice Walker's Color Purple—seems to be burgeoning again. Buckhanon's foray in the format presents a decade of correspondence between Antonio, initially a teen arrested for murder, and his sweetheart, Natasha. Both from tiny, dark apartments in Harlem, they are passionately in love and lust but destined to walk very different roads. Eschewing Walker's more dialectal language, Buckhanon opts for . . . suggesting New York City black speech but not so authentically as to compromise mainstream audience potential."—Whitney Scott, Booklist
"This debut features Harlem teenagers Antonio, who has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter for killing his father, and his bright and ambitious girlfriend, Natasha. With Antonio in jail, the two maintain their intense relationship through the written correspondence that makes up the text. Antonio is angry, confused, and possessive, and Natasha gradually refuses to let him control her life, attending college and becoming a lawyer. Both funny and sad, their letters are rich with anecdotes about friends and family while detailing their own emotions and actions; as the characters mature, Buckhanon skillfully and believably changes tone. Antonio appears to be the less sympathetic character until a last-minute revelation about the killing, and his final rejection by Natasha (though he's started a new life after completing his sentence) makes the ending painful. Recommended."—Elaine Bender, El Camino College, Torrance, California, Library Journal
"Buckhanon's debut novel captures the young lovers' anger, hope and frustration. The letters are fluid, candid, and colloquial . . . a moving and uplifting story of love and hope in the face of adversity."—Publishers Weekly ...
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In the same vein as her critically acclaimed debut novel, Upstate, Kalisha Buckhanon again shares an emotionally beautiful story about today’s youth that magnifies the unforgettable power of hope and the human spirit. Buckhanon takes us to Chicago, 1992, and into the life of fifteen-year-old Shivana Golding, who believes most Black women wind up the same: single and raising children alone, like her mother. Until the sudden visit of her charismatic and free-spirited Aunt Jewel, Shivana spends her days desperately struggling to understand life and confront the challenges she faces growing up in a tough environment. When she accidentally becomes pregnant by an older man and must decide what to do, she begins a journey toward adulthood with only a mysterious voice inside to guide her. Then, when she falls in love with Rasul, a teenager with problems of his own, together they fight to rise above their circumstances and move toward a more positive future. Through a narrative that sweeps from slavery onward, Buckhanon unveils Shivana’s connection to a past filled with tragedy, courage, and wisdom. Kalisha Buckhanon's first novel Upstate won an American Library Association Alex Award and was nominated for the Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Award in Debut Fiction. Terry McMillan selected her to receive the first Terry McMillan Young Author Award in 2006. A recipient of a 2001 Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship and an Andrew Mellon Fellow, Buckhanon frequently teaches writing and speaks throughout the country. She has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from New School University in New York City, and both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago. She was born in 1977 in Kankakee, Illinois. A School Library Journal Best Adult Book for Teens
In the same vein as her critically acclaimed debut novel, Upstate, Kalisha Buckhanon again shares an emotionally beautiful story about today’s youth that magnifies the unforgettable power of hope and the human spirit. Buckhanon takes us to Chicago, 1992, and into the life of fifteen-year-old Shivana Golding, who believes most Black women wind up the same: single and raising children alone, like her mother. Until the sudden visit of her charismatic and free-spirited Aunt Jewel, Shivana spends her days desperately struggling to understand life and confront the challenges she faces growing up in a tough environment. When she accidentally becomes pregnant by an older man and must decide what to do, she begins a journey toward adulthood with only a mysterious voice inside to guide her. Then, when she falls in love with Rasul, a teenager with problems of his own, together they fight to rise above their circumstances and move toward a more positive future. Through a narrative that sweeps from slavery onward, Buckhanon unveils Shivana’s connection to a past filled with tragedy, courage, and wisdom. "Conception is Buckhanon's second novel, a work of urban fiction that mixes the usual streetwise tales of woe with casual references to Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison and the occasional bit of French . . . The heroine is 15-year-old Shivana, who lives in a Chicago slum and believes that most black women stumble blindly into the same painful trap: meet some man, believe his sweet talk, bear his offspring, then watch him leave . . . Shivana's own mother has followed this scenario, ending up bitter and alone . . . Shivana, seeking love in all the wrong places, finds herself pregnant by the first older man who smiles her way. The question of the novel thus becomes whether she will decide to terminate the pregnancy or to keep the unborn child . . . [Conception is] the work of a gifted young novelist."—Kim McLarin, The Washington Post "On the same day I began reading Kalisha Buckhanon's ambitious new novel, Conception, I just happened to receive a newsletter from a major African American literary Web site featuring its latest bestseller list. Among the top 10 works of fiction were three by the erotic writer Zane, plus books whose titles all included the words Sex, Whore, Hustler or Thug. That list, however unscientific it may be, perfectly delineates the continental divide between so-called street lit and works by more traditionally literary African American writers, not one of whom appears within shouting distance of the bestseller list. What's interesting to note is how young writers such as Buckhanon seem intent not on taking up positions along this divide but on straddling it. Conception is Buckhanon's second novel, a work of urban fiction that mixes the usual streetwise tales of woe with casual references to Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison and the occasional bit of French . . . The heroine is 15-year-old Shivana, who lives in a Chicago slum and believes that most black women stumble blindly into the same painful trap: meet some man, believe his sweet talk, bear his offspring, then watch him leave . . . Shivana's own mother has followed this scenario, ending up bitter and alone . . . Shivana, seeking love in all the wrong places, finds herself pregnant by the first older man who smiles her way. The question of the novel thus becomes whether she will decide to terminate the pregnancy or to keep the unborn child . . . It must be mentioned that part of Conception is narrated by Shivana's unborn child. That choice allows Buckhanon to tour African American history by having the fetus visit various potential black mothers before finally coming to rest in Shivana's womb. The book feels aimed at a high school crowd, and for those readers, the whirlwind tour through black history may be instructive, perhaps even illuminating . . . [Conception is] the work of a gifted young novelist struggling to weld together the various metals of her experience."—Kim McLarin, The Washington Post
“Readers . . . are richly rewarded.”—The Chicago Sun Times
"Much like her acclaimed debut novel, Upstate, Buckhanon is again at her best."—Mosaic Literary Magazine
“A poignant, heart-wrenching novel.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Heartfelt and affecting.”—Booklist
"Buckhanon’s second novel firmly establishes her as a timeless voice for a new generation. An authenticity of language and action permeates the novel. The realities of poor Chicago life and Shivana’s desperation to escape lead to a sad, seemingly predestined conclusion, yet do not detract from the underlying foundations of love and hope. Teens who like Toni Morrison’s work, Buckhanon’s Upstate, and other realistic novels will enjoy this one."—School Library Journal
"Abandoned by her father and having unfulfilling sex with the married man whose children she babysits, Shivana Golding, fifteen, already knew what it felt like to feel nothing. Living in subsidized housing on Chicago's South Side, Shivana is soon enough pregnant. She fears confessing to her mother, considers abortion and finds herself unexpectedly falling in love with a neighborhood boy who just might be her heart love—and also with her own unborn baby. The spirit of this unborn child is a character in its own right, telling a story that spans centuries and offers tragic glimpses into the truncat ...
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In the same vein of Kalisha Buckhanon’s critically-acclaimed debut novel Upstate, again she shares an emotionally beautiful story about today’s youth that magnifies the unforgettable power of hope and the human spirit. Buckhanon takes us to Chicago, 1992, and into the life of fifteen-year-old Shivana Montgomery, who believes all Black women wind up the same: single and raising children alone, like her mother. Until the sudden visit of her beautiful and free-spirited Aunt Jewel, Shivana spends her days desperately struggling to understand life and the growing pains of her environment. When she accidentally becomes pregnant by an older man and must decide what to do, she begins a journey towards adulthood with only a mysterious voice inside to guide her. When she falls in love with Rasul, a teenager with problems of his own, together they fight to rise above their circumstances and move toward a more positive future. Through the voice of the unborn child and a narrative sweeping from slavery onward, Buckhanon narrates Shivana’s connection to a past history of Black women who found themselves at the mercy of tragic circumstances. ...
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"Baby, the first thing I need to know from you is do you believe I killed my father?"
So begins Upstate, a powerful story told through letters between seventeen-year-old Antonio and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Natasha, set in the 1990's in New York. Antonio and Natasha's world is turned upside down, and their young love is put to the test, when Antonio finds himself in jail, accused of a shocking crime. Antonio fights to stay alive on the inside, while on the outside, Natasha faces choices that will change her life. Over the course of a decade, they share a desperate correspondence. Often, they have only each other to turn to as life takes them down separate paths and leaves them wondering if they will ever find their way back together.
Startling, real, and filled with raw emotion, Upstate is an unforgettable coming-of-age story with a message of undeniable hope. Brilliant and profoundly felt, it is destined to speak to a new generation of readers.
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