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Upstate: A Novel
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Product Description
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.
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.
"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
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #122103 in Books
- Published on: 2006-01-10
- Released on: 2006-01-10
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 256 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9780312332693
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
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 writing that is best called "lite," suggesting New York City black speech but not so authentically as to compromise mainstream audience potential. Those aware of how unlikely success is for young women in Harlem and felons in and out of lockup might take issue with Buckhanon's somewhat sanitized depiction. Others may eagerly anticipate a TV adaptation of it. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
'Wow! Just wow! Very occasionally you come across a book that is not just something to while away a couple of hours, but something you know is beyond entertainment. It's important, gut-wrenching and possibly the best insight into the mentality of an American teenage culture ... a book that's impossible to forget' -- Daily Record 20050416 'Raw, tender and emotional, every word of this accomplished debut rings painfully and beautifully true'. -- Sainsbury's Magazine 20050501 'A raw account of divided love'. -- B Magazine 20050501 'The street-smart language often crackles'. -- Marie Claire 20050501 'A touching tale ... Kalisha Buckhanon triumphs' -- Big Issue 20050501 'Last year's must-read in the USA ! an interesting glimpse into young Black America and the realities of life within the US penal system' -- Sunday Times Travel Magazine 20050401 'UPSTATE packs a swift, head-clearing emotional punch. The language is urban, urgent, and possessing a poetry uniquely its own' -- Elle 20050401 'UPSTATE starts out strong and never lets go ... it moved me to tears' -- Chicago Tribune 20050401 'While the beauty of this novel is in the lyricism of the writing, the innovative format that Kalisha uses to tell the story is just as captivating.' -- New Nation, Andrea Enisuoh. 20050401 'A moving debut ... Kalisha Buckhanon, by structuring her story in the epistolatory form, gives it an intimacy and urgency that the best tales always have.' -- Independent on Sunday 20050630 'A heartbreaker of a love story' -- New York Daily News 20050630 'A heartbreaker of a love story' -- People 20050630 'A heartbreaker of a love story' -- Big Issue 20050630 'A heartbreaker of a love story' -- Chiacago Tribune 20050630 'Heartbreaking and true ... I'd read it again just for the power of the language' -- Dorothy Allison, author of 'Bastard Out of Carolin 20050630 'Wild and beautiful ... told using the epistolary form with brilliant skill not seen since 'The Color Purple' -- Sapphire, author of 'Push' 20050630 'The young black urban experience is stunningly captured in this spare, moving first novel' -- Toronto Sun 20050314
Review
- 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 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
"Kalisha 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
Customer Reviews
Baby, Do You Believe in Us?
Poignant, compelling, luminous, this novel told in epistle form is a moving account of a young couple in love and their struggle to maintain a relationship while the young man, seventeen years old, is incarcerated for a horrendous crime. The first words Antonio writes to Natasha is "Baby, do you believe I killed my daddy?" Thus begins a correspondence that spans almost ten years.
In their letters beginning in January 1990, Natasha and Antonio look back at their courtship against the landscape of their beloved Harlem. Their escapades on the subway, their favorite playing fields, and their indifference to their school assignments are now precious memories. Both of them, products of working-class families, have had less than favorable living conditions, Natasha is frustrated as she witnesses her mother's diminishing self-image caused by her live-in boyfriend. There was a time before the death of Natasha's father that they were a nuclear family and had happy times. Antonio has a depressed father who hid his pain with alcohol, lashing out at his family. Natasha is part fly girl but with one foot in church as she struggles with the values of her religious grandmother.
Over the next several months, the couple's love is tested time after time compounded by Antonio's trial, loneliness for the both of them and tragic family situations. Antonio fights to maintain his sanity as he is befriended by two hard-core cons that protect and school him in how to sustain prison life. Natasha, now more focused on school, is rewarded with opportunities that expand her view of a world beyond Harlem. Antonio is no longer ashamed of his thirst for knowledge and book learning, devouring every text he can get his hands on. As the months grow into years the questions remains, can love conquer all? How well does Natasha know the boy to whom she has pledged her heart?
This book moved this reviewer on so many levels as this novel, little more than 200 pages, addressed issues of social, economic, inequities of the judicial system and matters of the heart. It was a pleasure to meet the author, Kalisha Buchanon, at her book signing in Oakland. A gracious young woman, she is to be commended for bringing dignity and integrity to urban fiction at a time when so much of this genre is thrown at us with sensationalism and caricature like images. The language is beautifully crafted, realistic and the voices distinct. Though it is only February, this book will easily make my list of top ten favorites for 2005.
Dera R. Williams
APOOO BookClub
Marcus Book Club (Oakland)
Elevating the status........................................
"Sometimes in this life some things are bigger and more important than your one life could ever be."
As I looked through pages of books I don't have on Amazon it was this beautiful cover of a white butterfly on red with the word Upstate in lowercase purple letters that kept me continuously coming back to this book. The simplicity spoke to my heart.
Okay so I opened this book on 2/24/05 as soon as I picked it up from Borders, and I was surprised at how it was written, but hey we know me, I love a challenge.
It's Harlem, New York 1990. Antonio and Natasha are "in love" You know how it is when your heart beats so hard the very first time and you can't imagine ever being apart from that person. Well imagine that this book is written in the form of letters between these two love birds, Antonio and Natasha whose lives are being altered drastically.
Over the course of nine years you experience the couple as they are trying to survive. Survive loneliness, death, love, and fear. (I dream about you every night every day...I'm so in love with you!) On the brink of escaping the possibility of a longer sentence Antonio accepts a plea for a dime for a crime that we are uncertain at times he committed. Although Antonio is in jail you go through the motions as he and Natasha hold on to their memories as they write one another daily leaning on the other. Natasha has imprisoned herself from living in order to be a stand by her guy chick.
I mean really ten years isn't that long when you're only 16, is it?
Well when weeks seem like years the light finally shines and now it's time that our young couple face facts... Although it maybe love the truth of the matter is that the separation is too hard!
Life gets tight for Antonio. He struggles to deal with all of the hard times. You have to remember Antonio is after all still a child! Being locked on the inside in some aspects has been helpful, but it's also been a hard road. It's only now that Antonio is aware of all that he's taken for granted.
As Natasha grows you see how she sets her sights on a higher education. This self proclaimed "Harlem Chick for life" travels from Paris, to Chicago (my kind of town) allowing herself a prosperous future.
Although it's a major heart ache at times, it can be argued that it was in many ways a benefit. Time after time.
Kalisha this was a very creative gem.
the best book of the year!!!
I was so pleased with this book. Even though this book was fictional, the author made you think that the characters were so real and that this is a true story. You were embraced by the chacters. The book is different because its a bunch of letters two teens are writing back and forth to each other or a spand of 10 years but it is very good and well put togehter.this is a must have and i hope the author get her recognition and either make a sequel to the book or start writing her second book. cant wait for another great one!!!!
