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A review by mirable
Conception by Kalisha Buckhanon
5.0
SLJ review:
Adult/High School-Buckhanon's second novel firmly establishes her as a timeless voice for a new generation. The point of view alternates between 15-year-old Shivana Montgomery and that of her unborn baby. The two are tied together by the idea of young black women who are used and then forsaken by men. Shivana plans to abort the baby, whose father is a married drug dealer now in jail, but then she meets a man who makes her want to try to live a happy life, one that includes the child. The narrative of the unborn takes readers back in time through several generations of black women during the periods of slavery, Reconstruction, and Harlem in the 1940s. 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 (St. Martin's, 2005), and other realistic novels will enjoy this one.-Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI
Adult/High School-Buckhanon's second novel firmly establishes her as a timeless voice for a new generation. The point of view alternates between 15-year-old Shivana Montgomery and that of her unborn baby. The two are tied together by the idea of young black women who are used and then forsaken by men. Shivana plans to abort the baby, whose father is a married drug dealer now in jail, but then she meets a man who makes her want to try to live a happy life, one that includes the child. The narrative of the unborn takes readers back in time through several generations of black women during the periods of slavery, Reconstruction, and Harlem in the 1940s. 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 (St. Martin's, 2005), and other realistic novels will enjoy this one.-Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI