Conception
A Novel
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Abandoned by her father and having unfulfilling sex with the married man whose children she babysits, Shivana Montgomery, 15, "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 truncated lives of black children. The fetus's wise, sometimes heavy-handed narration grounds Shivana's story within a sad legacy, through slavery, lynching and ongoing racism to a modern world where reproductive choice is a myth, virtually all children are unwanted, and The Cosby Show is the ultimate fairy tale. At its best, the novel balances a bitter stocktaking with a sorrowful lyricism.
