In the same vein as her critically acclaimed debut novel, Upstate, Kalisha Buckhanon again shares an emotionally beautiful story about to... read full description
reviews
May 17, 2009
Jamie
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In 1992 Chicage, 15-year old Shivana gets pregnant by the married man upstairs. Then she meets 19-year old Rasul and it seems life might change for the better for both of them.
This is street lit meets literary fiction and both halves are successful. The chapters in which the unborn fetus talks about its previous conceptions might seem pretentious, but darned if it doesn't work to really build on African American history.
And the Ending! OMG the Ending!
I loved More...
This is street lit meets literary fiction and both halves are successful. The chapters in which the unborn fetus talks about its previous conceptions might seem pretentious, but darned if it doesn't work to really build on African American history.
And the Ending! OMG the Ending!
I loved More...
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Aug 09, 2011
At the tender age of fifteen, Shivana already has her mind set on what the life of a black woman is. She thinks that eventually all black women get stuck in the losing battle of getting pregnant by a man that never sticks around. Shivana’s own mother has followed the same path so that’s all she’s ever known. Shivana is suddenly pushed into adulthood when she becomes pregnant by an older man. She now has to make a decision on whether or not to keep the baby. In this journey, Shivana also becomes
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Apr 01, 2011
Tianna
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"At least when somebody's suffocating, you can tell: you see their faces turn blue, their lips quiver, their eyes buck, and their throats jerk. But when a man is mentally packing his bags the suitcase is never out until he's already standing on the other side of the door." This book was about a teen girl named Shivana who gets pregnant in high school by her neighbor's husband. Shivana wasn't a wealthy girl her family didn't have a lot of money , she didn't really wear nice clothes and
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Oct 11, 2009
Mocha Girl
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As the title implies, Kalisha Buckhanon's sophomoric offering, Conception, is nothing short of outstanding. Initially, I was truly concerned if she could deliver as strong and solid a follow-up to her hit debut Upstate - but with this second novel, she removes all doubt. She is truly a talented writer.
Buckhanon returns to familiar territory - the trials of adolescence set in 1992 on the South Side of Chicago where the story focuses on the unpopular, unpretty, undereducated, unmotiva More...
Buckhanon returns to familiar territory - the trials of adolescence set in 1992 on the South Side of Chicago where the story focuses on the unpopular, unpretty, undereducated, unmotiva More...
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Aug 02, 2010
Kamilah
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 16, 2011
Jasmine
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This book was about a girl named nakisha she is 15 yrs old and pregnant with a married mans baby who ends up in prison for selling dough. She runs away from home 2 times the 1st time was because she was scared that the wife was going to come after her and kill her so she ran away. She wanted to get an abortion badly because she lied to her mom and told her she wasnt pregnant then she ran away again and ended up going to a womens shelter were she had to go to church.. She and her new boyfriend wh
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Feb 15, 2009
MMatchak
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The story of 15-year-old Shivana who ends up pregnant to a married man. She wants to break out of the cycle of poverty and men leaving women and children behind that has plagued her family and her community. She meets 19-year-old Rasul who also dreams of making something out of himself and gives her hope that life doesn't have to be like that which she has known. Intertwined with Shivana's story is that of the soul she has conceived, a soul who has unsuccessfully tried to come to life three time
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May 05, 2008
Yvette
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Story of 15 year old Shivana who finds her self accidentally pregnant. She shares her stress, fears and hardship of her new experience while seeking a resolution to this adult issue. It was a pretty insightful story with an unexpected ending
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Mar 24, 2010
Damera
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Ok. I had originally wanted to add this title to my to-read books for our monthly book discussion group, but unfortunately we only had five copies in the system. Anyhoo. I've finally had a chance to read it and I'm truly glad that I did. This book was sad and tragic from the very beginning although the ending was quite not what I thought it would be. The main character Shivona is one that I feel a lot of teenage girls in her predicament can relate to. She is anxious and self-conscious and
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Aug 10, 2010
Andrea
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***SPOILER ALERT**I found this book strange. It was werid how the character's unborn baby had a voice of it's own. It told the story of how the unborn child had been trying to find life in previous mothers but somehow never made it (to be born) I guess it was creative. The ending was a WTF ending. I thought it would be all happy and end nice with the baby being born..but then SHE DIED WTF? Major plot twist! So now the baby never found a home and is going to have to wait to be "re-born"
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Apr 08, 2009
This tells the story of a girl who lives with her mother but they have nothing in common with each other so their relationship isn't that good. She has a job babysitting and the man of the household ends up trying to hit on her and she falls into the trap and gets pregnant by him. She knows her mother will never accept her so she turns to the person that she know will not turn her downs and that is her boyfriend rasul and her aunt jewel. She ends up running away with her boyfriend to go to newyo
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Mar 21, 2009
Ejiro
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This was a real eye opener for me. I did not realize what hopelessness does to a group of people and how it is easy to turn a blind eye to it. It is always easy to judge someone, something in a second but when you delve past the surface you find that each person on this Earth is just going through their day, doing the best they can. This book is about a 15 year old girl, who finds herself pregnant by a drug dealing 36 year old man in the south side of Chicago. It also interestingly tells the tal
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Jun 19, 2011
Vern
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I updated you all a few days ago that I would be digging deep down in my TBR pile and pulling out some jewels. Conception is the first of my random choices. This book has been in my possession for approximately two years and so I decided it would be the first to escape the pile.
“Planning pregnancy was for white women…(pg 12)”
Buckhanon has put together a coming of age story that is set in 1992 inner city Chicago. The odds seem to be stacked against fifteen year old Shivana wh More...
“Planning pregnancy was for white women…(pg 12)”
Buckhanon has put together a coming of age story that is set in 1992 inner city Chicago. The odds seem to be stacked against fifteen year old Shivana wh More...
Jan 29, 2010
Sarah
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I thoroughly enjoyed this author's debut adult novel, Upstate, so I was looking forward to reading this one. I loved it! Whoo-whoo for Kalisha Buckhanon! She creates wonderful urban romances. Realistic. I mean, I kept thinking, "these kids are stupid" as the character's actions unfolded. But, I kept reading and stayed up late to finish the book in one sitting.[return][return]The setting is Chicago in the early 1990's (and I loved the few music references) in the "almost" proj
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Nov 29, 2010
In Conception, a fetus narrates her own history of reincarnation from within the womb while her potential teenage mother debates whether or not to have an abortion in Chicago during 1992. It’s an interesting premise, but the execution didn’t work for me. I would have preferred more of the teen mom’s day-in-the-life story than the fetus’s prose, albeit the fetus is more likable than the teenager, Shivana. Denial’s her best friend, and while I first I empathized with her, I quickly grew to hate he
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Aug 18, 2008
Izzy
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Conception by Kalisha Buckhanon, the author's second novel, opens with a first person narrative of the spirit that wants to enter the soul of fifteen-year-old Shivana Montgomery’s unborn child. It’s intriguing. It’s a device that will keep you reading if only for the clarity that Buckhanon shelves out with captivating language. “When the months crept on and I grew older inside Shivana than with any others in the past,” says the Spirit who narrates stories of the bodies it has inhabited before. T
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Jul 07, 2008
Marnie
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I would have given this book a better rating if it had a better ending. The writing was really good but the ending was horrible. Having the unborn baby tell parts of the story was a really original concept & I liked the baby's personality. I didnt like Shivana's personality though. She's a nasty person who has a lot of problems in her life. At the beginning she gets pregnant at 15 by a married 36-year-old drug dealer. I found myself getting angry about the people's problems in this book, both at
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Jan 17, 2009
Featured in Mosaic #23, http://mosaicmagazine.org.
Launched in 1998, Mosaic is a quarterly magazine exploring the literary arts by writers of African descent. Each issue contains a unique blend of essays, profiles, and reviews.
Mosaic is published by the Literary Freedom Project, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt not-for-profit arts organization that supports the literary arts through education, creative thinking, and new media.
Launched in 1998, Mosaic is a quarterly magazine exploring the literary arts by writers of African descent. Each issue contains a unique blend of essays, profiles, and reviews.
Mosaic is published by the Literary Freedom Project, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt not-for-profit arts organization that supports the literary arts through education, creative thinking, and new media.
Jul 02, 2009
Christi
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One of the narrators in this book is an unborn baby who has been trying to be born for 150 years, but her potential moms-to-be have difficulty (for many different reasons/situations)carrying her to term. She has visions and knowledge of all the different women who have conceived her, some of whom include slaves and a 15-year-old girl from 1992 Chicago, Shivana who also shares the narrating.
After finishing the book, I'm disappointed that only near page 220 did I start to warm to the More...
After finishing the book, I'm disappointed that only near page 220 did I start to warm to the More...
Aug 18, 2008
Jessica
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Sad. Beautiful. Sad. Reminds me of my 5 years in Chicago, though unlike Shivana, the protagonist, I was on the white side of town-- noting the oft denied but clearly present segregation of the city for the first time when I got on the El on the wrong side of the track due to my lack of internal compass, only realizing I had done so when the last white person on the train was myself and I was being peered at by those who knew exactly where they were headed, wondering why I was still there. Ms
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May 09, 2008
Megan
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The book offers a glimpse into the life of a character whose life may seem strange to most, whose perspective is both raw and young. Living in the city with her mother in a small apartment, she is struggling to understand life, love, and self-worth while living in a hostile environment.
I'm reminded of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", as this is also a personal account of what it is like to grow up in an unforgiving city. The honesty and personality of the characters make this bo More...
I'm reminded of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", as this is also a personal account of what it is like to grow up in an unforgiving city. The honesty and personality of the characters make this bo More...
Jun 10, 2011
Caitlin
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This is a story of a young black girl who gets knocked-up by the father of the kids she is baby sitting. But the book alternates between what is happening to her and what her unborn fetus (baby, what ever you what to say) has gone through though out history, trying to get born.
Honestly this book gave me the creeps and at the same times made me what to bash my head against the wall! This girl makes stupid mistake, after stupid mistake. You don't have sex as a teen, at the very least, More...
Honestly this book gave me the creeps and at the same times made me what to bash my head against the wall! This girl makes stupid mistake, after stupid mistake. You don't have sex as a teen, at the very least, More...
Mar 05, 2008
stacia
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I liked it, but it took me a while to figure out that I liked it. It didn't immediately endear me like Buckhanon's first novel, "Upstate," did.
The main character in this one, Shivana, is really unlikeable. Once I got beyond that, though, I grudgingly invested in her struggles and her future... only to have something totally unexpected happen to her in the end. This twist is really the triumph of the story.
There's also the disembodied voice of an unborn child/fe More...
The main character in this one, Shivana, is really unlikeable. Once I got beyond that, though, I grudgingly invested in her struggles and her future... only to have something totally unexpected happen to her in the end. This twist is really the triumph of the story.
There's also the disembodied voice of an unborn child/fe More...
Feb 10, 2009
Lisa
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I am loving this book and this author. She's a great find and I'll be recommending her stuff to patrons in their very late teens and early twenties. This was a good book with a sad ending, but I loved it as much as the author's first book. First class urban fiction.
Aug 09, 2011
This book was brilliant. They way she used a narrative from the fetus growing inside of the main character was amazing. It was heart breaking as well. A very satisfying read.
Jan 17, 2009
Michelle
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A great cultural education while still some similarities to my own life story. Sad, strange, and bittersweet. Typical, yet not so. The story of a spirit who travels through many womens' bodies waiting to be born. A great story the reels in so many of my emotions.
Oct 06, 2010
Judith
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Mar 18, 2010
*•.♥.•*Sabrina*•.♥.•*
rated it:
This book was and wasn't what I expected it to be (if that makes sense). I loved this book and couldn't put it down. The reason it doesn't have a five star rating from me is that at first it was a bit confusing. There is still one part I'm confused by but I can't get into it without giving an awesome part of this story away.
I love Buckhanon's writing! It's beautiful and the kind you want to take your time with. It's not long winded descriptions which I absolutely can't stand, it's almost More...
I love Buckhanon's writing! It's beautiful and the kind you want to take your time with. It's not long winded descriptions which I absolutely can't stand, it's almost More...
Sep 23, 2008
minta
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I really wanted to like this book more but the ending was so horrible and abrupt...it kind of ruined it for me. I didn't like the baby's voice throughout the story - it was actually annoying. But there were a lot of parts where I enjoyed reading the book b/c the writing was so good. It was hard to relate to Shivana because seriously, she made so many poor choices. Granted, she is 15 years old and grew up in the semi-projects or whatever she calls it. At first i emphathized w/ her but then I was
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