Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Up High in the Trees
Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers
Brinkman's debut is an astonishing first-person narrative that reveals a family struggling to regain its footing after the sudden death of its matriarch. The tragedy blooms slowly through the eyes of a precocious narrator, nine-year-old Sebby Lane. An unusual and sensitive child, Sebby knows more of what is swirling around him t...more
Brinkman's debut is an astonishing first-person narrative that reveals a family struggling to regain its footing after the sudden death of its matriarch. The tragedy blooms slowly through the eyes of a precocious narrator, nine-year-old Sebby Lane. An unusual and sensitive child, Sebby knows more of what is swirling around him t...more
Hardcover, 336 pages
Published
July 10th 2007
by Grove Press
(first published June 8th 2007)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
989)
Beautifully written and surprisingly engaging. Despite what one would expect from the eye-rollingly sensitive plot description, this does not read like a typical tearjerker or Lifetime movie special. Here a simple tragedy is given new depths – emotional and occasionally comic – by the creation of a unique narrative voice and a fully-developed setting in personal and historical time. Strangely, for me the two most tragic elements of the story – the undisclosed autism and mother's sudden and confu...more
Really great book...written from the perspective of autistic boy. You learn about his family (mother's death, father's problems, siblings) all through his thoughts. I would never pretend to know what goes on in the mind of an autistic kid, but the book did make me feel like I understood it better.
Review from Publisher's Weekly:
The Asperger's afflicted narrator of Brinkman's sincere, sober debut struggles to cope with his pregnant mother's recent death after she was hit by a car. Already keenly s...more
Review from Publisher's Weekly:
The Asperger's afflicted narrator of Brinkman's sincere, sober debut struggles to cope with his pregnant mother's recent death after she was hit by a car. Already keenly s...more
This is a book I picked up solely on the basis of the cover blurb (an eight-year-old boy deals with the death of his mother) rather than reading any reviews of it first. Having read it, I kind of wish I had read reviews, as I might have avoided it.[return][return]It's not that it was bad. It was well-written and I enjoyed the story for the most part, but. From the summary, it was not obvious that the narrator is on the autism spectrum. It's never mentioned outright in the story, either, but it's...more
I would rate this a 3-4. And I'd like to play devil's advocate with all the folks who are determined that the main character, Sebby, is either autistic or has Asperger's. I've read quite a bit about autism and books by autistic authors. One of the main things that determines the difference between how their and our minds work is that they don't think in words, but rather in images. Ergo it would have been impossible for this book to exist (written in words) I tend to agree with the main review t...more
This one was just ok for me. I liked how the writer wrote from the perspective of the 8 year old boy but for me it was lacking in more adult details. I liked the story line, but I wanted to know more,more about the mother, more about the father even more about Sebby from a parent's view. Perhaps it is because I am looking at things through a mother'e eyes, through a social worker's eyes, through a disability support person's eyes, but as the father spiraled and finally got some help, the mother...more
This is a book that makes you wish you knew a whole lot more about the characters. The narrator is 8-year-old Sebastian Lane who is struggling to come to terms with his mother's death, but you know Sebby has other problems, possible autism or Asperger's syndrom, although it is never made clear. His father seems to be in the throes of a mental breakdown as well. And the question came to my mind at least, was the mother's death a suicide? Through it all the older brother and sister seem remarkably...more
Reminds me of Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, except not as sentimental. The narrator is around age 9 and has Asperger's - though this is never mentioned, we just assume so from the way the boy speaks. Maybe this makes me sound bad, but I'm kind of tired of books narrated by precocious autistic kids, or even precocious kids. Maybe it's just the kind of books I'm picking up, but I'm not seeing anything particularly fresh on the subject. I liked it better than Curious Incident becaus...more
I picked up this book when I suddenly went out of town with my bf for Wisconsin's blizzard 2011. While he was out plowing roads, I was stuck in the hotel with nothing besides 10 channels on the tv and this book.
It is not horribly written... The characters aren't well rounded. You tend to make assumptions about Sebby. Maybe he's Autistic or something? It is never really explained. The dad seemed to be having a complete mental breakdown. I guess I just kept waiting for more or expecting something...more
It is not horribly written... The characters aren't well rounded. You tend to make assumptions about Sebby. Maybe he's Autistic or something? It is never really explained. The dad seemed to be having a complete mental breakdown. I guess I just kept waiting for more or expecting something...more
Apr 27, 2009
Eric
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
someone who liked Carry Me Down by MJ Hyland
There was a review (I believe in NYT) comparing this novel to The Sound and The Fury, regarding mental illness and its impact on the narrator. I don't think many of the passages here carry the weight of some of The Sound's stronger sections, but it's easier to walk away from Up High in the Trees with some idea of what happens.
The short sections offer too much blank space to really appreciate after a while. You turn the pages too quickly. There are some moments, however, that I found endearing. I...more
The short sections offer too much blank space to really appreciate after a while. You turn the pages too quickly. There are some moments, however, that I found endearing. I...more
Dec 03, 2008
Christina
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Christina by:
Rebecca {Inside Cover}
Shelves:
2008-reads,
library-book
Up High in the Trees is definitely outside my comfort zone, meaning I wouldn’t usually pick it up. But after reading a recent review for the novel, I put in a request for it at my public library and settled down to read it on Sunday. I was pleasantly surprised.
Up High in the Trees is a beautifully written novel told from the point of view of a precocious eight-year-old boy, whom I suspect is autistic, although we’re never told. Despite dealing with the death of a mother, it’s a refreshing take o...more
Up High in the Trees is a beautifully written novel told from the point of view of a precocious eight-year-old boy, whom I suspect is autistic, although we’re never told. Despite dealing with the death of a mother, it’s a refreshing take o...more
I just couldn't shake the feeling that I'd read this book somewhere before...only it was set in England and it was called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night. Only the kid in Mark Haddon's best-seller was a 15-year old autistic savant, and the one in this book is an 8-year old who has just lost his mother and has a father on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The book is written in the first person, from Sebby's (Sebastian) point of view. So, obviously everything is supposed to be child-...more
view 1 comment
I didn't know much about Up High in the Trees when I ordered it from Amazon, nor when I began reading it. I chose the book because I had read posts by Kiara Brinkman on The Nervous Breakdown a while back and remembered liking them. When I heard she had a book out I ordered it purely based on that. So I was delighted to find that I actually liked the book.
Up High in the Trees isn't a typical novel. It's told in vignettes from the viewpoint of 8-year-old Sebastian Lane, whose mother has just died....more
Up High in the Trees isn't a typical novel. It's told in vignettes from the viewpoint of 8-year-old Sebastian Lane, whose mother has just died....more
Nov 19, 2012
Brit
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Brit by:
Saw it at the library on the "new" shelf
Overall, I enjoyed this book and it was a FAST read!
I finished it in a week - which is remarkable, having a newborn and all!
I believe this is the authors first novel, and at points in the story you can tell. The novel is set in 1991 and the author tries too hard to make relevant cultural references ~ when really the story doesn't hing on the timeframe. The story could have taken place in 2008 ot 1968 - it would not have mattered.
But she created a wonderful character in Sebby - you want to jump i...more
I finished it in a week - which is remarkable, having a newborn and all!
I believe this is the authors first novel, and at points in the story you can tell. The novel is set in 1991 and the author tries too hard to make relevant cultural references ~ when really the story doesn't hing on the timeframe. The story could have taken place in 2008 ot 1968 - it would not have mattered.
But she created a wonderful character in Sebby - you want to jump i...more
From Publishers Weekly:
The Asperger's afflicted narrator of Brinkman's sincere, sober debut struggles to cope with his pregnant mother's recent death after she was hit by a car. Already keenly sensitive to emotional and sensory stimuli, Sebby Lane finds his mother's loss almost unbearable; he acts out at school, biting a girl on the shoulder. Sebby's father, Stephen, is nearly unable to function, and, in an attempt to help both Sebby and himself, takes Sebby to the family summer home, hoping tha...more
The Asperger's afflicted narrator of Brinkman's sincere, sober debut struggles to cope with his pregnant mother's recent death after she was hit by a car. Already keenly sensitive to emotional and sensory stimuli, Sebby Lane finds his mother's loss almost unbearable; he acts out at school, biting a girl on the shoulder. Sebby's father, Stephen, is nearly unable to function, and, in an attempt to help both Sebby and himself, takes Sebby to the family summer home, hoping tha...more
This was a very good, quick read. Narrated from the point of view of 8-year-old Sebby, we see how a family deals with the aftermath of the mother passing away. We never meet her character (she's already passed, suddenly and unexpectedly), but Sebby's thoughts reveal a lot about his relationship with her. The author tells the story solely through Sebby's thoughts, and in my opinion, she very accurately captures the inner workings of a young, confused boy. The other characters (Sebby's father, his...more
Sweet, heartbreaking story told through the words of seven-year old Sebastian (Sebby), who shows great resilience as he works through the death of his mother and the emotional withdrawal of his father. Oddly reminded me of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" -- something about the simple delivery and tone of the prose, not without emotion but very measured and cautious.
I hate to give bad reviews.
I picked up this book because of a penchant for young protagonists, as well as the synopsis and cover art. In addition, some reviews maintained the book was told effectively from the viewpoint of a child with Asperger's syndrome. Seeing as I suffer from this, I was expecting a realistic and engaging portrayal that might parallel my own childhood in certain ways.
It is not clear that Sebby suffers from Asperger's, and this is never explicitly stated. If anything, it seem...more
I picked up this book because of a penchant for young protagonists, as well as the synopsis and cover art. In addition, some reviews maintained the book was told effectively from the viewpoint of a child with Asperger's syndrome. Seeing as I suffer from this, I was expecting a realistic and engaging portrayal that might parallel my own childhood in certain ways.
It is not clear that Sebby suffers from Asperger's, and this is never explicitly stated. If anything, it seem...more
This was, of course, elegantly written with very evocative imagery. That is its main appeal to me. It seems kind of beside the point to debate whether or not Sebby is on the Autism spectrum. I have a son with Asperger's, and I know a lot of kids and adults on the spectrum. They are each more different than they are alike, and no book is going to speak for ALL of them. Sebby may or may not be Autistic, but it doesn't matter because this is not a story of Autism, it is a story of a family in deep,...more
This story is about the aftermath of a family's tragedy, the death of the mother, told through the voice of a highly functioning autistic child.
Very smooth and moving narrative. A bit too raw for me. I was always braced for the train wreck that might have happened - not that is was graphic or negative - but you surely got the sensation that all the family members were careening - and might not recover from the loss. You weren't sure they were going to come together in the end.
Not to mention that...more
Very smooth and moving narrative. A bit too raw for me. I was always braced for the train wreck that might have happened - not that is was graphic or negative - but you surely got the sensation that all the family members were careening - and might not recover from the loss. You weren't sure they were going to come together in the end.
Not to mention that...more
I didn't realize that Sebbie was autistic until I read reviews of the book once I finished. I thought he might have had some disability but I wasn't exactly sure. The story was interesting, I liked it for the most part. It was a pretty quick read and it had it's touching and sad moments.
This book is about loss and mental illness. It is engaging, the characters are interesting and the writing style and perspective is unique. It has the potential for an interesting discussion for a book club. However, I personally can’t say “I liked it” because I found it too disturbing.
A mother dies. The father, two teenage children and an autistic boy are left to come to terms with their loss. Family dynamics and the effort of making sense of his world is told through the eyes of this unusual eight year old child. The author does a good job of portraying his world.
The other day I saw this little boy with big red glasses riding his bike past my house, his dad huffing after him with a cross look on his face, and I thought to myself, "Aww, Sebby." Yeah. This book is sweet.
I decided to read this book since I took the authors photo on the book jacket. I had no idea what the book was about but it was a nice read. I like that it's not a straight up narrative but told in bits and pieces that reveal more about the main character. A quick read and it was perfect for my holiday break...
Interesting in parts, but confusing in more parts. Definitely one that you have to think about and not one you can read late at night and hope to remember what you read in the morning!
Amazingly unique voice reminiscent of The Sound and the Fury. It's more about grief than autism, but a very ambitious book and high achievement for this new writer. Any more books, Kiara?
I sometimes read things just out of curiosity,and this book was really a disappointment, the whole story and characters seem to be sustained only by the fact that something very sad happened to them. Very sad indeed, but that gives nothing to the story itself, I found, where nothing really ever happens. The only thing you keep is the fact that they have all lost someone important, their mother and for their father, a wife. I have read many books where the main character is a young boy or girl, b...more
Written in the first person by an autistic child, a really good read. I thought it was more representative of Asperger's syndrome than true autism, though.
An autistic boy deals with the death of his mother and the grief of his family. Very good story telling. I kept wanting the little boy to be okay.
Took a bit to get the feel for the writing, written from an 8 year old's prospective. Started off a little heavy. Mood effecting.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Kiara Brirnkman grew up first in the Midwest and then some more in California. She graduated from Brown University and earned her M.F.A. from Goddard College. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney's and Pindeldyboz, among other magazines. She has been working with children her whole life, and currently lives in San Francisco."
More about Kiara Brinkman...
Share This Book
1 trivia question
More quizzes & trivia...
