Upward Bound: A Read with Jenna Pick: A Novel

ISBN: 0593979974

Author: Brown, Woody

Condition: New

A wondrous, deeply affecting portrait of the interlocking lives at an adult day care center in Southern California, depicting an often overlooked community with extraordinary wit and grace-by a major new literary voice hailed as a groundbreaking debut novelist (Publishers Weekly)[A] singular debut novel.-The New York TimesImplosive and wonderfully inspirational.-Paul BeattyGreat characters, great pace, great story-reading Upward Bound is a complicated joy.-Roddy DoyleIt will change the way you look at the world.-Angie KimWoody Brown accomplishes the seemingly impossible.-Mona SimpsonThis captivating work illuminates a world too often ignored.-Publishers Weekly (starred review)A Most Anticipated Book: The New York Times, Time, Harpers Bazaar, Alta Journal, Publishers Weekly, Literary Hub, Publishers LunchUpward Bound is not a place anyone dreams of spending their days. The dreary adult daycare center for Los Angeless disabled community is, for many of its clients and staff, a place of last resort. This includes Carlos, a young aide who lost his mother as a boy and now works there alongside his beloved sister, Mariana; Jorge, the gentle nonspeaking giant whom Carlos seeks to befriend (and prevent from escaping); Tom, a beautiful young man with cerebral palsy who pines for Ann, the summer lifeguard at the centers pool who feels out of her depth. Then theres Dave, Upward Bounds director, who came to L.A. to pursue an acting career but now channels his passion into staging an overly ambitious holiday show starring the centers irrepressible clients. Framing these intertwined narratives-and connecting them in surprising, shattering ways-is the riveting and sometimes ironic testimony of Walter, a recent community college graduate who, after a family tragedy, must return to the company of his disabled peers.In Upward Bound, Woody Brown has created an indelible, authentic, and profoundly moving group portrait of autism and other disabilities, all illuminated by his empathy, sly sense of humor, and enormous gifts as a novelist. With remarkable sophistication, insight, and creativity, Brown depicts a community too-often invisible in literature and society. Filled with characters you wont soon forget, Upward Bound will inspire and touch you, teaching you as much about yourself as the tender, miraculous world behind the centers doors.