Upstate

November 22, 2004
Like any good love story, this one's riddled with conflict from the get-go. Antonio and Natasha, two Harlem teenagers, are deeply in love with each other, but their relationship is put to the test when Antonio goes to jail just before their senior year for killing his father, a crime he may or may not have committed. Written in the form of letters between Antonio and Natasha, Buckhanon's debut novel captures the young lovers' anger, hope and frustration. "I got even more down too when my peoples came to visit me... Still young, still fresh with them shiny eyes and bright faces.... And all I could think while looking at you all at the same time I was looking at me was I look old, I look sad, I look used," laments Antonio in one letter. As the years pass, of course, both of their lives alter dramatically, and their feelings for each another inevitably change as well. The letters are fluent, candid and colloquial, though occasionally readers may crave dialogue and a fresh point of view. Still, this is a moving, uplifting story of love and hope in the face of adversity. Agent, Tracy Sherrod. (Jan. 13)

Forecast:
Blurbs from Sapphire and Dorothy Allison and an eight-city author tour should help get this promising first novel off to a good start.

September 15, 2004
Having racked up lots of awards and fellowships, Buckhanon puts her talents to use in a debut told through the correspondence of 17-year-old Antonio, jailed (perhaps wrongly) for his father's murder, and his 16-year-old girlfriend. With an eight-city author tour.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2004
With e-mail being used for everything from business memos and meeting reminders to tender love notes, the epistolary novel-- with a history stretching from the days of Samuel Richardson and Choderlos de Laclos' " Liaisons Dangereuses" to, more recently, Helene Hanff's " 84 Charing Cross Road" and Alice Walker's " Color Purple--"seems to be burgeoning again. Buckhanon's foray in the format presents a decade of correspondence between Antonio, initially a teen arrested for murder, and his sweetheart, Natasha. Both from tiny, dark apartments in Harlem, they are passionately in love and lust but destined to walk very different roads. Eschewing Walker's more dialectal language, Buckhanon opts for writing that is best called "lite," suggesting New York City black speech but not so authentically as to compromise mainstream audience potential. Those aware of how unlikely success is for young women in Harlem and felons in and out of lockup might take issue with Buckhanon's somewhat sanitized depiction. Others may eagerly anticipate a TV adaptation of it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)