Upward Bound: A Read with Jenna Pick: A Novel

Upward Bound: A Read with Jenna Pick: A Novel

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • 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—a “triumphant”* novel by a major new literary voice hailed as a “groundbreaking debut novelist”** “[A] revelation that forces you to ask: How much do we overlook in people—how many gifts do we fail to nurture—by making overly hasty judgments?”—Frank Bruni, The New York Times “Funny and moving and ringing with life.”— The Guardian* “This captivating work illuminates a world too often ignored.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review)** Upward Bound is not a place anyone dreams of spending their days. The dreary adult daycare center for Los Angeles’s 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 center’s pool who feels out of her depth. Then there’s Dave, Upward Bound’s 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 center’s 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 won’t soon forget, Upward Bound will inspire and touch you, teaching you as much about yourself as the tender, miraculous world behind the center’s doors. “I’m reading a novel, Upward Bound, written by a young man named Woody Brown, who was diagnosed with severe autism as a child and thought to be incapable of sophisticated communication. He still struggles with speech, as our Times colleague Alexandra Alter explained in an excellent recent profile of him. But he’s an effective writer, complaining in Upward Bound about caretakers’ tendency to let their autistic charges idle ‘as if time means nothing to people who have nothing but time.’ . . . And it’s a revelation that forces you to ask: How much do we overlook in people—how many gifts do we fail to nurture—by making overly hasty judgments? Woody’s mom believed in him. Then college and graduate-school professors did. Then editors. Tapping letters on a board to spell out his answers to Alexandra’s questions, he told her: ‘I thought I would be caged my whole life, and then the door was open.’ Now he’s free—and he’s flying.” —Frank Bruni, The New York Times “Implosive and wonderfully inspirational.” —Paul Beatty, Booker Prize–winning author of The Sellout “Great characters, great pace, great story—reading Upward Bound is a complicated joy.” —Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize–winning author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha “It will change the way you look at the world.” —Angie Kim, New York Times bestselling author of Happiness Falls “An explosive novel.” —Ron Charles “Told from multiple viewpoints in a series of interlinking stories, [ Upward Bound ] is compassionate, insightful, funny—and at times quietly, righteously angry at the slights and prejudices the community faces. Just beautiful.” — Marie Claire “An interlocking, polyphonic portrait of a community often overlooked . . . It’s a startlingly unique and fresh perspective on the world: we’re lucky to exist inside Brown’s creation, a deeply heartfelt exploration of humanity.” — Literary Hub “A moving, illuminating glimpse into a world we rarely have access to.” —Good Housekeeping “A wondrous and distinctly brilliant debut novel, Upward Bound gives us the world from the perspective of someone rarely noticed or understood, who in turn understands and notices most everyone. Generous, witty, expansive, and insightful, this novel is an unparalleled achievement and a treasure.” —Rivka Galchen “ Upward Bound is a highly original, captivating, brilliantly observed novel about the power of human relationships and the complexities of communication.” —Caolinn Hughes, author of The Alternatives “ Upward Bound offers an illuminating chronicle from inside the world of adult daycare for so-called disabled adults, many of whom cannot speak. Woody Brown accomplishes the seemingly impossible: He gives voice to a c