Upward Bound by Woody Brown

 

Summary (from the publisher): 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.

Review: This novel focuses on clients and staff of an adult daycare center serving the disabled community in Los Angeles. 

You should know that the author is a non-speaking autistic and the book has come under some scrutiny because it was written using rapid prompting method, which experts consider to be unreliable. 

This functions more as a collection of interconnected short stories. Each chapter is from the perspective of a different person in the adult daycare center. Some of the stories truly are heartbreaking, such as the client who has been written off by everyone including his own mother, when really his brain is very active behind his handicapped body. It was truly heartbreaking to read. However, other chapters, namely the chapters from employees' points of views, captured my attention far less. I was also sort of taken aback by the direction the plot took in the end of this. 

Although I appreciated that the book gives us insight into multiple perspectives, I think it reduced my enjoyment. While we get to see the same characters through the lens' of others' perspectives, moving around so much made me feel less connected to any one story or character. Despite the full cast, the audiobook came across as sort of dry. Between the narration and the short story style, I connected to this more intellectually than emotionally overall. I greatly appreciated the spotlight this casts on the disabled community and how it forces the reader to consider life from their perspective. But on the whole, this felt like a dry read to me. It was only five hours long but felt much longer. 

I listened to this on audio and it had a full cast and different narrators for each of the different perspectives. 

Stars: 3