Upstream by Melissa Lion

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(Paperback - Reprinted Edition)

  • Age Range: Young Adult
  • Pub. Date: November 2006
  • 160pp
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    • Overview
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    Product Details

    • Pub. Date: November 2006
    • Publisher: Random House Children's Books
    • Format: Paperback, 160pp
    • Age Range: Young Adult

    Synopsis

    Marty’s small town in Alaska is the most beautiful place in the world. There she and her beloved boyfriend, Steven, can walk through fields of fireweed, explore the wild, and tie pink floozy fishing lures to catch the salmon that swim upstream. But when she starts her senior year, Marty must return to school by herself. Without Steven. Something happened during the summer that changed things forever.

    It’s a small town and people are starting to talk; Marty can feel their stares and hear their whispers. But they weren’t there and they don’t know. Only Marty knows what really happened, and it’s something she must never, ever tell.

    Claire Rosser - KLIATT

    You may recall that Melissa Lion wrote an article in KLIATT's March '05 issue, after the publication of her first YA novel, Swollen. Upstream continues to demonstrate her skill and her commitment to her YA readers: it's a wonderful story set in Alaska, narrated by a young woman recovering from a tragedy. Marty is the oldest of three sisters living with their mother, who works with the Northern Dames, an all-female road construction company. Their father is supportive, but rarely there. We only get hints at first about the disaster. We know Marty lost Steven, whom she loved deeply. She is trying to get through her last year of high school, but she is grieving even as she survives each day. We learn that Steven was an accomplished outdoorsman, who could hunt, fish, and survive in the Alaskan wilderness. Gradually, we discover that Marty had something to do with his death, but we don't know exactly what until near the end of the novel. The sisters are amazingly close and loving, as is their mother—Marty would not get through this crisis without their strength and quiet support. A teacher at school, a young woman who moves into town from California to run the little movie theater where Marty works part time, the local policeman—each is a testament to how essential it is to quietly love a person who is hurting. Alaska itself, where Melissa Lion goes to fish, becomes real for those of us who don't know much about it—the whales, the fly-fishing, the dark cold of winter, the cozy social life in a small town (Northern Exposure comes to mind)—the reader has some sense of Alaska's uniqueness while immersed in Upstream. The irony is that Marty chooses to leaveAlaska at the end, attending a college in Hawaii that will enable her to start anew, putting the sorrow behind her, but still keeping her close to the ocean she loves. A memorable story. KLIATT Codes: JS*—Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2005, Random House, Wendy Lamb, 149p., Ages 12 to 18.

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    Biography

    Melissa Lion works at an independent bookstore in San Francisco. She is the author of Swollen.

    Customer Reviews

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    • Ratings: 2Reviews: 2

    Upstreamby Anonymous

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    December 01, 2007: Im more into historical fiction books, but this one was really good. Not a lot of books are written about small-town Alaska life. This book had a really good plot.

    Upstreamby Anonymous

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    March 07, 2005: This book was amazing. Most of the characters are female and very strong. The main character Martha(Marty) is struggling through the school year after a dramatic summer when her boyfriend Steven is killed. From the first page there is a mystery about this book. Martha has trouble forgetting but in the end she stays strong and gets over her fear of the future.