Title: On the Come Up Author: Hannah Weyer
Published: July 23, 2013
Genre(s): Realistic/Contemporary
Page Count: 320
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Written in an urban vernacular that’s electrifying and intimate, On the Come Up introduces a heroine whose voice is irrepressible, dynamic, and unstintingly honest. Thirteen-year-old AnnMarie Walker dreams of a world beyond Far Rockaway, where the sway of the neighborhood keeps her tied to old ideas about success. While attending a school for pregnant teens, AnnMarie comes across a flyer advertising movie auditions in Manhattan. Astonishingly, improbably, and four months before she’s due to give birth—she lands a lead role. For a time, AnnMarie soars—acting for the camera, flying to the Sundance Film Festival, seeing her face on-screen. But when the film fades from view and the realities of her life set in, AnnMarie’s grit and determination are the only tools left to keep her moving forward.
Told with remarkable compassion and based on the real-life story of Anna Simpson, whom the author met during the filming of the award-winning Our Song, Hannah Weyer’s debut novel is an incredible act of literary ventriloquism that powerfully illuminates the lives of the urban unseen.
On the Come Up is a special book. It’s truthful and realistic, the story of a girl in less than stellar circumstances who comes through it all as a better version of herself. Yet this isn’t a Cinderella fairytale. Hannah Weyer does not offer readers a glamorous, romanticized view of a poor girl who becomes a princess. It’s not like that at all, and I think that’s what makes this book so amazing. This story is real.
The book opens when AnnMarie is 12 years old, crushing on a wannabe music producer named Darius. She gets pregnant by Darius at 14, and at first their planned life goes great. But then it doesn’t. Darius is abusive and doesn’t provide. AnnMarie lands a role in a promising indie film, which then ends up being selected for Sundance. But her movie career doesn’t take off—there is no Hollywood glamour here. By the time the book closes, when AnnMarie is 18, her circumstances have improved a bit, but she’s certainly not rich or famous. Really, the most marked change when comparing the beginning to the end is AnnMarie herself. On the Come Up is very much a story of character growth and female strength.
AnnMarie herself is such a fantastic character. She’s not perfect. Getting pregnant at 14 probably won’t win her any awards. She chooses not to get her GED as well. She pushes away her best friend as well. She keeps taking her asshole boyfriend back. So yes, AnnMarie makes mistakes over the course of this book. She makes a lot of mistakes, but eventually, she does learn from them. She’s an excellent mother to her daughter, she finally puts her foot down and leaves her boyfriend, falls in love with and moves in with a nice girl who treats her right. AnnMarie is strong, so very strong throughout this. The book isn’t narrated in first person (I wish it had been), but her voice is still present and with the reader at all times.
Even with an astounding protagonist, On the Come Up is certainly not a feel-good rags-to-riches fantasy. Things don’t get better just because AnnMarie stars in a critically acclaimed film. She’s still on food stamps, still a dropout. By the end of the book, things are better than they were, maybe, but it’s not fantastic. And I think that’s very honest of Hannah Weyer. She doesn’t sugarcoat or glamorize things as she could have.
By and large, On the Come Up is a phenomenal book. AnnMarie’s story is raw and genuine, and Weyer’s prose reflects that perfectly. It’s a memorable, realistic story that’s impacting because it feels real. This book was amazing.
