Uphill Walkers: Portrait of a Family

Uphill Walkers: Portrait of a Family
by Madeleine Blais

Uphill Walkers: Portrait of a Family
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Book Summary Information

Author: Madeleine Blais
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-04-11
ISBN: 0802138926
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Grove Press

Book Reviews of Uphill Walkers: Portrait of a Family

Book Review: Growing Up Fatherless in the Fifties
Summary: 3 Stars

I commend Madeleine Blais for her effort to record her childhood experiences. She recalls her reaction to her father's untimely death and draws nicely described vignettes of her five siblings and their not-quite-able-to-cope mother. The scenes are linked with mentions of songs, current events and other minutiae of the 50s. Unfortunately these sound like they were gleaned from an almanac to serve as fillers.
She has some pleasant moments in the book, and I was reading it just for that "growing up in the 50s" ambience. I grew up as one-of-six and was interested in her experience in a large family.
There's nothing much wrong with the biography, but it just seems lacking somehow. The account lacks the elegance of language of Trevanian's The Crazy Ladies of Pearl Street while their middle class life lacks the drama quotient of The Glass Castle. Maybe if I hadn't read those first, I'd find Uphill Walkers more compelling.

Summary of Uphill Walkers: Portrait of a Family

In 1952, Madeleine Blais's father died suddenly, leaving his pregnant wife and their five young children to face their future alone. Uphill Walkers is the story of how the Blais family pulled together to survive and ultimately thrive in an era when a single-parent family was almost unheard-of. As they came of age in an Irish-American household that often struggled to make ends meet, the Blais children would rise again and again above all obstacles -- at every step of the way inspired by a mother who expected much but gave even more, as she saved and sacrificed to provide each child with the same education they would have received had their father lived. Beautiful, heartbreaking, and full of wonderful insights about sisterhood, brotherhood, and the ties that bind us together, Uphill Walkers is a moving portrait of the love it takes to succeed against the odds -- and what it means to be a family. "In plain-spoken prose ... Uphill Walkers has a remarkable dignity and eloquence." -- Carmela Ciuraru, USA Today "Beautiful ... This is the story of a family, united by blood, pride, and the bonds that defy logic." -- Ellen Kanner, The Miami Herald "Scrupulously candid and deeply compassionate...." -- Reeve Lindbergh, The Washington Post Book World

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