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A review by lydiasigwarth
Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt
5.0
I revisited this lovely little novel as an adult with very little memory of the plot. All I remembered is that I must've read it half a dozen times when I was in middle school.
Unlike many of my middle school obsessions, this one held up to adult scrutiny. I even shocked myself by shedding tears towards the end, not because of a death or typical tragic circumstance but just because Hunt so masterfully catches the inner dialogue of growing up. She doesn't resort to pure angst, but instead captures the complex insecurity of becoming a grown-up person in a way that felt timeless.
It's sacrilege, but I always related more to Julie than I did to Anne Shirley. (Anne is queen but I wish Julie was as loved as Anne is.) Anne and Julie feel very similar to me but Julie's flaws feel less charming and more real to me. Julie is not a charming child, she's rude, she acts out, she insults her Aunt regularly. I was also not a charming child, someone with a lot of feelings and no filter and I caused chaos in the way Julie did.
The family dynamics and siblings issues as a backdrop to Julie's story is my favorite element of the book as an adult. The way that the Haskell and Cordelia have a history and family tensions that will never be resolved, and everyone knows what happened and that it's not right but it's too late to change anything. Tragic and real and beautiful.
Anyway I have a lot of feelings and I just wish more people loved this book.
Unlike many of my middle school obsessions, this one held up to adult scrutiny. I even shocked myself by shedding tears towards the end, not because of a death or typical tragic circumstance but just because Hunt so masterfully catches the inner dialogue of growing up. She doesn't resort to pure angst, but instead captures the complex insecurity of becoming a grown-up person in a way that felt timeless.
It's sacrilege, but I always related more to Julie than I did to Anne Shirley. (Anne is queen but I wish Julie was as loved as Anne is.) Anne and Julie feel very similar to me but Julie's flaws feel less charming and more real to me. Julie is not a charming child, she's rude, she acts out, she insults her Aunt regularly. I was also not a charming child, someone with a lot of feelings and no filter and I caused chaos in the way Julie did.
The family dynamics and siblings issues as a backdrop to Julie's story is my favorite element of the book as an adult. The way that the Haskell and Cordelia have a history and family tensions that will never be resolved, and everyone knows what happened and that it's not right but it's too late to change anything. Tragic and real and beautiful.
Anyway I have a lot of feelings and I just wish more people loved this book.