Up a Road Slowly

When her mother dies, seven-year-old Julie is sent to live with her Aunt Cordelia in the big farmhouse a few miles outside of town. She's sure she will never come to like or understand her spinster schoolteacher aunt, but as the years go by and she is given opportunities to move away, she finds that the farm has become home.

This novel is notable for the delicate, almost imperceptible character development that Julie undergoes over the course of the novel. The plot is a fairly episodic midcentury coming-of-age story, with Julie growing from a grieving, self-absorbed child to a much more self-aware young woman. I didn't love the messaging about how falling in love makes a woman's life "complete," but it's accurate to the period. All in show more all, this book reminds me of old linens: worn, a little faded, and thin in places, but still comforting. show less

I read Up A Road Slowly as a teen, and have always remembered it as a perceptive story about a young girl's un-extraordinary coming of age. Nothing very dramatic happens in this unassuming little paperback, but somehow the story has stayed with me all these years because of the carefully drawn characters and relationships described in deft prose. It's always a pleasure to read and find that one's memories are accurate. Up A Road Slowly, the 1967 Newbery Award winner, is a thoughtful, delightful book.

After her mother's death, seven-year-old Julie Trelling is sent to live with her schoolteacher aunt in the country. We follow Julie through the next ten years as she grows up and begins to understand her world and the adults around her. In show more some ways this story reminds me very much of L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series. Though it incorporates many of the same events in the Anne books, Hunt's world is much less idealized than Montgomery's. For instance, both Anne and Julie have a schoolmate who dies young, but while Montgomery takes the romantic view that death can sanctify everything, Hunt is more focused on the grittier realities. Instead of a shy, loving Matthew, the male figure in Julie's life is her flamboyant drunkard of an Uncle Haskell. Aunt Cordelia (notice her name, Anne fans!) and Marilla are a bit closer in characterization as the older spinster who grows to love the young girl. Indeed, Cordelia is even closer to Aunt Hetty in Montgomery's The Story-Girl.

Anne has a love affair that turns out poorly; so does Julie. But the circumstances are very different indeed. There are little touches here and there, like Julie decorating the table with flowers because of her artistic eye (just like Anne) and the spinster aunt Cordelia/Marilla eventually revealing a sad love affair in her past. I imagine that Hunt includes all these nods as a tribute to the strong influence Montgomery has had on the sub-genre of female coming-of-age stories.

I also noticed many similarities to Norma Johnston's The Keeping Days, but they are less pronounced than the Anne likenesses. All three girls want to be writers, end up falling in love with a childhood friend who enrages them somehow when they are children, and have a strong older woman in their lives (whether aunt, mother, or guardian). Tish's and Julie's stories are narrated in the first person, while Anne's technically isn't (but Montgomery tells much of the story in Anne's words). All three girls are highly intelligent, and their education and academic achievements are extremely important to their development.

Though some of the characters in Up A Road Slowly are only thinly characterized (like Danny), there are others I still remember vividly from my first read. Uncle Haskell in particular is a fascinating and tragic figure, maybe because the good in him — though present — is buried so deeply. He is a lying alcoholic who has never taken any responsibility for anything in his life. Haskell has pretensions of being a famous writer, but it's all a show (and probably just as much for himself as the rest of the world). The scene when Julie and Aunt Cordelia discover the start of a story on his typewriter after he dies (commits suicide?) is so poignant. Indeed, it's one of the main things I remembered about the book. His sister Cordelia blames their mother for how Haskell turned out; she spoiled him shamefully and his character was warped because of it. Though she never appears in the novel, Julie's grandmother has left a terrible legacy and its effects are felt by the next generation.

The story leaves off as Julie finishes high school and looks forward to her coming college years. I wish that there were sequels! This is a gentle, wise, never oversweetened book that I'm happy to have rediscovered. Recommended. show less

A coming of age novel with complex characters, including a bright protagonist who grows as a woman and writer. After her mother's death and move to live with her spinster aunt, Julie learns more than she thought she would from this aunt who becomes her teacher as well as her guardian. Ultimately she learns about what makes a worthy, lasting friendship, and where love and friendship intersect. This book is going to be appreciated by an older middle schooler to high schooler. With its thematic emphasis on relationships (including the changing relationship of a child with her parents and teachers as she grows up), this is a book that will be enjoyed best by girls.

This Newbery Award winning novel follows the life of Julie as she grows from a grieving confused seven-year-old who has just lost her mother, through her teenage years until she is seventeen. In doing so, it charts not only her life but the lives of those around her.

With no dramatics, explosions, magic or ending of worlds, this is a simple and yet stunningly beautiful tale of a girl growing up and the struggles she faces. From learning the guilt that being selfish carries to the knowledge that often, things cannot be fixed, Julie's life is a quiet pleasure to enter. Every interaction she has, every character shown is complete and so real I felt I knew them as well as she does.

The language is poetic but never overcomplicated or flowery show more and atmosphere and setting are described with ease.

I fell in love with this novel and the people within, and saw so much of myself in Julie that, by the end, I was in tears, not with sadness or even happiness but just with pure understanding.

Sadly, I'm not sure this would appeal to many young readers out there now, and they are missing out on a huge delight. A book that is quietly understated, with no need for gimmicks, that lets the characters tell their stories with grace and honesty. show less

romance is when the boy you gave a black eye to at the age of 7 tells you you mean absolutely nothing to him even though he literally drove specifically to get you when you were stranded at school bc of ur no good boyfriend
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i have absolutely no idea WHEN this book is set there is not a single contextual clue. everyone has cars but also horses and it's definitely more modern but also not that modern since it was written in 1966
i think this is just a case of an odd narrator idk i didn't hate Julie but also her voice is. interesting. i generally really like coming of age books and i did like this one but it was sure a product of its time??

I really enjoyed this one. A poignant story about a young girl forced to leave her Father and live with an Aunt that she's not particularly fond of. She soon learns that everything happens for a reason. A much more complex story than I initially assumed. Beautifully written and an absolute pleasure to read.

This Newbery Award winning book was a pick for my book group. It sparked a lively discussion. I really enjoyed it, but found it to be more appropriate for adults or young adults. The material seemed quite dense for a child. Wonderful characters, some flawed, all growing. A wonderful unfolding of an unusual family. A lot to ponder.