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Ups & Downs: The (Mis)Adventures of a Crusty Old Fart and his Bouncy Son as they Trek Through the Alps

Don Fried and David Kassin Fried
BookSurge Publishing (2008)
ISBN 9781439214831
Reviewed by Melissa Koltes for RebeccasReads (3/09)

Trekking across the Alps with a close friend or family member, without having to worry about the news, work, or the world in general sounds great, right? Ups and Downs tunes us in to the reality of what can happen when a father and son take on the Alps and encounter Murphy’s Law. 

The book is written in a seesaw manner, allowing both Don and David to give the reader the ability to not only hear both sides of the stories but also get to know each of the authors.  Their thoughts, sense of humor, points of view, past experiences & future ambitions are all laid out as they meander through the Alps; traversing several countries and countless small towns and villages, in a very enjoyable read.

There are stories, jabs, smart remarks and hilarious situations around every turn.  The entire book is a lighthearted adventure that has its twists and turns, cows and sheep, rain and shine, but will tickle the funny bone of anyone that reads it.  I do not typically laugh out loud as I am reading.  But this book made me LOL more times than I can count. 

The numerous situations that the authors end up in makes one question if two people could truly end up having this many things happen to them, but it has to be true…who could make this up?  Throughout the book the authors interject into one another’s story allowing the reader to feel as though they are sitting with friends as they tell the tale of their hiking adventure.

The authors do a fantastic job of giving a visual account of the uniqueness of the towns-people, the villages, the countries and the cultures.  The beauty of the landscape, the difficulty of the journey and the individual experiences that each narrate is awe inspiring, incredibly amusing, and greatly entertaining. 

.: Blog
.: David Kassin Fried's website
.: Don Fried's website
.: Ups & Downs website