"On every level, Pull Me Up is a love story. There is love of the family, of location, of song, of learning, and of language itself. There is illness and despair and money worries, but what else is there to do but have a beer, listen to and sing with Johnny Cash, fall back on the Irish ballads, and to hell with the begrudges? You won't soon forget this book, the father, Eugene, the mother, Noreen and you'll rejoice in Dan Barry's prose that flashes with poetry. He might be a journalist but he can't stop singing. You will too." Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes.

A lyrical meditation on faith, love, mortality, and the redemptive power of storytelling. -- Alice McDermott

A thoroughly notable American voice, speaking a thoroughly American personal saga. -- Michael Pakenham, Baltimore Sun

An extraordinarily lyrical look at a mid-20th century working-class Irish-American family. -- Wendy Wasserstein, New York Times

You won't soon forget this book....and you'll rejoice in Dan Barry's prose that flashes with poetry. -- Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes