No Mountain High Enough: Raising Lance, Raising Me (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Joni Rodgers (Author), Lance Armstrong (Foreword) "I would like to say right up front-I did not know about the fireballs..." (more)
Key Phrases: Miss Spencer, Miss Mamie, Eddie Haskell (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A memoir written by a famous athlete's mother may seem like a blatant attempt to cash in on yet another aspect of the athlete's celebrity. Yet Kelly, mother of six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, has managed to turn out an honest, fun and engaging account of her life. For the most part, this is Kelly's story, in which Lance plays a key supporting role. Kelly painstakingly recounts her 1960s Texas childhood with a poor mother who moved the family (sans Kelly's father, who abandoned them) from one lousy apartment to the next. Though self-sufficient—she landed a job at a KFC when she was only 13—Kelly was thrown for a loop when she unexpectedly became pregnant (with Lance) as a junior in high school. She made the most of her limited circumstances, raising Lance alone. They'd eat mac and cheese and play silly games at home instead of going out to the movies; they got used to "stumbling and getting up again." Kelly relates their trials—as well as the string of less-than-perfect boyfriends and husbands she went through—in a winningly homey and self-teasing manner. Not surprisingly, when the issue of Lance's cancer arises later in the book and mother and son endure brutal rounds of chemotherapy, readers' heartstrings get thoroughly strummed, though not unnecessarily so. This is a sincerely heartwarming tale, laced with true Texas grit.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

If this autobiography by the mother of cyclist Lance Armstrong is the essence of greeting-card sentimentality and rah-rah optimism, it still reveals the force behind the six-time (and counting) Tour de France champion. Raised in poverty and family dysfunction in Dallas--her father alcoholic, her mother unsupportive--Linda was a child herself at 17 when Lance was born. She raised the boy as a single mom, supporting them with two, sometimes three, jobs until she emerged decades later as a successful executive with Ericsson Telecommunications. Her story here tracks Lance's growth as a legendary cyclist and as a person, his successful (so far) battle with cancer, Linda's three failed marriages, her current successful marriage, and her personal and professional development. Her secret to Lance's success, treacly as it might seem: positive thinking. "What can I say?" she writes. "I believe in the power of being cheered on." Alan Moores
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; First Edition 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 edition (April 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076791855X
• ISBN-13: 978-0767918558
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #671,088 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now we know where Lance got his drive., May 7, 2005

By	Terry Mathews (a small town in east Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Nothing was going to keep Linda Armstrong Kelly and her son from getting their piece of the American Dream.

Knowing Lance's story is helpful, but not essential to enjoying Linda's telling of a life of poverty, less than wise choices and being mother to a live wire named Lance. (Who was supposed to be named Erica, should he have been a girl.)

With little more than a heart full of love for her child and a huge amount of determination, Linda carved out a life for the two of them . . . truly against all odds. Armed only with a GED and a real estate license, she rose from a temporary clerk to the rank of project manager for a major telecommunications company. She raised Lance to believe in himself and it seems she didn't try to squelch his infatuation with danger . . . and speed. Her determination to succeed was quickly transferred to Lance, who's natural athletic abilities were just what the doctor (and his mother) ordered/needed to keep his boundless energy channeled in a positive manner.

My favorite part of the story revolved around Lance's early competitions, when Linda was his only "pit crew" and it was, indeed, the two of them against the world.

While being open and honest about her own unfortunate choices, Linda shows herself to be fallible, too. However, instead of having a pity party, she seems to learn from her every mistake and to take each personal relationship failure and make something positive out of it. It's good to know she's found the love of her life and is happy at last.

Never flinching from responsibility. Instilling a good work ethic. Teaching the value of a dollar. Believing in the good in her child, despite some teen-age boy pranks to the contrary.

Maybe Linda Armstrong Kelly should start her own foundation and teach parents how to raise their kids to be STRONG, responsible, caring and giving adults.

Kudos to her . . . and that kid she raised to ride like the wind!

Enjoy!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real victory, May 21, 2005

By	S. K. Smith "Spamicide" (Atown, Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm a Lance fan. So, when I read this book, it was only out of curiosity for Lance's career. But I found myself reading about an everyday victory, and one not rewarded with multi-million dollar advertising contracts or front-page stories.

Linda could have given away the baby. Linda could have received welfare and lived off the government. She didn't have to work hard to improve her career. She could have stayed in the projects or in bad marriages. Instead, her own determination lifted her and her child's life.

Sometimes I feel down because I'm struggling to save enough to buy a house, and I'm earning far more than she did and I don't have a child to raise. This is a wonderful, motivating book by a woman who never believed it when people told her it couldn't be done.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SUPER MOM AND MORE, June 26, 2005

By	A. Wilber "Long Island Momma" (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews

This is a story about Lance Armstrong's mother, but it is more a book about parenting and choices that people make. Linda Armstrong Kelly has made some interesting choices in her life, some good and some bad, but she seems to have gotten through them with a great attitude, and that is what I learned from this book. Oviously we wouldn't be reading this book, if she wasn't the mother of the 6 times Tour de France winner, but I found her insight into many topics interesting. She wrote honestly about not getting along with her mother and about other topics. She wrote about her one husband that beat her, another husband that was a womanizer and another that was a drinker. I liked that she changed the names of her past husbands in the story to protect them and her. She wrote about her worries when Lance would get hurt and especially when he was getting treated with Cancer which was very touching. I would suggest this book to Mothers who want to read an inspiring story. I enjoyed reading this book and recommend it highly.