My view of this is that it is about class though i do believe that the authors says otherwise. We have two middle class couples who own a factory and decide to take a break on the river cruising up to and no further to a place called Armageddon Bridge. The couples are polar opposites of each other one been bossy and outgoing and the other been weak and uptight. Along the way the bossy male character (Keith) and self appointed Skipper of the boat has to go back to the factory to sort out a strike that has taken place in their absence so here we have the workers vs the management again one could say working class vs middle class. Alistair the weak male stays behind with his wife and Keiths wife and is now reluctantly in charge of steering the boat which soon runs aground, with the help of a good Samaritan (Vince) or that's how it first looks Vince takes Keiths place in more ways than one.
Review of Way Upstream
