She’s in a hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed (on the northern-most tip of England), and she’s dying of cancer. He hasn’t heard from her in two decades, but she’s writing him now to say goodbye. One morning, Harold gets a letter in the post from an old acquaintance named Queenie Hennessy. It’s been years and years since they shared any affection. His wife, Maureen, doesn’t know what to do with this man wandering around the house. He lives on the southern coast of England in the small town of Kingsbridge, Devon. Harold Fry is a recently retired sixty-five-year-old. Consequently, I enjoyed a book that I also disliked immensely, and strangely those two feelings are related. However, in many segments, Joyce shows her fine ability to illustrate all of the reasons we should feel for her characters, and, though still sentimental, at those moments I was happy to let her carry me off. Indeed, Harold Fry is that kind of sentimental journey, and I really disliked it for that reason. From its description, I suspected Harold Fry would be that kind of sentimental book.Īnd this book has left me somewhat flummoxed.
These sentimental books, though the characters are always struggling with some darkness in their past, shine light into every corner, making sure we know that the wandering narrator - as well as the reader - has been edified this new perspective afforded by the journey can teach us all a thing or two.
As much as I enjoyed - no, loved - these three books, I was wary about The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which was recently longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. See, there are also “walking” books I don’t like that use some journey to represent some checklist through life’s lessons (I’m thinking of David Gutterson’s East of the Mountains). These books use walking to create a reflective journey, showing how physical space can affect our mental space. I’m thinking of Sergio Chejfec’s My Two Worlds, Damon Galgut’s In a Strange Room, and W.G. I have read and reviewed here some fine “walking” books.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce Random House (2012) 320 pp
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