Let me ask you a question: Would you be willing to walk 600 miles if you believed that your pilgrimage would save the life of a terminal friend? I would think that most people would answer "no". Last week, as I was leaving the library with a stack of books, I got to chatting with a fellow book lover. We talked about the books that we had recently read and she recommended a book she just finished reading. After giving me a brief summary of the book, I decided to add British author Rachel Joyce's debut novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry to my reading list.
Summary: "Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning a letter arrives, addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl, from a woman he hasn’t heard from in twenty years. Cancer patient, Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye. But before Harold mails off a quick reply, a chance encounter convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. In his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold Fry embarks on an urgent quest. Determined to walk six hundred miles to the hospice, Harold believes that as long as he walks, Queenie will live. A novel of charm, humor, and profound insight into the thoughts and feelings we all bury deep within our hearts, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry introduces Rachel Joyce as a wise – and utterly irresistible – storyteller." (Amazon.com)
Synopsis: In Walden, Henry David Thoreau observed, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation," and I could not help but recall this quotation as I began Rachel Joyce's lovely debut novel. As the novel begins, our unlikely hero, Harold, is merely existing. The reader is not given many details, but it is clear that Harold's marriage to Maureen is an empty shell, and that there are problems in his relationship with his adult son, David. Then his carefully orchestrated charade of a life begins to come apart after Harold gets a farewell letter from a friend, Queenie Hennessy, who is dying of cancer and living in hospice 600 miles away. Queenie had "done something nice" for Harold twenty years previous, and he always regretted not thanking her. Whatever she did for Harold is shrouded in mystery, but if the reader is patient, all questions are resolved.
Harold writes a perfunctory response to Queenie's letter, but as he goes out to mail it, something prevents him from putting it in the first mailbox he finds. He passes postbox after postbox, and eventually makes an impulsive decision to walk from his hometown of Kingsbridge to Queenie's hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed, about 600 miles, believing that she will live as long as he keeps walking. Thus begins his transformation from a kind of living death to fullness of life. He walks 5 to 10 miles per day and mulls over the events in his life: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Readers will recognize a familiar theme, found in such writings as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Wall-E: the hero leaves his comfortable world in order to embark on a quest. Along the way he meets both helpers and tempters, and he eventually returns to the known world with a fullness of knowledge or with something to enrich his community and himself.
Harold writes a perfunctory response to Queenie's letter, but as he goes out to mail it, something prevents him from putting it in the first mailbox he finds. He passes postbox after postbox, and eventually makes an impulsive decision to walk from his hometown of Kingsbridge to Queenie's hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed, about 600 miles, believing that she will live as long as he keeps walking. Thus begins his transformation from a kind of living death to fullness of life. He walks 5 to 10 miles per day and mulls over the events in his life: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Readers will recognize a familiar theme, found in such writings as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Wall-E: the hero leaves his comfortable world in order to embark on a quest. Along the way he meets both helpers and tempters, and he eventually returns to the known world with a fullness of knowledge or with something to enrich his community and himself.
Harold Fry fits this motif to a tee. He meets many people and even animals along the way, and he gains something of value from each of them, even those who would deter him from his quest. Meanwhile, back at home, Maureen is undergoing her own transformation as she worries and responds to Harold's calls, postcards, and gifts. Nothing is as Harold or Maureen expect it to be. And the end of the quest is rewarding, but not in the way Harold imagines.
One final observation: This is a beautifully written novel. Most readers will love Ms. Joyce's use of language, especially in descriptions of the natural world. I am stunned that this is the author's first novel, though she has written many screenplays for the BBC. I hope to read much more of her work.
Most readers will like and appreciate Harold Fry if they persevere through the ambiguity at the beginning. Everything falls together eventually, I promise! Highly recommended.
One final observation: This is a beautifully written novel. Most readers will love Ms. Joyce's use of language, especially in descriptions of the natural world. I am stunned that this is the author's first novel, though she has written many screenplays for the BBC. I hope to read much more of her work.
Most readers will like and appreciate Harold Fry if they persevere through the ambiguity at the beginning. Everything falls together eventually, I promise! Highly recommended.
Rating: 5 out of 5
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| Harold's walk! |
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