Rachel Joyce's novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was liked by all 12 members attending our July, 2014 meeting.
The people Harold Fry met on his journey were "ordinary people, doing ordinary things" someone commented and another "the journey is the point of the book." Another stated it was a "slow start but enjoyed it and the many facets of his walk. I am a walker and I'm like that, the part of the places it takes you in your mind."
One person said they kept re-thinking parts. "Harold had a purpose to redeem himself, the book was slow going, but people who he met seemed to have it together and weren't perfect" another member mentioned. "Cried at the end" another said.
Being from Ireland, one member commented she could easily visualize all these details, "so enjoyed every moment."
Harold Fry wasn't on a religious quest. He traveled 87 days, 627 miles. Someone mentioned he was empty inside, he needed to go to his "well." We discussed would we do what Harold Fry did -- go just like that on a snap decision? We are ordinary, someone mentioned, but yet are all extra-ordinary. Aspects of our character maybe extra-ordinary at one point, at one time in our life. He met people that shared that quality.
Not all of us, but most of us liked Maureen and her story. She finally saw that Harold wasn't the only one that made mistakes in their family. Felt as a young child David was very disrespectful and rude. We have a level of respect demanded by us and Harold/Maureen didn't demand it. Maureen allowed David to be nasty to Harold. We also liked that absence makes the heart grow fonder, which it did for both Harold and Maureen. When we read later in the book, that David had died by suicide we were shocked. Another "I literally cried when I read his son died of suicide, it explains so much." Only one person had that part of the storyline figured out.
In the end of the book, through Harold's long journey some were a little "let-down" and sad with the ending. Someone mentioned, though, that Queenie couldn't comment, yet we know that the pink quartz that Harold brought her, gave her "happiness." We were frustrated by the lack of story behind Queenie, but excited to hear there is a book coming out in October by Rachel Joyce "The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy. Click here to go to the author's web page and the information of this story.
One member shared this favorite part of the book: "Harold passed office workers, dog walkers, shoppers, children going to school, mothers and buggies, and hikers like himself, as well as several tourist parties. He met a tax inspector who was a Druid and had not worn a pair of shoes for ten years. He talked with a young woman on the trail of her real father, a priest who confessed to tweeting during mass, as well as several people in training for a marathon, and an Italian man with a singing parrot. He spent an afternoon with a white witch from Glastonbury, four bikers looking for the M5, and a mother of six who confided she had no idea life could be so solitary. Harold walked with these strangers and listened. He judged no one, although as the days wore on, and time and places began to melt, he couldn't remember if the tax inspector wore no shoes or had a parrot on his shoulder. It no longer mattered. He had learned that it was the smallness of people that filled him with wonder and tenderness, and the loneliness of that too. The world was made up of people putting one foot in front of the other; and a life might appear ordinary simple because the person living it had been so doing so for a long time. Harold could no longer pass a stranger without acknowleding the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and that this was the dilemma of being human." Quoted from Chapter 15 Harold and the New Beginning
August 26
Book Selection for following year
September 23
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Kruger
October 28
Maya’s Notebook by Isabelle Allende
November (to be determined)
Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
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I loved this book. As I was reading it I questioned the relationship between Harold & his wife Maureen. As he walked and was away from her I loved that he looked back at his life and found such fond memories and strong love. I also loved that later in the book Maureen looks at her life again and sees that she didn't always see things the right way. She, too, reminisced about their relationship and her love for Harold and how much she truly missed him. I also liked the journey that Harold was on, how he saw things he never saw he said when he traveled by car and by talking to people "ordinary people" he discovered they weren't really ordinary, each one had a story to tell. I see that in my life around me. You may see someone around town and never get to hear their story, until one day, and that story is fascinating.
ReplyDeleteBy opening ourselves up to a "journey" we can discover so much about our past, our present and what our future may be. We may also find someone like Queenie Hennessey, who quietly gives of herself. Towards the end of Chapter 1 Rachel Joyce writes: "Harold hobbled to an empty bench, inched Queenie's letter from his pocket, and unfolded it." She remembered. After all these years. And yet he had lived out his ordinary life as if what she had done meant nothing. He hadn't tried to stop her. He hadn't followed. He hadn't even said goodbye." That sacrifice that Queenie gave to Harold was dignity and a chance to change his life. HIs chance came when he took his personal journey both internally and physically over many miles. A chance to reclaim himself. Natalie