“The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” by Rachel Joyce
Rachel Joyce’s THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY kept me turning pages. She gave me a character on a spiritual/physical quest—battling time, the odds, his own doubt, and painful memories.
Harold, aged sixty-five and never a walker, leaves his London home and Maureen, his wife of forty years, and sets off walking. He is determined to visit Queenie Hennessey, a friend from long ago, who is six hundred miles away, dying of cancer. As Harold pushes on toward Queenie, he’s also pushed into recollections—how Queenie helped him through a mysterious time at work, how he and Maureen drifted apart, how hard it was to remember his own inept parenting of their son, and how neglectful his own parents were.
Joyce’s nomination for the Man Booker Prize for THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE makes sense to me. I dearly love me a loveable mess, and Harold qualifies.
The only thing that disappoints me about this book is how Harold’s son David’s story is handled. The thing I appreciate most is the exposure of the relationship between Harold and Maureen. Joyce does a skillful job of showing how partners’ relational deficits create rifts that become lifelong chasms.
I’ve been working with couples for twenty years, I’ve been married three times, and I understand what it’s like to look back on a relationship and feel like you’re watching a stranger, while puzzling over what in the world happened. I pulled for Harold to please make it to Queenie, while also pulling for Harold and Maureen to make sense of their marriage and their lives. Reading THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE was a delight.
Harold, aged sixty-five and never a walker, leaves his London home and Maureen, his wife of forty years, and sets off walking. He is determined to visit Queenie Hennessey, a friend from long ago, who is six hundred miles away, dying of cancer. As Harold pushes on toward Queenie, he’s also pushed into recollections—how Queenie helped him through a mysterious time at work, how he and Maureen drifted apart, how hard it was to remember his own inept parenting of their son, and how neglectful his own parents were.
Joyce’s nomination for the Man Booker Prize for THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE makes sense to me. I dearly love me a loveable mess, and Harold qualifies.
The only thing that disappoints me about this book is how Harold’s son David’s story is handled. The thing I appreciate most is the exposure of the relationship between Harold and Maureen. Joyce does a skillful job of showing how partners’ relational deficits create rifts that become lifelong chasms.
I’ve been working with couples for twenty years, I’ve been married three times, and I understand what it’s like to look back on a relationship and feel like you’re watching a stranger, while puzzling over what in the world happened. I pulled for Harold to please make it to Queenie, while also pulling for Harold and Maureen to make sense of their marriage and their lives. Reading THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE was a delight.