I've been mulling over this review for months. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, I'm just not quite sure how I feel about it... yet.
Here we have Harold Fry, a socially awkward, painfully ordinary man. Harold lives an ordinary retired life, with his ordinary wife. You get the feeling in the beginning, although he's not quite happy, he's perfectly content to be ordinary.
Until he receives a letter that is. A letter from a terminally ill Queenie, an old work colleague who disappeared; someone who Harold harboured a secret guilt for. Upon posting his reply to Queenie, Harold finds himself walking from one postbox, to the next, to the one after- until he comes to the conclusion that instead he's going to walk to Queenie. Walk across the country from Kensington to Berwick in naught but his yachting shoes. It's up to him, to keep her alive.
Harold is an old man and we come to discover a man who is riddled with regrets. Regrets regarding his wife, his son and the regret of letting an old friend walk out of his life. What we have here, is a modern day Everyman. During this pilgrimage Harold reflects on the choices he's made in an attempt to reconcile and move passed them. He chances upon meeting fascinating characters throughout his journey, each with their own regrets and problems. Harold seems to take these burdens upon himself, to help heal himself and those around him. There was a particularly moving story Harold hears in a tea shop from a white hair gentlemen who admits to partaking in acts of gay sex.
Here we have Harold Fry, a socially awkward, painfully ordinary man. Harold lives an ordinary retired life, with his ordinary wife. You get the feeling in the beginning, although he's not quite happy, he's perfectly content to be ordinary.
Until he receives a letter that is. A letter from a terminally ill Queenie, an old work colleague who disappeared; someone who Harold harboured a secret guilt for. Upon posting his reply to Queenie, Harold finds himself walking from one postbox, to the next, to the one after- until he comes to the conclusion that instead he's going to walk to Queenie. Walk across the country from Kensington to Berwick in naught but his yachting shoes. It's up to him, to keep her alive.
Harold is an old man and we come to discover a man who is riddled with regrets. Regrets regarding his wife, his son and the regret of letting an old friend walk out of his life. What we have here, is a modern day Everyman. During this pilgrimage Harold reflects on the choices he's made in an attempt to reconcile and move passed them. He chances upon meeting fascinating characters throughout his journey, each with their own regrets and problems. Harold seems to take these burdens upon himself, to help heal himself and those around him. There was a particularly moving story Harold hears in a tea shop from a white hair gentlemen who admits to partaking in acts of gay sex.
Needless to say, I adore Harold Fry; I'm not quite sure if I want to be just like him, or wish I had a friend that was. Harold has the uncanny knack of warming you from soul to toes, I'm not sure if it's his innocence, his naivety or his sheer will to cling on to hope or just a combination of all three. Whatever it is, I found myself rooting for him with ever cell of my being, I needed him to get to Queenie if not for his sanity then my own.
What Rachel Joyce has given me, is a wonderfully simple story about faith, hope and love. It's a nice reminder that, regardless of how old we are, we are never too old to discover who we really are. The only drawback in the book is the mention of Facebook and Twitter, which in my opinion, gives it a rather short shelf life; I don't see myself picking up this book in ten or fifteen years time, so against the bigger picture it's nothing but a minor irritation. All in all though, Joyce has done exceedingly well in her first novel- I would definitely read more by her in the future.
Rating: ★★★★☆
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