The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce

Discussed Thursday, 22^nd August 2013, Forester & Flower, Combe Down

Six out of the nine of us were there: Chris B, Chris W, Mark T, Ras, Rob (who had not finished the book) and Richard; (apols from Mark Th, Neil [who sent his views by e-mail, below], and Steve [who sent a short review with more to come later – also below]).

As often, there were a range of views – some thought that it was a good and enjoyable book, others were irritated by the lack of realism.

Selected by Richard as his wife had recommended it, his summary suggested that as Rachel Joyce is a writer of successful radio plays, there was quite good dialogue and story development. Initially, he rather disliked it, feeling that it was unrealistic, light, and a little meaningless; but by the end, he felt that it was interesting, quite well written, and written from a ‘magical realism’ perspective which means that one needed to suspend judgement (shoes which don’t wear out, foraging off the land with no experience, etc etc).

From reading other reviews, Richard realised that the book was an updated version of an old form of writing, the allegory. Once it had been mentioned in a review, the links with “Pilgrim’s Progress: the journey of Christian through Vanity Fair and the Slough of Despond to the Celestial City” seemed quite clear: a humble, everyman hero struggling on his way, with his burden on his back. Obviously some of the religious symbolism in Pilgrim’s Progress isn’t here in this modern-day version, but Harold is an Everyman figure whose spiritual journey is prone to pitfalls and distraction and presented as both heroic and mundane. Some of the symbolism related to the fact that ostensibly Harold Fry is setting out on his long walk from Devon to Berwick-on-Tweed to save his friend, Queenie Hennessy, who is dying of cancer in a nursing home; but this was also a symbolic journey, with Harold trying to save himself from the "slough of despond" into which his own life has sunk. One person suggested that the whole book could almost have been Harold’s fantasy. 

Although a wide range of views was expressed, most fell into one of two categories: those who liked and enjoyed it, and those who found it unrealistic, shallow and frustrating.

Positives included:

·      the easy style,

·      good dialogue,

·      Harold and Maureen - good and quite well drawn characters (although ‘magical realism’ here again – not really believable, and many realised from the first introduction that David had died)’

·      a book celebrating the kindness of strangers,

·      Harold's non-judgmental responses to everyone he meets forms the crux of the narrative,
·      A novel inspired by loss, it contains a really good summation of grief – not expressed by Harold, but by his neighbour Rex (also a figure from Bunyan: named Plausible), who is gradually coming to terms with the death of his wife: "I miss her all the time. I know in my head that she has gone. The only difference is that I am getting used to the pain. It's like discovering a great hole in the ground. To begin with, you forget it's there and keep falling in. After a while, it's still there, but you learn to walk round it.”

Negatives:

·      prone to sentimentality,

·      the overpoweringly good intentions of its hero can seem a little pious

·      unrealistic

Overall:

·      Richard felt that it was a good read and enjoyed lots about it.

·      Mark T liked it, feeling that the it was rather Murakami-like and allowed one to suspend realism.

·      Chris B “loved it”, enjoyed the fact that it started in Kingsbridge (a place he knows well (and one slight irritation is that there is NO petrol station where the book describes one!), liked the fact that Harold was an ordinary man – and throughout the book, felt that this was a consistent picture being painted, felt the relationship between the spouses was a very true reflection, liked how both characters developed, liked the anti-climax at the end; and loved the idea of just putting one foot in front of the other. “I thoroughly enjoyed the book.”

·      Ras was frustrated by Harold and his refusal to (for example) wear boots when walking. He found he had not a lot of sympathy for Harold, although it was good to see that he did complete the walk and get there. On the other hand, he felt that Maureen came over quite well; the hangers-on were different and realistic and well done – overall, a reasonably enjoyable read but frustrated by Harold.

·      Chris W felt that it was shallow and missed the opportunity to create more believable characters. In some ways, similar to the 100-year-old-man, irritating, very light-hearted but without the humour of that book. The hangers-on wanting to link in with his celebrity was more believable.

·      Steve said (by e-mail) that: “I'll send a review shortly but in brief, I thought this was a very consumable but rather lightweight book. Designed to appeal to the concerns of middle England (dead marriages, talking to strangers, being blind to the reality of family relationships, the meaning of life…) it was filled with recognisable characters, in settings anyone up and down the country could identify with. However, for me it also had a constant air of implausibility. How likely would My Fry really be to keep walking without thinking the better of it - especially given the kind of man the author had so carefully described? Mrs Fry was a pantomime villainess for the first part and her reformation as the book went on  also stretched credibility. In the end, I couldn't give a toss whether he got there or not. Disappointed, because I'd wanted to read it for a while.”

·      Neil said (by email) that “I have to admit to being a little confused by my feelings towards this book. On the one hand the simplistic storytelling riddled with such unlikely scenarios felt even more ridiculous than those described in that rather similar book, 100 year old man who.. The idea that Harold would just set off on this walk and keep going, that he would walk for weeks in the same pair of completely inappropriate shoes and the same clothes, managing to live off the land at times, etc. etc. was hard to swallow as was the highly contrived bunch of misfits that joined him and then equally suddenly disappeared with no interest in his journey's end.  But while all this was driving me nuts, the underlying emotional story of his relationship with his wife and the tragic backstory of their son did hold my attention and I found myself emotionally quite involved by the end.  However, I am inclined to put that down to my state of mind at the time rather than the book and looking back, while this was an easy read, I am left with a feeling of it having been rather unsatisfying.  The redeeming feature of 100 year old man for me was the dry humour that ran throughout, while this book seemed to wallow in mawkish reflection on scenarios that seem to have been lifted entirely from 1970's TV plays. When I finished the book I might have been inclined to give it a 6.5, but with the benefit of hindsight this has slipped to a 5.”

The hundred-year man who jumped out of the window and disappeared - by Jonas Jonassen

The hundred-year man who jumped out of the window and disappeared - by Jonas Jonassen

Discussed April 2013


As usual there was quite a variety of opinion on this book bringing out both lighthearted amusement and enjoyment with some and irritation and  tedium with others.

So, what were the good bits?

* Interesting how the book interwove a variety of scenes in 20th century history
* Simplistic light-hearted Swedish humour
* Innocence and quirkiness of the story
* Marginal implausibility of the storyline throughout(just a bit)
* The concept of an OAP breaking loose from the shackles of his Home and finding freedom.
* The use of vodka throughout to lubricate the storyline.
* A reminder of the good old days growing up making pipe bombs !?
* The escapism of climbing through a window to live a hedonistic lifestyle
* The subtle interlinking of Presidents and world leaders into the story
* Lightly written and better than Dickens -Mildly amusing and occasionally enjoyable.

and the less good bits.....

* The Swedish humour does not translate well - too much slapstick and lack of sophistication
* Silly, farcical and repetitive
* Were all the historical flashbacks really correct? Misleading information about nuclear weapons.
* Tiresome and the rot really set in when the elephant turned up!
* Could have been a shorter novella.
* Leading character was too a-political.
* Story lacked any female involvement
* Rather like the Tom Sharpe Wilt farces - basic unsophisticated humour level.

- So really a book you've got to read to find out whether it amuses or irritates you.

Interestingly after the initial debate there was then discussion about whether in fact there were  more profound and hidden meanings in the book than had been discovered. Was it just  a lighthearted and ' frothy' read or was there was much more depth in the story that might have been missed by the erudite panel? Well nobody was quite sure but it was clear that with a lot of vodka the story moved along with a fair pace which kept everybody mildly amused some of the time.
.... Perhaps the final message ( as retirement beckons - for some anyway ) was that there may be hope for all of us .......so long as we can still get our leg over the window cill. ( no jokes)

Chris W.

Richard V: I have finally read this, having now managed to catch up on the books I could not get in India.  I really enjoyed this book, for lots of reasons.  I enjoyed the easy style and found the humour generally acceptable (unusually for me) and I very much enjoyed the overall quirkiness of it.  I really liked the speedy examination of most  of the important historical events over the 20th century, and the book reminded me a lot of the Woody Allen film, Zelig, where WA appears as part of all of these historic situations - and that was what our protagonist did here, too.

So, a clever book, rather erudite in its understanding of history (although, having read Chris's notes above, I agree that he may not have represented the creation of the Atomic Bomb with complete accuracy!), and with a very light touch.  I might recommend it to someone who dislikes history but would quite like to know what did happen in the world over the last 100 years! 

I see the notes above have no scores, but my score is: 7.5