the unlikely pilgrimage of harold fry book review

He looks outward instead of inward, realizing the capacity friendship and compassion have to fill up our lives: His walk opens him up to other people - their faults, their dreams. Despite feeling old, washed-up and broken, Harold realizes he’s been lying in wait to do something for far too long. Beneath his placid exterior beats the heart of a man with much left to experience.

Harold, the unlikely pilgrim, is such a bold and sympathetic character - a man of integrity who has survived so much. While I initially disliked Maureen and wanted to scold her for not believing in her husband’s journey, I couldn’t fault her for the pain they’d both endured. As the details of their shared past emerge, it’s obvious why the silence and tension have sustained them for so long - and my heart broke for both, standing so close together but so far apart. They drift past like ghosts, like roommates, and Maureen seems as icy-cold as they come. After forty years of marriage, the pair seem to have stopped seeing one another. The evolution of Maureen and Harold’s relationship amazed me the most. Though it often seemed impossible, I couldn’t help but believe in Harold’s strange quest. I was in Harold’s corner from the beginning, championing this unusual hero, and I wanted nothing more than for him to overcome every obstacle and find his friend at last.

It’s a quiet novel, at times slow-going, but the pace seems to mimic Harold’s progress. Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry took me completely by surprise. But can he make it to Queenie in time? And what will he say when he gets there? As the miles slide beneath his sore feet and the English countryside gives way to scenic villages, Harold tightens his belt loops - and meets plenty of characters that aid him in his journey. Maureen is unconvinced any man could walk 467 miles to arrive at a friend’s side - let alone her retired husband, an unathletic man in his 60s. His wife is at home, receiving periodic calls from Harold on his progress within the silent confines of their Kingsbridge home. Convinced a mere letter is insufficient and his walking - and faith in her - will somehow spare her life, Harold leaves home with no more than the yacht shoes on his feet. and that he never got to thank her for doing him a great favor two decades earlier. After a letter from an old friend drops unexpectedly into his hands, he’s stricken with the knowledge that Queenie Hennessy - former coworker, one-time ally - is dying of cancer in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Harold Fry didn’t plan to traverse the whole of England.

The unlikely pilgrimage of harold fry book review