The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel
Series: Harold Fry, Book 1
By: Rachel Joyce / Narrated By: Jim Broadbent
Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
Uhm…?
When Rick Lewis (RIP 2019) says, “Audible hopes you’ve enjoyed this program” at the end of every audiobook, I can usually say Yea or Nay. Most of the time I sigh in satisfaction; after all, there’s nothing I love spending time on so much as an audiobook, be it lovely, challenging, whatEVER—I’m oh sooooo THERE!
This time? With The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry?
…Uhm…?
Okay, so here it is. After being captivated by Miss Benson’s Beetle, to the point where I aaaaalmost got my husband the print version of it, I was totally all-in for Rachel Joyce. Now I’d seen Harold Fry around for quite some time, but I’m generally not into catchy and quirky titles as they usually portend, well, catchy and quirky characters meeting catchy and quirky OTHER characters on catchy and quirky jaunts. With catchy and quirky writing. I’ve stayed away.
But oooooh, Miss Benson!!!
So when this went on sale, I snapped it up and listened to it. It was the first thing I listened to after our Apocalyptic Weather Blackout here in Central Texas as I was hoooooping for a long and drawn out journey to get the heck outta my head (We’re talking after the Frozen Hell that our apartment became!). I was DEFinitely open to catchy and quirky, the longer the better.
How do I say that just under 10 hours clocked in as snoooooze-fest?
It’s like this, see. One morning, Stiff Upper Lipper Harold Fry receives a letter from one Queenie Hennessy where she tells him goodbye—she has cancer, there’s nothing they can do, she’s dying. After scrawling a hasty and dismissive little note to acknowledge her letter and to send best wishes, Harold leaves his wife and plods along to drop it in the mailbox. Alas, he’s missed the last collection, so he trods on to another mailbox. Along the way, he gets it into his head that, why, he’ll just hand-deliver it to Queenie himself.
No matter that she’s hundreds of miles away, he’ll do it. And somehow, some way, his walking will keep her alive.
As he walks in the most unlikely pair of shoes, this unfit man grapples with shooting pains and sore body parts. But the greatest agony comes from all the memories that rise to the surface. Harold has NEVER been in touch with his emotions. Abandoned by a mother who never wanted to be a mom in the first place, tossed out by his unloving and alcoholic father, Harold met his wife Maureen on a night when he was juuuuuust feeling the slightest bit alive. Maureen, knowing he had NO love in his life, knowing he could NOT quiiiite reach out to express tenderness, decides she will be One And All for Harold.
And so it is until their son arrives. Then she becomes Mother first and foremost. And then Harold’s inability to be anything BUT emotionally removed causes oh such great distance. Harold’s memories of loving his son so tenderly, of wishing to cup his hand around the boy’s small and vulnerable head, the boy’s fragility, leave Harold breathless. That there’s been no contact between the two has crushed him. That Maureen blames Harold for this loss has crushed him. That he failed Queenie in the past has crushed him. Life has crushed him.
And boy does it make for a loooooong story of trauma and agony. But that’s the best part. Me, I’m all into pain, so Joyce had me there. Where she lost me was how looooong the walk was, and with how eeeeasy it was for Harold. He didn’t take his phone with him on the start of the journey, but he DID take his bank card. So supplies and shelter are okay. But then, when Harold’s inner development becomes more outwardly spiritual, he nixes the bank card and decides he will depend solely on the kindness of strangers and on the bounty of Nature. The man finds EVERYthing he needs, no problem.
Where Joyce further lost me was with how this HAD to become a 21st century kinda story with social media becoming involved. I know, I know, I’m ancient enough to long for the days when not everything had to be Posted, Liked, Go Viral. Indeed, Harold’s pilgrimage does go viral, and it becomes less about him and more about A Movement. This is where I think Joyce could’ve edited it waaaaay down cuz she lost me with the backstories of all who join Harold. Snoooooze.
Do I have to ding Jim Broadbent as a narrator? Welllll, kinda sorta. I mean, Broadbent does “Detached” soooo well that I rather lost patience with Harold now and again, and that’s not good. I shoulda been feeling more for Harold throughout his many changes, but there’s just sorta this distance between the writing and the development of our hero. I must admit that I rather felt more for the next door neighbor who was newly widowed than I did for Maureen or Harold. (But I MUST say that Broadbent does “Emotional Agony” quite well indeed!)
Still, Queenie absolutely floored me, and yessss, this is a story that’s fraught with pain and sorrow and grieving silently and stoically (Harold), grieving coldly (Maureen), grieving out loud and raging against acceptance (Rex, the neighbor). So there was that.
But when all was said and done, when Ms. Joyce’s debut novel FINALLY ended, when Rick Lewis (No seriously, sir, I was sooo sorry when you passed away!!!) offered the Audible Parting Words… Did I like this?
… Uhm…?
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.