Sometimes you read a highly praised book and you wonder, "Is it me? Did I just not get it?" This book's cover is decorated with tremulous, ecstatic quotes from critics: "one of the best books you'll read this year" (if this is the year you're not planning to read much), "at times almost unbearably moving" (not for me, perhaps I should change my medication) "full of comic panache" (laugh? I thought I'd never start - and I didn't).
The most extraordinary thing about this UK bestseller is how utterly ordinary it is. The style is ordinary, the characters are ordinary, their insights are ordinary, the settings are ordinary. The main character is an astonishingly ordinary man, a retired manager, probably a Daily Mail reader, the epitome of a sort of Middle England dullness. He seems to have ignored his emotions for years - and, once he has been given his MacGuffin and set out on his journey, he gradually unbottles them and begins to experience them. This isn't a bad premise - it worked well in Silas Marner (other novels are available). He decides to do something completely uncharacteristic - to walk across England. This trip results in the re-introduction of love into his life. There are some vaguely mysterious, but easily guessed at, things which are hinted at in the main character's background - but no-one who reads novels regularly could be remotely surprised when these matters are clarified towards the end of the book.
I enjoyed the book at first, the style is readable. Rachel Joyce describes everyday minutiae satisfactorily and she drizzles a few more interesting characters over the text. Most of the events in the book are fairly predictable (blisters, brief conversations with strangers), so much depends on whether one engages with the protagonist. A likable main character, while not a guarantee of literary quality, is an important factor in a book's popularity, evidently Harold Fry strikes a chord with a lot of people, however, while there is pathos in his story, I didn't find it engaging, his determination is admirable, but it seems out of character.. The parallel story of his wife's inner journey seemed more coherent and better observed. There was a sprinkling of religious sentiment dusting the story - but without depth, perhaps reflecting the idea of religious faith being an optional extra in contemporary British life - so don't let the word Pilgrimage in the title put you off - no Bunyanesque heroics here!
Rachel Joyce, the author, regularly writes 45-minute long plays for the BBC. The daily BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play, sometimes based on detective, historical or biographical fiction often features a "gently comic" strand of works about ordinary characters doing something "quirky" and ultimately "heartwarming". I cringe when I hear anything described as "gently comic": this is a British euphemism for "lacking in wit". This book began as a radio play. One should praise Rachel Joyce for having taken such an utterly ordinary character as Harold Fry and making him the unlikely protagonist of a best-selling novel. Perhaps it suggests a new direction for other writers; perhaps there is an immense pent-up demand for novels about the travails of the very ordinary. Ultimately, there is some sort of moral juice to be sucked out of this book: in making an utterly futile, almost capricious, commitment, Harold changes the balance of his life for the better. This might not work out for everyone though: Do not try this at home! warning stickers should appear on the cover.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
The most extraordinary thing about this UK bestseller is how utterly ordinary it is. The style is ordinary, the characters are ordinary, their insights are ordinary, the settings are ordinary. The main character is an astonishingly ordinary man, a retired manager, probably a Daily Mail reader, the epitome of a sort of Middle England dullness. He seems to have ignored his emotions for years - and, once he has been given his MacGuffin and set out on his journey, he gradually unbottles them and begins to experience them. This isn't a bad premise - it worked well in Silas Marner (other novels are available). He decides to do something completely uncharacteristic - to walk across England. This trip results in the re-introduction of love into his life. There are some vaguely mysterious, but easily guessed at, things which are hinted at in the main character's background - but no-one who reads novels regularly could be remotely surprised when these matters are clarified towards the end of the book.
I enjoyed the book at first, the style is readable. Rachel Joyce describes everyday minutiae satisfactorily and she drizzles a few more interesting characters over the text. Most of the events in the book are fairly predictable (blisters, brief conversations with strangers), so much depends on whether one engages with the protagonist. A likable main character, while not a guarantee of literary quality, is an important factor in a book's popularity, evidently Harold Fry strikes a chord with a lot of people, however, while there is pathos in his story, I didn't find it engaging, his determination is admirable, but it seems out of character.. The parallel story of his wife's inner journey seemed more coherent and better observed. There was a sprinkling of religious sentiment dusting the story - but without depth, perhaps reflecting the idea of religious faith being an optional extra in contemporary British life - so don't let the word Pilgrimage in the title put you off - no Bunyanesque heroics here!
Rachel Joyce, the author, regularly writes 45-minute long plays for the BBC. The daily BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play, sometimes based on detective, historical or biographical fiction often features a "gently comic" strand of works about ordinary characters doing something "quirky" and ultimately "heartwarming". I cringe when I hear anything described as "gently comic": this is a British euphemism for "lacking in wit". This book began as a radio play. One should praise Rachel Joyce for having taken such an utterly ordinary character as Harold Fry and making him the unlikely protagonist of a best-selling novel. Perhaps it suggests a new direction for other writers; perhaps there is an immense pent-up demand for novels about the travails of the very ordinary. Ultimately, there is some sort of moral juice to be sucked out of this book: in making an utterly futile, almost capricious, commitment, Harold changes the balance of his life for the better. This might not work out for everyone though: Do not try this at home! warning stickers should appear on the cover.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
No comments:
Post a Comment