The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce
With all my serious reading lately, I wanted something lighter and different and came upon this delightful book The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.
It is a story about a retired husband and father who on his way to mail a letter to a long-lost friend who is now dying of cancer, made a sudden decision to walk to her instead, all six hundred over miles from Kingsbridge to Berwick-upon-Tweed.
In his journey, he met and encountered many different people and situations. But what I like about the story was that he spent most of his time thinking about life, discovering about what he finds on his path and reminiscing about his past. There were memories of nostalgic and happy moments but mostly there were also painful and regretful images which he did not want to face especially when he started the journey, only having to face it finally in the end.
I like the story because if I were to travel, this will be how I want it to be, not the walking but the time spent thinking and mulling over life. To view the sights and learn about things I see and think about how it all connects both to life and in life. And now I understand why I have not been really traveling - it is only because this kind of traveling require a whole lot of time and money, both of which I can't afford for now.
Rachel Joyce also wrote a companion book from the side of Harold's friend who was dying - The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy. I have not bought it, yet. It is almost double the price of the first volume and I have been buying too many books lately, I shall wait a bit before I get this one. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to it.
pearlie
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