Fiction | Book Chatter

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
By Rachel Joyce
(Random House, Hardcover, 9780812993295, July 24, 2012, 336pp.)

The Short of It:

Beauty is sometimes obvious and at other times, more difficult to come by but as this novel unfolds… so does its beauty. What a gem!

The Rest of It:

Harold Fry and his wife Maureen live in a small English village. Retired and in their sixties, their lives are filled with the routines of the day, but deep inside they are both agonizing over what was…and can’t seem to figure out what to do next. Things have gotten so bad between them, that Maureen sleeps in the guest room and cannot stand the sight of him. Harold, although agreeable and always the gentleman, is okay with the situation which angers Maureen even more.

One day, Harold receives a letter from an old colleague by the name of Queenie Hennessey. The letter is brief, but devastating. Queenie is terminally ill and writing from a hospice. With only so many days to live, the letter serves as her goodbye to him. At first his plan is to send her a quick reply, but on his way to the post office he decides to just keep walking.

This book was spectacularly good but in the most quiet way possible. When Harold sets off in nothing but yachting shoes and the clothes on his back, you can’t help but feel his desperation. How bad can it be for a person to just walk away from life? But Harold doesn’t leave Maureen. Instead, he sees it as a remedy for everything that’s gone wrong. It’s a way to keep Queenie alive and it’s a way for him to remember how it used to be. Throughout the trip, Harold is plagued by memories both good and bad and in between them, are his moments with Maureen by phone.

As Harold makes his way to Queenie, he encounters many characters along the way. Most of them kind, all of them supportive. He is touched by the kindness of strangers and even though his body seems to be on the brink of falling apart, he continues to push himself on not really knowing what he’ll encounter once he gets there, but knowing that this journey is one of the most important ones he’ll ever make.

At the same time, Maureen is left to wonder about her own life and where she stands in all of this. Not really given a choice in the matter, she decides to sit tight and wait for a sign. The sign comes in the form of a well-meaning neighbor. A neighbor who has a knack for providing the right advice at exactly the right time. With his help, she works to see the journey through Harold’s eyes.

I adored this book. It was lovely and charming and one of those “complete package” reads that you just want to kiss and tuck under your pillow. I felt good and sad and happy and mad. It took me up and down and I loved every minute of it. It will absolutely be on my list of favorites for 2012.

If you’ d like a chance to kiss it and tuck it under your pillow, enter the giveaway for a chance to win your own copy! Details below.

To view Rachel’s other TLC tour stops, click here.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

This giveaway is for one copy of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and is open to the US only (no PO boxes). A winner will be chosen randomly by me. The book will come directly from the publisher. Only one entry per person. Giveaway closes on July 29, 2012 (pacific). I will contact the winner.

To enter the giveaway, please click here. (This giveaway has closed!)

Source: Review and giveaway copy provided by the publisher via TLC Book Tours.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The City & The City
By China Mieville
(Del Rey, Paperback, 9780345497529, April 2010, 352pp.)

The Short of It:

Not your typical murder mystery.

The Rest of It:

Mieville’s writing has always intimidated me. In the past, I have tried a couple of times to read this one, only to put it right back down again. However, Care and a host of others decided via Twitter to read it together, and since they made it sound so doable, and not at all intimidating, I decided to join them.

This time around, I was not intimidated and in fact found myself marveling over the world Mieville created. This is really a murder mystery at heart, but it’s such a unique setting, that you can’t help but wonder what is going on in that mind of his.

I have to include this blurb from the publisher because describing it it too difficult:

When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. To investigate, Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to its equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the vibrant city of Ul Qoma. But this is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a seeing of the unseen.

Focus on that last line because these two cities share the same geographical space. They are differentiated by the clothes that people wear and the language that they use, but they walk alongside each other and choose to “unsee” the other. That’s right… you are walking in what is essentially a different city, yet you choose to unsee it, so therefore, it’s not there. Got it?

For the world building aspect, I give it many points but I still found myself lost at times. The vocabulary was hard to grasp and I often had to go back to re-read what I had just read. For a murder mystery, I still have yet to really understand what went down. To me, it just seemed as if the same thing was being said over and over again and that I was making little progress.

This aspect was of course, very frustrating and will probably keep me from reading any of this other books, but there was something to this one that made me want to finish it. Mainly, the respect I had for the idea itself. I felt as if I owed the author something since he constructed such an incredibly complex story for me to read.

As for the discussion, there were some Tweets along the same lines as mine (head scratching) but not much was said. Hmmm.

That said, I am glad I read it but now I am ready to move on.

Note from Ti: I also listened to this on audio in addition to reading it in print and it had the same, head scratching effect on me.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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