The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel JoyceMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I think my rating will contradict my review a bit.
I liked the idea of the unlikely pilgrimage; however, I found that the author focused too much on tangents that took considerable attention away from the actual plot. The author attempted to create distance between the main character and his life/surroundings, unfortunately she also achieved distance between the reader and the story by always keeping it at arm's length.
I can't really comment much on the story and characters without unintentionally giving away much of the book as a whole.
I see the potential in the story and also the reality of life reflected in it, which is a refreshing take on a fictional story.
A quick note on the structure and writing style of the story, I have to admit I grew very annoyed each time I picked up the book again, since it took me about 20 pages every time to get used to the author's writing style again. The sentence structure was awkward at times and there existed no easy flow within the sentences and throughout some of the paragraphs. In addition, flashbacks were included in the narration, unfortunately there was no extra spacing or italicizing of the text describing the flashbacks to provide an aid in distinguishing those from current events. These would have been very helpful, since the author did jump in the narration quite a bit.
On a personal level, I am sad to admit that I could not connect with any of the characters or the story in general. This does not mean that it isn't worth a read, since it does represent the reality of hardship and grief.
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