Review of 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This books feels like it really wants to be the Great English Novel, but fails in so many ways, primarily because it does it by copying many of the schticks of books that aspire to be The Great American Novel. It tries to be uplifting, but grounded. It tries to make the very English countryside landscape a character in the book, but then falls flat on its face whenever it tries to convey any sense of geography (maybe it's easier if you're familiar with English geography. It didn't do anything for me, anyway). The characters are mostly flat, and the arc that Harold Fry and his wife go through is... unconvincing.
It's not a terrible book, not at all. But it's very underwhelming. Maybe it's just its way of being British.
(Also, when did "old people unexpectedly going on long trips" become a genre unto itself?)
This books feels like it really wants to be the Great English Novel, but fails in so many ways, primarily because it does it by copying many of the schticks of books that aspire to be The Great American Novel. It tries to be uplifting, but grounded. It tries to make the very English countryside landscape a character in the book, but then falls flat on its face whenever it tries to convey any sense of geography (maybe it's easier if you're familiar with English geography. It didn't do anything for me, anyway). The characters are mostly flat, and the arc that Harold Fry and his wife go through is... unconvincing.
It's not a terrible book, not at all. But it's very underwhelming. Maybe it's just its way of being British.
(Also, when did "old people unexpectedly going on long trips" become a genre unto itself?)