The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

I bought this a few weeks back for my Kindle because it was on sale for one day only, for around £2. When I heard it was longlisted for the Booker, I bumped it to the top of my to-read pile and finished it a few days ago.

Has anyone else here read it? I loved the build-up, the pilgrimage itself. I read the last few chapters with, er...something in my eyes.

However, I think the book should have ended with...

SPOILER!
...Queenie's death. We know that's what the pilgrimage was leading up to, but I feel like Joyce dragged the book on a little too long.
END SPOILER.

I felt like I should have seen the revelation about David coming, too.

But aside from all that, this is going on my favourite reads of 2012 list, for sure.

Anyone else?

I might have twigged about David (or rather, cheated) if I'd read it in print. "Hmm, I wonder if...I'll just flick forward to see..."

But reading in Kindle format makes flicking forward more laborious, so I read each page in order, without looking ahead.

Either that, or you're psychic!

But seriously, it's a device that's been used in other books and it's becoming less of a shock now.

SPOILER
"Oh, he was dead all along. Well, that's...old."
END SPOILER

^^^My reaction. Not one of shock at all. The twist has become a cliche. However, Joyce wrote it very well, I think.

I loved Harold as a character. I wish he'd told Wilf to piss off, though. And the other people who joined him. In those chapters, he was far too much of a doormat.