Merry Christmas
Book Club!
Our November meeting, the Butler Symphony Christmas home
tour, was a beautiful day of sunshine, mild temperatures, and fun for all who
attended. Members present including me were Ginnie, Lori, Becky, Barb K.,
Cheryl, and Jody. We had several guests with us as well: my sister Theresa
Beck, Jody’s Daughter Drew, and Becky’s friend and mine Karen Doran. We hope
that each of our guests enjoyed their day with us and all are welcome to join
our club for any future meetings and events.
Our home tour began just a little on the shaky side with a
bad choice of restaurants in Saxonburg for breakfast. Although it would have
been an ideal location for discussing our November book, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, the kitchen
was basically out of all of the food on their menu. We ended up leaving the
restaurant and were, luckily, quickly accommodated at Kelly’s Diner, just a few
blocks down Saxonburg’s Main Street. Although, our group was seated at
different tables, we were close enough to interact with a few opinions on our
book.
Joyce’s first novel is a winner. The main character Harold
Fry is a likable senior citizen with the common humorous nature of an
Englishman. As Joyce writes his story, it is obvious she is using him as a
medium for her own perspective on the world and a confessional for her own
transgressions. Harold Fry is from a typically ordinary world, a place where
all journeys of heroes must begin. One ordinary morning, Harold sets out for
the post office to mail a card to his friend, Queenie Hennessy, who is dying of
cancer. This is where the ordinary for Harold ends, he steps out of his safe
world and answers “the call to adventure” the second step of a hero’s journey.
Impulsively, he decides to walk in the hopes of keeping his friend alive. His
journey is wrought with misgivings, cathartic moments, and purgative
experiences. On several occasions, walking in unsuitably soled boat shoes and
scant walking apparel, Harold almost gives up, but along the way, he finds
renewed motivation through the people he meets and the places he travels.
I found Harold’s epiphanies on his life familiar. When
Harold reflects on his son David’s pushing away as he grew up; he thinks of it
as a natural process. He and his wife Maureen dealt with their son’s rejection
in different ways, mostly in silence, “an energy and violence of its own.”
However lonely Harold and Maureen felt, both knew the world would be even more
desolate without each other. Their coming to terms with all of their mistakes
and finding the true value of their relationship is the essence of this story.
Harold’s journey also has a resurrection moment as there is with all hero
journeys, and Harold learns that he really knows nothing and that is the
biggest truth of all. I think of Odysseus who admits this to Poseidon, “I am
nothing, I know nothing,” the summation of his knowledge after a twenty year
journey, a valuable lesson for us all.
As
no book was yet decided for January, please join us for the Christmas dinner
with your ideas for future titles and for an always entertaining evening with
friends. We will meet with our husbands and guests at the Butler Day’s Inn at 5
PM for a cocktail, and then drive to Glenshaw for our dinner reservations at
the Hartwood Restaurant http://www.hartwoodrestaurant.com/menu.html for Saturday, December 8, at 6:30 PM. We can
leave a few cars parked at the Day’s Inn and then carpool to the restaurant.
Please let me know if you plan to attend but have not emailed me your RSVP; all
are welcome, past, present, and possible future members! Also, be festive and break out your holiday
glitz!
Looking forward to our night out,
Tammy
P.S. At the party, we need to finalize our donation to the Chicora Medical
Center Library. I would like to make our donation in memory of Gin Ramsey for
the fun and laughter she gave to all who knew her.
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