NO SPOILERS! You can read on without fear….
This would not have been a book I would have chosen for myself based on the front cover or the blurb on the back. It has 4.5 stars on Amazon, but costs over £10 in paperback, so if you’re going to read this, I’d suggest trying the library.
I’m an Audible listener and therefore any book just costs me a credit. I stopped working out the unit costs of credits a long time ago, because listening to books is my thing. I’m more likely to turn the heating off on a snowy day than turn off my book. Therefore, the yearly subscription fee is largely irrelevant to me.
However, for your benefit, dear reader (as my hero, Jane Austin might say) I’ve worked it out and it is £4.58 per book. Ouch. Was Raynor Winn’s life laid bare in Audible format worth it? Let’s see:
Based on the story of Raynor and her husband Moth, the book takes us through an incredibly sad tale of woes about a couple who work hard all their lives, happy in their marriage, circumstances and family, only to lose fairly much everything in less than a week. He’s going to die slowly and painfully, and they lose their home and livelihoods, all in less than a week.
Bravely, but with very little left to lose, they choose to walk the South West Coast Path with substandard kit and £48 a month income. Life, luck (good and bad), illness and laughter happens to them over the miles until the end of the book. It was narrated by Raynor Winn herself, in one voice. There were barely any ‘he said, she said’s throughout the entire book and with no change of voice for each speaker on the narrated version, there was no way of understanding who said what. However, that didn’t seem to matter. Knowing which character…actually, which person, as this is a true story….spoke didn’t alter the meaning of the paragraph. Not often anyway.
There were some moments where I did the palm to forehead “why?!” and there were times when I think they made such different decisions to what I would have done in the same circumstances, but, incredibly, she never blamed anyone for anything and never lost her ability to just keep going, not relying on anyone else for assistance. They accepted help when it was offered but didn’t believe it was their right or that anyone owed them a living. They were resilient, brave, kind and pragmatic at every turn.
She was an excellent spokesperson for the homeless and the dispossessed and advocated for allowing nature to thrive. She wrote about getting out there into the world and helping themselves and others, allowing the open air to cure them and save them from their worries, even temporarily. It’s a book worth reading and I’m glad that I have.
So, asking again, was The Salt Path worth £4.58 to me? Yes, indeed, but mainly as a book club read as I think it raised some interesting questions and points. I won’t buy the next in the series, but I’d be very grateful to speak to someone who has. I’d love to know what happens next, however, Raynor’s writing style and subject matter aren’t really my thing. Not a single apocalypse, magician, murder or visitor of an alien life form in the whole 9 hours!
It was nice to hear they visited Old Harry’s Rock in Swanage precisely 2 days after I slogged uphill on a slippery, muddy pathway. She briefly mentioned it but didn’t say how it is quite beautiful and busy with ramblers, even on the very chilly December day when we went. I think she must be incredibly strong and fearless, as I whinged about the muddy dangerous slope on the way up and then whinged about blisters when we finished the 5-mile round walk. How the pair of them coped, I have no idea. Count me out if anyone’s planning to emulate them.
I gave it 6/10, because I honestly dreaded switching it on each day, but I truly admire the couple and their journey, if not everything they did. I confess, I did listen to a few bursts of Pride and Prejudice in between to keep me going (no aliens in that either, oh my hypocrisy!) The other ladies all read it in book or Kindle format, and I think reading it might have been better than listening, as Raynor Winn has a bit of an unexciting voice and didn't alter the pitch or accent for different characters. They all gave it 8/10 and this brought our average score to 7.6/10.
Our next book is How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie.
It has good reviews and scores 4.2 out of 5 on Amazon.
Oh, by the way, I must just mention the great food we had at Mezze in Bognor Regis. It’s good, local, friendly with free parking after 6pm in The Regis Centre car park, but astonishingly, for a Thursday just before Christmas, it was empty except for the six of us most of the time.
Enjoy your Christmas, everyone, and have a very happy new year
Sarah x
“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”― Jane Austen
コメント