Fumbling: A Pilgrimage Tale of Love, Grief, and Spiritual Renewal on the Camino de Santiago [Hardcover]

Kerry Egan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 2004

In the spirit of Kathleen Norris and Anne Lamott, Kerry Egan describes her journey from grief to faith in this candid, spiritually profound account of her pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, the medieval pilgrim route through Northern Spain.

Kerry Egan, a student at Harvard Divinity School, became a pilgrim at the age of twenty-five, a year after the death of her father. Watching her father die had shattered the image of God Egan grew up with and undermined the theology she studied in school; she embarked on her pilgrimage full of hope and dread at the same time.

Fumbling is the moving journal of Egan’s experiences as she and her boyfriend traveled from the Pyrenees in southern France through the valleys of Navarra and westward through Spain to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, said to contain the remains of Saint James. The idea of pilgrimage rests on the belief that in some places the Divine is especially available to human beings and that the journey itself—the time spent as a pilgrim—is transformative, cleansing, and purifying. Egan was well versed in theories about grieving and the purpose of a pilgrimage, but it was through walking eight or ten hours a day that she first began to understand what grief really was and to recognize God’s presence in everyday people and places.

With humor and unabashed honesty, Egan records her struggles to deal with muddy roads, blistering heat, and grouchy moods. She describes fellow pilgrims of many nationalities, the humble abodes that provide them shelter, and the beautiful, often challenging, landscape. Each incident, encounter, and hard-won mile shapes her internal journey. The repetitiveness of walking frees her to meditate for long periods, the rhythm of her breathing awakens an awareness of the connections of breath, life, and God so central to the teachings of Hebrew and Christian scriptures, and the most unlikely events—from discovering chickens in church to the pleasure of having a pizza at a train station—remind her that prayer is as at once as simple and as profound as seeing and acknowledging the joys and beauty of life.

A story of overcoming anger and sadness and finding joy and redemption, Fumbling illuminates the power of grief to enhance our relationship with God.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While a student at Harvard Divinity School, Egan found herself immobilized by grief at the death of her father. Almost on a whim, she decided to walk the Camino de Santiago, a medieval pilgrimage route through northern Spain. The narrative loosely follows the chronology of her journey, and she records many of the trip's details, such as coping with the heat, staying in crowded refugios and dealing with the quirks of local residents. But the book is more than mere travelogue. Egan uses various events on the Camino as catalysts to explore such disparate topics as the history of the cult of relics, how she accidentally discovered breathing meditation and her own feelings of anger, sadness and guilt over her father's death. Indeed, when Egan embraces the essay form, particularly when she shares her moments of confusion and weakness on the journey, her writing is confident, sharp and engaging. By contrast, when she ventures into elements of fiction—such as dialogue and description—the writing often becomes strained. Nevertheless, Egan's effective combining of historical and theological musings with personal experience makes for a satisfying account of the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of religious pilgrimage.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Egan was a 24-year-old Harvard Divinity School student when her diabetic father died. A year later, she and her fiance set out on a 400-mile journey from the Pyrenees in southern France through the valleys of Navarra and westward along the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, where the remains of Saint James are supposedly buried. She gives a brief history of the medieval route over the centuries and writes vividly of her own journey--walking through towns, wheat fields, vineyards, and olive tree orchards, along muddy roads filled with giant black slugs, and running out of water in the scorching 110-degree heat. "While I adored him, he was not always kind to us, his children," she writes of her father. Walking many hours each day, Egan began to understand the concept of grief and the presence of God while overcoming her sadness and anger. The book is a compassionate and unforgettable testimony of her pilgrimage. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday (September 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385507658
• ISBN-13: 978-0385507653
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Congregations & Orders
  • #47 in Books > Travel > Europe > Spain
  • #85 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Practices > Ritual

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good bookclub book, October 18, 2004

By 

pattycakes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fumbling: A Pilgrimage Tale of Love, Grief, and Spiritual Renewal on the Camino de Santiago (Hardcover)

An essential read for anyone who is struggling with grief or regrets, examining religion's place in his or her life, or merely fantasizing about running away to shake things up. With compelling historical and theological background to set the stage for her pilgrimage, the author is refreshingly honest about exposing her own flaws and struggles. Her boyfriend/traveling partner provides comic relief and keeps her from taking herself too seriously as he keeps her on track. I'm buying a few extra copies as gifts for friends so they can understand when I say, "That's exactly how I feel sometimes."

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Read!, October 15, 2004

By 

bob the bob "Bobster" (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fumbling: A Pilgrimage Tale of Love, Grief, and Spiritual Renewal on the Camino de Santiago (Hardcover)

A funny, moving memoir that made me laugh but also made me think about my relationship with God. A must read.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't go through life, or Spain, without reading this!, November 22, 2004

By 

KHall (Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fumbling: A Pilgrimage Tale of Love, Grief, and Spiritual Renewal on the Camino de Santiago (Hardcover)

Whether you're reading this on a train or on your back porch during a snow storm, be prepared for an extraodinary journey through northern Spain in the summer. For those of you planning to travel the Camino, Egan describes with vivid detail the scenary(especially the wheat), the people, and everything you'd want to know that they don't tell you in a guide book. It is of course much more than a physical journey, and as you travel with Egan it is as though you are taking a trip through yourself, only this time with a witty, insightful, and adventurous tour guide who doesn't stick to the path.