Did anyone else think that The Salt Path was seriously overrated?

This book has three more days on Prime reading 😊

I also slogged through it for book club and my group unanimously disliked it. I was irritated from the start when it very clearly only gave us half the story (if that) about how they lost their house, it picked up a bit for me at the start of the walk but then became so repetitive. Also he looks nothing like Simon Armitage 😂

I had the audiobook, read by Anne Reid. I like her usually but her voice was so mournful. How many times did they have just the half-sandwich left between them? Maybe I misremember! Not a favourite.

I struggled to believe this was a true story from the outset. It was impossible to check whether what they said was true. They lived in a nameless village in an unspecified part of Wales, they don't appear to have made a planning application to use their barn as a b&b (at least not in their own names) and it would be very rare that a court would leave a middle aged couple so very little to live on. Moreover, there is no mention of how they travelled back to their van after they had completed their trip, which surely must have really stretched them financially and worthy of a sentence or two for that very reason.

Hated it. Couldn't read it. Gorgeous cover, obviously. But found it so annoying. And not inspiring.

I think it only premiered at one of the big film festivals a few weeks ago, so I don’t think it’s on general cinema release yet. I wonder what the adaptation will leave out — surely the very over-egged long-running Simon Armitage gag?

No didn't like it either, gave up halfway

Anyone seen the Gillian Anderson/Jason Isaacs adaptation? I've got no interest in reading the book (you lot have put me right off) but strangely more interested in the adaptation.

I am sorry I spent money on this book! Dang! Bad decisions.

It did have a lovely cover, though!

Yes defo, found it hard going

I thought its interest was because it was unconsidered — I mean, of course she was bitter, they’d lost everything they owned, become homeless, though a combination of their own poor decisions and lack of ability to afford legal advice, and her husband had been diagnosed with a serious illness. They had lived fairly self-sufficient lives, so had no one to turn to longterm, and they were not exactly feeling warm and fuzzy about the human race. They weren’t being adorable and Blitz-spirited, they were being curmudgeonly and ordinary, and living on air, hungry, tired, dirty. And yes, not terribly nice. Definitely not Bill Bryson territory.

It's a few years since I read it, but as I remember it, I found most of it "OK but not amazing," but got seriously fed up with the Simon Armitage running gag, which just has to have been an exaggeration of something that happened once, if that.

Glad you posted this OP, I thought it was only me!

For a humorous book that recounts a gransnetter's recent solo walk from Minehead to Poole, carrying her own kit and camping, and that is totally different to the Salt Path, please have a look at
"I'm no Shakespeare: Walking the South West Coast Path" by Cheryl Dummer.

It was an interesting story but she's not a very good writer so it was very plodding in terms of narrative. And also nothing really happened on the walk other than dull things about sunburn and being hungry.

I enjoyed it because I'm from the south west and know the coast path well but I wouldn't want to read anything else written by her. I didn't enjoy her writing but did like reading about the route and places they walked through.

Well I did enjoy it!

Not what you mean by inappropriate social benefits, Beebumble. There was no suggestion that they were claiming benefits they shouldn't have, and indeed they may well have been entitled to other benefits.

I was about to download this to my Kindle. But I won’t now!

Nope. I’m with you and your description was perfect.

Chickenitalia I totally agree with you. They lost their money, they were underprepared and lived on inappropriate social benefits.
However, my book group thought it was great!

I think because it is an incredible set of events – losing everything, terminal illness diagnosis, deciding to walk/wild camp, it got all the plaudits, which kind of ignored the fact it's not brilliantly written.

I liked it in some ways; it made me want to visit, and the relationship between Moth's health and the walking was fascinating. And I think the paragraphs around the way people treat the homeless were heartfelt. But I agree she was quite scathing about some people ('tourists' – as if they were not, despite their different way of doing things). And why would you not take a hat or sunscreen on a long walk in the summer, FGS! Especially second time around

My SIL raved about it, so I had a read too.
It was awful, I found myself constantly wanting to shout at the couple for just being so damn self centred and rude! Talk about judging... so much navel gazing about how poorly they were treated and then judging all the people they came across. I couldn’t finish it. It wasn’t uplifting or inspiring, it was just annoying.
Still can’t work out what was meant to be so great.

Nope, i disliked it immensely. Obviously I felt sorry for them at the start, but it was such a chippy, preachy read that I quickly got annoyed. And I hated the tour guide style facts shoe horned in periodically.

Shame, because I really love that part of the world and was inspired to read it after loving Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods