The Walk by Richard Paul Evans

Copyright:  2010
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 224
Author's Website

Simple Description: 
Alan Christofferson's life seems perfect.   Tragedy strikes in many forms and within a few short weeks he has lost his wife, his own business, his house, basically everything.   Alan is devastated, he doesn't want to live if he can't have his wife near his side.   The thing is, before McKale died she asked him to promise two things, one of which is that he live.   Alan sets out on a walk that starts in his current home town of Seattle, Washington and the destination is Florida. It should be noted that in this book, he is still in Washington when the book ends.  He takes some clothes, a tent, a backpack, and other necessities.  He leaves everything else.  

Alan meets some interesting characters in his journey.  We start off with his assistant Feona.  She seems like one heck of a woman.  He stops for dinner at a diner and the waitress ends up having more insight into life than somebody her age should have.  He also comes across another woman who is introduced in the story and I believe she will be a prominent figure in the next book.

The walk starts out at first as a way for him to just do something he always thought about, walking across the US.  He was numb in life and couldn't stand to just stay home.   Along his journey he starts to come to terms with what happened and grow as a person.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts: 
I thought the book was pretty good, I liked it, I think others will too.  It's the first in a series (not sure how many there are supposed to be in the series but I know there is going to be at least one more).  I think it ended pretty darn well. It closed the story to a point where you knew there would be another book and there was more to be told, yet it also wrapped things up a bit.

I can't say this is a favorite of mine by the author, but I do think it's a good book.  I had a couple of things annoy me, and it might annoy you, it might now.  It's not enough to keep me from reading other books in the series, it's just something that keeps me from raving about the book.  First..there is enough in the book that I wonder if it's classified as Christian lit.   I tend to run screaming from Christian lit, it's just not my cup of tea. Haha - I just looked through the sheet that came with the book (it was a surprise arrival from Simon & Schuster) and read the following sentence: "Newcomers and existing fans alike will thrill at the story of Alan Christofferson's spiritual journey, and will be eagerly awaiting the next installments."  So there you go. haha!  It's not preachy, but it reminds of some of my relatives and others I talk to who are deeply religious and always end up weaving God and religion into whatever topic is currently being discussed.  You know the type.  Right?  Hello?  I'm not alone in this am I?  Anyway....it's something that seemed painfully obvious to me as I read the book, but didn't annoy me enough to keep me from enjoying the book or turn me off of reading more in this series.  

The other thing that annoyed me was that the author seems to think we all want to know everything that Alan ate and drank along this journey.  At first I didn't really pay attention..but then it was every single meal.  I didn't think it was necessary and I'm not really sure what the point was.  I can see the point when he is having to eat what he bought and can't find a place to stop at and runs out of food.  However, I'm not sure what the point was in telling us everything he consumed when he did eat at a diner.   I found it funny that most diners claimed to have word famous milkshakes, but I don't think it needed to go further than that.   While this doesn't ruin the story, I found it odd and I feel like it kept me from liking the book more than I did.

What you really want to know is what I rate it right?   I rate it a 3.5/5.   I think it could have been a 4/5 if the food was kept under wraps and I wasn't turned off by Christian lit.  


Thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing this book for review.