Walking on Water is the fifth and final book in The Walk series by Richard Paul Evans. I remember reading the first book like it was yesterday. Rob and I had gone to The Greenbrier and I devoured the book one afternoon. I've never been so happy to have access to the internet so that I could download the second book onto my Nook and continue reading. Imagine how upset I was to find out that I had to wait a full year to read the third book. And then another year for the fourth and another before the fifth was ready. I understand that it takes time to write a phenomenal book, but for someone like me, it took a lot of patience to wait for each book release.
In this fifth installment, Alan's story comes to a close as he makes his final trek across the country from Seattle, ending in Key West. What I find to be interesting in this novel is that the book is half over before Alan ever resumes his walk. Instead, he returns home when his dad lands himself in the hospital after a heart attack. During Alan's time at home, he spends much of every day with his father playing chess as his dad tries to recover. Each evening, when he goes back to his dad's house to sleep and shower, Alan reads a family history that his dad has written--a fatherly attempt at getting Alan to understand who he is and why he is really walking. After reading his family's story, and watching the piles of goodies from women in love with his dad on the front porch grow and grow, Alan realizes that his dad is more and was more than he ever knew. And that perhaps they are more similar than he ever imagined.
Sadly, Alan's father does not leave the hospital (sorry to have ruined this for you, but Alan would never have resumed his walk otherwise). But it is because of this loss that Alan resumes and completes the final leg of his walk. During this time, time in the hospital with his dad and time walking, he does some serious soul searching and realizes what he wants out of life. But, as often happens in life, by the time we know what we want, what we want is no longer available. So, Alan continue to walk.
Since I spoiled one major event, I will keep the ending to myself. But suffice to say that I was fairly surprised by the end and how quickly things came to pass, but was relieved to find an epilogue that allowed me to catch a tiny glimpse into everyone's life, post walk.
The Walk series was fantastic and I am so glad to have read it, even thought it took years to get to the final book. Each and every book forced to to think about my priorities and the love I have for Rob and my family. Sadly, it also made me think about what I would do if I lost Rob. After reading and finishing five books, I still don't have that answer. I can only hope and pray that it's a question I never need answered.
If you haven't already, read this series. The good news is that the series is written and you can read all five in a row if you want. No waiting!
Happy reading!
:) Dodie
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