The Long Journey to Jake Palmer

Starred review from May 23, 2016
Jake Palmer feels he is on a dead-end road. A corporate trainer who teaches others that everyone is a bottle with a blank label, Jake actually suspects that his own label says he’s not enough. After a physical confrontation at a gas station in Washington state leaves Jake severely burned and his marriage begins to deteriorate, Jake slowly succumbs to self-deprecation and depression. Although his heart isn’t in it, he agrees to join his friends for an annual summer gathering at a lake house. Though he has helped his friends a lot with their own lives, Jake is bitter and no longer trusts God due to the accident that changed his life forever. While leaving a disastrous business trip in Chicago on an airplane, Jake meets straight-talking Leonard, who had snuck into his motivational lecture. In the course of the ride, Leonard persuades Jake to start afresh this year at Willow Lake, where local legend has it that a corridor at the end of the lake is a portal leading to the heart’s desire. Entwined nicely with Jake’s work concerning personal reflection and self-knowledge, the concept quickly takes over the story’s momentum. Rubart’s (The Five Times I Met Myself) style is candid and unobtrusive, making it easy to visualize the beauty and peace of the lake house. Key themes of forgiveness, rebirth, and emotional healing emerge organically through Jake’s struggles. Rubart will leave readers inspired to ponder what the label is on their bottle.

September 1, 2016

Jake Palmer's life is irrevocably changed when a freak accident burns over half his body. His self-worth always hinged on what he could do, not who he was. Ironically, Jake's motivational speaking career helps others find their inner self-worth while he is unable to do the same. A chance meeting with a stranger on a plane causes him to reconsider his life, offering Jake an opportunity he can't refuse. But our protagonist discovers that true healing can only come from acknowledging the wounds within. VERDICT Two-time Christy Award winner Rubart's (The Five Times I Met Myself) mesmerizing tale about one man's journey of self-realization, forgiveness, and healing, will be appreciated by fans of Marilynne Robinson's Gilead or Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea. Book clubs will find lots of meaty ideas here.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.