cover image A Million Steps

A Million Steps

Kurt Koontz. Kurt Koontz, $15.95 paper (212p) ISBN 978-0-615-85292-8

In 2012, Koontz, a retired sales executive, set out to walk the 490 miles of the much-traveled Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain. He joins numerous other authors in writing about his steps along the famous path and attempting to extrapolate some life lessons from his journey. But here, Koontz provides more of a set of personal journal entries than a revelatory and deep reflection on life, chronicling in detail the various hostels where he stayed, food that he ate, and friendships he formed along the way. Unfortunately, Koontz's prose is flat and fails to draw readers into his story. Additionally, while on his trip, the author worries about his relationship with girlfriend Roberta, but fails to paint the sort of vivid picture of their life together that would result in reader investment. In the end, Koontz simply observes, "I had no eureka moments on the Camino.... Instead, just like life, I experienced a series of meaningful and small insights. I believe we all have an internal light, and the Camino acts as a rheostat to greatly increase the intensity."