Tollbooth, The

John Feloni redefines the ‘Hollywood ending’ in spiritual novel, The Tollbooth

by Ella Freda

It was a marvelous coincidence that John Feloni’s The Tollbooth found its way to my desk the same week I started my first real job. On the dusty set of an American Revolutionary War film, I was surrounded by battered muskets, ripped costumes, and the most impressive industry professionals I ever had the pleasure of meeting for a few minutes — let alone thirty-four consecutive days.

I approached the first day at work as the main character in Feloni’s novel did. I saw myself as a microscopic piece of a million-dollar film, with a central goal of being neither seen nor heard. If I had a good day , it would mean I made one of the legends behind the camera or in the director’s chair avoid an issue they didn’t know they had in the first place. Unlike the novel, though, that alone made me feel incredibly fulfilled. What I didn’t know on day one was how similar every single director, producer, and operator would be to Mr . Campbell in The Tollbooth, or how like him, they would reconstruct my entire internal mechanism.

In The Tollbooth, an accountant working for a multinational conglomerate approaches Mr . Campbell, the chairman and president, out of the blue to inform him he isn’t happy in his position. He shares his internal battles in an anxious, stream-of-consciousness, expecting to be met with irritation and possibly hostility. To his surprise, however, Mr. Campbell takes the time to engage in a meaningful conversation about hopes, dreams, and self-imposed limitations, encouraging him to change course despite the ramifications to his company. Mr. Campbell decrees, “The dream itself, the desire itself, is an expression of that power. The dream and desire is a reflection of your life’s purpose. The dream and desire is from your higher self… Don’t worry about your abilities. The abilities to manifest dreams and desires are but effects and are as sure to follow as night follows day."

The accountant’s dream and desire is to pursue filmmaking, and as it happens, I read the entire novel, cover-to-cover, sitting in the makeup RV on set. On the second or third day of filming, the director approached me during a break, and, after declining my offer to give him a hand or refill his coffee, he very politely asked if I had a moment to talk about my aspirations in the industry. I was astonished, just as the accountant was regarding Mr . Campbell’s generosity — “He was asking me if I had the time.” It only took a few sentences for the director to shatter the deep-rooted anxieties I shared with the accountant in the novel. Suddenly, it didn’t matter what my family thought. It didn’t matter what anyone thought. It mattered how I felt.

After a similar lesson, Mr . Campbell presents the accountant with a worn journal that had belonged to a tollbooth operator in Massachusetts and instructs him to read it. The diary presents the operator’s shift in mindset over a series of 40 days, introducing a sustained conversation with God which began with “My life is ridiculous” and eventually transitioned to “...I love all as I love myself.” Though the accountant has his doubts, Mr. Campbell insists on the principles brought forth in the tattered pages, advising that he continues with the reading and with the journey he had begun when he first stepped into the office.

While The Tollbooth is rooted in Christian ideals — featuring God as a sort of third character and citing Matthew’s Gospel and various Bible passages — Feloni offers messages on self-development and meditation for a non-religious audience, as well. Though there may be more to sift through for a non-religious reader such as myself, the lessons are still present. Weaving citations from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” along with the two characters’ monumental discussion, Feloni makes real change seem attainable in only 104 pages.

In the vast series of what are now seeming more like alignments of the universe rather than ‘coincidences’ similar to the novel, on the last day of filming, I received a script to my inbox from the same man who hired me, an ending almost identical to the accountant’s. The script also featured a passage from Matthew’s Gospel.

The Tollbooth ties all its loose ends together with a Hollywood bow. While the novel grapples with deeper issues, it is certainly a feel-good read. Readers will appreciate the satisfying ending along with the sense of universal purpose that follows.

“...We can debate all our lives about a lot of things, like why we’re here on earth, whether or not there is such a thing as reincarnation, what is karma, even whether or not there is a God. But no one can debate the fact that we are here! We are alive! You and me — right now — are alive! Nobody can argue that fact!”