En route. A coming-of-age tale?

One of the narrative origins of the coming-of-age novel is the religious story. It is not surprising, then, that as the first instalment of the religious Durtal trilogy, En route fits neatly into the evolution of the Bildungsroman. The key elements are all there: Durtal’s progress (requiring him to submit completely to a higher power), traditional initiatory figures such as the mentor or the femme fatale, and a diegetic rearrangement that allows places to influence the protagonist’s inner life.