Again to Carthage by John L. Parker Jr. Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Again to Carthage
Book Review: Adequate, not stellar
Summary: 3 Stars
My own battered copy of Once a Runner is signed by JLP. I was a member of the Florida Track Club (Shorter wore the FTC singlet at times), a graduate of "Southeastern" (Go Gators!) and a "Kernsville" road runner myself so my interest in the book extends to the local color. The book satisfied my desire for a sequel, but the sloppy editing, numerous typos and random and inaccurate historical reference points were distracting. (FYI: If you hung around the "Southeastern University" track in the late 1970s and early 1980s, you could have met the real O'Bannon and Endris. They must be friends of JLP. I am sure it was fun for them to be honored in this way.) It is disappointing that Parker seems to turn up his nose at citizen runners. There'd be far less interest in books like his if Shorter hadn't inspired the running boom among the masses back in the 70s. It leaves the impression a fan has when her idol refuses to sign an autograph. The great thing about road racing, however, was that you could "compete" in the same field as Grete, Joanie, Alberto, Bill or Frank, none of whom left this snobby impression when they took time to chat with you. This leaves a bit of a sour taste in this reader's mouth. I would recommend the book to other runners who loved OAR and wonder what ever happened to old Quenton Cassidy, but I don't think it stands up well on its own.Book Review: Again to Carthage
Summary: 5 Stars
I read about this sequel to the cult classic "Once a Runner" by John L. Parker Jr., in Runners World Magazine. It was an article about the author, his running career, and mostly about "Once a Runner". Being a Marathon Runner and never having read either book I immediately acquired "Once a Runner" on e-bay, for a huge amount of money - probably due to the article in Runners World. Anyway, I read it, I liked it, but didn't LOVE it. Then I read "Again to Carthage", the sequel, and that one I LOVED! Maybe because it was about the main character, Quentin Cassidy, becoming a distance runner and a Marathon Runner, as opposed to a Miler. I loved reading about his training, his determination and finally his race. It is a runner's dream book to read - Wonderful!!!Book Review: Again to Carthage
Summary: 4 Stars
As in most sequels, this one isnt as good as the first. I did enjoy this book, but Once a Runner received 5 stars from me, while Return to Carthage only gets 4 stars. I feel like it bounces around a lot of different places, and sometimes I wasnt sure what the setting was. I also thought for being a published book, there were a lot of typos.Book Review: Again to Red Lobster!?
Summary: 3 Stars
Again to Carthage from my viewpoint was the most anticipated running novel ever written. It was a sequel to the classic Once a runner which I felt broke new ground for novels focusing on distance runners and their lifestyle. This book failed me. It focuses on boating and fishing and eating different sea creatures. A lobster conga line...wow...then it switches focus to rural mountain family living where food is always cooking (was parker fasting when he wrote this?). Finally it gets to the climatic push towards the trials but how is it that ken martin and rod dixon have run a sub 4 mile and a sub 2:10 marathon in 1979/1980. This was supposed to be the other impetus for quentin to choose the marathon as a new challenge but dixon and martin hadn't even run a marathon at that point and i doubt martin had broken his 4 minute mile by 1979 either. Its great for Parker to vent his stories and soap boxes through his character but I expected much more from this book and I hate seafood and grits....There is no doubt Florida runners and mountain folk will drool during the long sections paying homage to their specific quirks just as academians will (especially bug people). It was worth reading which is why I rate it 3 but it fell short of the actual running focus that i was shelling the out the money for.Book Review: Avid runner
Summary: 5 Stars
The sequel was even better than "Once A Runner". This was an awesome accounting of the training that goes in to running a marathon at the elite level. I would recommend this book to all runners and anyone else too. The chapters about the actual race were vividly written and, having run 2 marathons myself albeit at a MUCH slower pace, I felt the main character's pain!