Again to Carthage by John L. Parker Jr. Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Again to Carthage
Book Review: Good, but not worth the wait.
Summary: 3 Stars
If you're looking for a story about running, like Once a Runner is, then you're going to have to wait until about 150 pages into the book. If you can get past the descriptive-heavy chapters about deep sea fishing and South Florida, you'll enjoy the book when the plot finally turns to running.
Entirely too many typos for me not to mention it. Doesn't look like the final draft was even proofread.
As for the quality of the story, Once a Runner fans will enjoy the familiar relationships and quirks of Quenton Cassidy. The second half of the book is running literature at its finest.
Book Review: Great Book!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This was an awesome book. A must read for any runner. It is just as good if not better than Once a Runner.Book Review: Great fiction for runners to enjoy between training sessions
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a truly great book; a worthy sequel to 'Once a Runner'. The book can be read by itself, but reading OAR first will give added depth to the main characters (hopefully you can find a copy of OAR for less than $200 or through some library). This book is a definite read for anyone who thinks of themselves as a runner or former runner. It probably will also be interesting for non runners, since it gives you a glimse into the world of runners. It also has a surprise ending!Book Review: Great follow up to "Once a Runner"
Summary: 5 Stars
It is a sequel to be sure to read "Once a Runner" 1st.
Great read.
Book Review: High Hopes Dashed
Summary: 2 Stars
My first thought when I finished Again to Carthage (ATC) is "Dude, they used Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' during the race scene in Saint Ralph. You couldn't find another song?"
As a life-long runner...I gotta say...this book was horrible. It wants to be a runner's version of "The Natural" and comes off as Rocky IV (sorry, my depth of sports literature is thin beyond the Natural).
My overall impression is that he wrote the last 120 pages or so first, the story of Cassidy's decision to start running again and his training and the big race. Of course, 120 pages will not a novel make, so the editors sent it back and said, you need to add more. So he tacks on a hundred or so pages of background material to set up the mid-life crisis. This still leaves him 80 pages short, so he went back at it with a thesaurus, and everywhere he finds a verb he adds an adverb and everywhere he uses a noun he adds two or three adjectives.
My other problem with ATC, in addition to the overuse of adverbs and adjectives is the complete lack of any dramatic tension. No tension lasts for more than a few paragraphs. He has a ho-hum life. He starts running again. He gets up to 100+ mile weeks and gets in awesome shape with an awesome body. The only place I felt any tension was during the race - will he or won't he make the team? But it's so overwrought - the bloody footprints, the visions of dead friends...very cliched.
Feeling a bit bummed by this one...I was hoping for so much more....