Run by Ann Patchett Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Run
Book Review: Great story telling
Summary: 5 Stars
This is different from the wonderful Bel Canto, and yet is the same in that it is all about relationships -- this time in a complicated family. Each character comes alive and is believable. The description of how thrilling the act of running can be is like nothing I have seen before. The portrait of a strong young black girl is compelling and I would recommend this book to advanced adolescents. The book deals with issues of race, family, class, education and the hopes and dreams of one generation for another.Book Review: Like oatmeal for breakfast
Summary: 3 Stars
As I struggled through the last 50 pages or so, I sensed that Ms. Patchett had also struggled to wrap up the last details of "Run". When you're constantly measuring the thickness of the remaining pages of a book it's never a good sign. Like checking your watch two-thirds of the way through a movie. There are some potentially interesting themes on: religion, race, politics, families, and life choices but none are ever explored in enough detail to make an impression. And some topics, such as universal healthcare, were a bit too heavy-handed.
"Run" contains some good imagery, and Patchett is a capable writer, but there were also instances where her writing becomes too pedantic. In one example, she describes the pain of using crutches and launches into a Gray's Anatomy discourse of radial and ulnar nerves that actually took me out of the situation rather than pulling me in.
She shifts character perspective in creative ways. But ultimately the book failed to extend meaningful connections with the characters for me. Tip, Teddy, Kenya, Tennessee, Da (a nickname I cringed at), Sullivan, and Uncle What's-His-Name - I didn't find any of them particularly compelling and engaging.
The big money shot happens early in the book and opportunities for giving the reader an epiphany later on are squandered. The outcome is well telegraphed as the reader is rotated through the same handful of sets: the hospital, Doyle's house, and the Harvard campus.
Some books leave a lasting impression, giving you: heartfelt moments, visuals, surprises or wisdom that you carry forward. Other books you read are a diversion, like putting together a jigsaw puzzle or doing a crossword. Like oatmeal for breakfast, they fill the gap but don't surprise and delight, and you don't find yourself misty-eyed, pining for more as you close the back cover. For me, "Run" was the latter.
Book Review: Loved Falling Into This One!
Summary: 5 Stars
What a delight, after trudging through quite a few books this summer, to begin this book and find myself completely falling into it, and without any effort at all. I had forgotten what wonderful fictional world Patchett can weave, ready to catch me as I fall in, pulling me along, strand by strand, as she fleshes out her characters, and unfolds the storyline. Taking place over just two days (with just a few backflashes, and one fast forward section at the end), I read this novel as fast as it unfolded. Two nights of reading and I closed it with a sigh. What a completely satisfying read. Highly Recommended!Book Review: Multilayered story that makes a great book to discuss!
Summary: 4 Stars
I read Run with my book club and it was a great book to discuss with a book club as there are so many layers to the story to discuss. The story emphasizes the point that the events in a single day can change your life completely. There are many themes to this book...political issues of race, class and family. It is the kind of book that can take on many perspectives from the readers standpoint. Many of my friends in my book club felt this was a political book, others felt it was more focused on family. I found it to be a blend of the two.
To me, it made me think about the definition of family and what it means to each person can be quite different. Is a family by definition, only those who are related by blood? I think that there is so much more to being a family than shared bloodlines. In this story, a white family (Bernadette, Doyle and Sullivan) adopt two young african american boys, Tip and Teddy. I found it refreshing to read how the issue of race in this family made no difference in their choice of adoption and the way they raised the boys. They loved them unconditionally as if they were their own children by birth. Sadly, Bernadette dies shortly after and this effects them all in many ways. Their biological son, Sullivan, was more effected by the adoption as he was an only child and the focus shifted away from him after the boys were adopted. He also had to deal with the death of his mother and it appears to me that this affected him deeply and changed the course of his life tremendously. There is a theme throughout the book that relates to the importance of motherhood and how that loss can effect a child and family.
There are other characters in the book that make a direct impact to the story as well. Uncle Sullivan, the namesake of the biological son, Sullivan. Who has an intense bond to Teddy. Tennessee Moser a mysterious woman whose quick act of bravery will impact the lives of all of the characters in the story. Kenya is Tennessee's daughter who has an incredible maturity for an 11 year old girl and an olympic size ability to run.
The theme of politics dominates the book as this is the path that the father, has chosen as his role as a past mayor and would like his sons to pursue. He exposes them to many political experiences and speaking events and it is not a path that the boys are interested in pursuing. There was a subtle tie in to current political events with a sign posted in a window that caught my attention when reading the book.
I believe that the title of the book, Run, reflects the idea that all of the characters are running from something. I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read the book by saying more. I will tell that you should definitely read this book to uncover the meaning behind the title.
Book Review: Nice, feel-good story (3.25*s)
Summary: 3 Stars
This novel is a rather kindly, subdued look at a mix of family, race, and class issues that in other hands would likely have been far more explosive. Boston, Irish politico Doyle (no first name given) has single-handedly raised his two black, adopted sons, Teddy, age 20, and Tip, age 21, for the last sixteen years. His natural-born son Sullivan, age 33, has proven to be a disappointment, but his adopted two have grown to show great potential for whatever life may bring.
The story, which occurs over a twenty-four hour period, gets its impetus when Tip's life is fortuitously saved by a black woman who knocks him out of the way of a SUV in a nighttime snow storm, only to be seriously injured herself. The woman has an eleven-year-old daughter named Kenya, who seems to be remarkably mature and prescient, especially in terms of her knowing details of the Doyle family. As the mother Tennessee is visited in the hospital and Kenya is taken under the wings of the Doyle's, more is learned of the connections and commonalities of all parties.
The book is basically a feel-good examination of family and its possibilities even in the face of the premature death of a parent, the short-changing of birth-mothers, and the difficulties of adoption. The book is fairly short as the night's events are resolved; the characters are no more than sketched; but the most interesting character by far is Kenya. Overall, the book is a nice, short story, but it really makes no effort to aspire to greatness.