Run by Ann Patchett was added to the list of books to consider because of the author and several members of the reading committee enjoyed it. Unlike most other books on the list, as well as the books previously selected by the committee, it is not an Alex Award winner.
If you've read this book, please leave a comment with your review of it and whether you think other readers are likely to find it engaging (do you think they’d be eager to finish it and perhaps start reading another book when they are done). If you recommend the book, please also state any themes or topics that would be good for discussion. Thanks.
8 comments:
I thought the book started off too slow – a story about a family statue and a young man studying fish. I read about the first 20 pages and let the book sit for about 2 weeks. Then I picked it up again and after another 20 pages, found it got far more interesting. The story is fairly straightforward with much of it taking place over a few days. There are a few times when it is unclear what time frame the author is talking about. It has an interesting twist as to who is the mother of which children.
There are interesting topics to discuss – what is family, classism, politics, the medical profession and fate. If readers like the book, there are other novels by this author they could seek out including Bel Canto which should get more attention as the 2010 release for the movie approaches.
It is worth considering further.
I will agree and admit that the first few pages were a bit slow, but I believe that is indicative of the author. I loved Bel Canto, but had a hard time getting into it at first.
As for Run, it didn't take me long to get into it, mostly because I found the first part fairly interesting. I found that this was a book I enjoyed and wanted to talk about after I read it. It was very interesting and I loved the twists with the characters. I would like to consider this with more discussion for our choice this year.
Although this book has many fine qualities--Patchett's prose and her eye for detail, for example--I thought it was a snoozer. Someone once asked Elmore Leonard for the secret to a fast-moving novel. "Just leave out the boring parts," he said.
This is the kind of slow-paced literary fiction which is supposed to be driven by character development. But I found many of the characters flat--particularly Teddy and Tip, who are defined, each of them, by a single "interest."
After Teddy and Tip's mother is revealed midway through, there's not much to keep you reading.
This was my first Ann Patchett novel, and given the hype over Bel Canto, I was expecting more.
The book tells the story of two young black men who were adopted by a prominent white Boston family when they were abandoned by their birth mother. The story takes place when the boys are in college and tells of their relationships with their father, their brother (natural child of the parents), and the family effects of having lost the mother when the boys were still children. The mother was the central figure in the lives of the boys and the father, and her memory and legacy remain strong, though the father has dedicated his life to his sons.
The family is faced with their past and future when they run connect with a woman and her daughter in an accident. The incident and consequences of it reveal the woman to be the boys’ birth mother, and the girl their sister. The father and boys must confront the issues as they deal with the trauma of the accident.
This is a good book in general – Patchett writes well and the central themes of the book are identity, family, and parent-child relationships. Good possible choice for campus reading program – the book has themes that all can relate to in terms of relationships and family, yet goes beyond to question and challenge issues of race and identity.
- dominie garcia, November 2007
Here is the NYT's book review of Run.
I enjoy Patchett, but this is not Bel Canto (one of my personal favorites). There are interesting topics, but I also wonder whether some of the stereotypes referenced in the NYT review will offend some of our community - not only because of the stereotyping, but also because I believe SJSU is so far beyond a simplistic approach to diversity. Run didn't have the "can't put it down" factor that I prefer to see in our choices.
I'm going to agree with Nick here.
Many wonderful and intriguing stories cover a very involved, dramatic plot within the course of a day or so, such as Macbeth or the series "24."
Run is not one of them.
Molasses in an igloo comes to mind. Heated molasses that starts with a interesting story about a Virgin Mary statue and cools and slows when it goes to...fish.
The politics, issues of class, race and adoption are some little twinkling saving attributes, but otherwise not recommended.
Review from 2008 from a committee member - "Personally, I couldn’t put this book down. Although I find the author enormously talented--I love the way she can suddenly present the perfect detail that tells you volumes about a character’s depth and complexity in one fell swoop--I fear that as much of this book deals with internal cerebral struggles, many of our target audience (new frosh) will find it slow going and perhaps boring. Passions for ichthyology and the priesthood do not run high in this target population, and I wonder how many would see the parallels to their own dreams, ambitions, and special gifts. (Action does pick up with car accident...but I’m not confident the target readers would hang in there that long to get to that action.) I would recommend to friends who already read for pleasure and enrichment, but I’m not sure this is the right choice given the goals of our Program."
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