Run

Customer Reviews

• A beautiful novel written with artistry and heart  Aug 20, 2007 (136 of 149 found this helpful)

  Run is the latest novel from the pen of Ann Patchett, the acclaimed author of Bel Canto. It is the story of an unusual Boston family. Bernard Doyle is a former Mayor of that city. He is a widower, his wife Bernadette having died of cancer some years before. He has three sons: Sullivan, the eldest and two adopted sons, Tip and Teddy. Tip and Teddy are biological brothers and they are black. It is their story that is most rivetting and provides much of this novel's essence and consequence. For the two young men, 21 and 20 respectively, are profoundly different. Tip is drawn towards science, Teddy towards religion. But there is much more at stake here. Patchett creates a beautifully detailed snapshot of America at the beginning of a new century. And through interactions whose randomness and emotional complexity these characters do not fully comprehend, some powerful and despairing truths regarding race, class, politics and faith are uncovered. Patchett's glistening prose reminds me of a jeweler studying a diamond with steely precision and a cool, clear radiance that reveals every facet and flaw.
  
  Her elegant prose is strongly reminiscent of another writer: James Joyce in his seminal story The Dead, perhaps the finest short story ever written. Even the technique seems similar. Here is spare, limpid prose laying bare the deepest recesses of the human heart. Here are the dead and the absent forever impacting the lives of the living and damaged. It struck me that Patchett has thoroughly absorbed Joyce's technique. This is high praise indeed, but impossible to prove. Or so I thought until Teddy quotes several sentences from the famous ending of The Dead. With some vindication, I think I can safely claim that Ann Patchett has used Joyce as her model. It is an indication of the artistry of this fine writer that she has done so successfully. This is a brilliant novel, filled with truth and deep feeling. Her artistry is quiet, never calling attention to itself. But artistry it is. You won't forget this book. My strongest possible recommendation for Run.
  
  Mike Birman

• Upon All The Living and The Dead  Aug 20, 2007 (44 of 53 found this helpful)

  "His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling; like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead." James Joyce 'The Dead'
  
  Ann Patchett has written her sixth book in the framework of a family and how the end justify the means. Each character is a study in love and the affection they have for each other. The gifts that are given by these people to each other is overflowing with meaning.
  
  Doyle, an ex-mayor of Boston had given up his office, voluntarily, but in the realm of disgrace. His profession in politics was his love, and he had hoped that one of his sons would follow in his footsteps. On this cold winter's night he brings his two younger sons, Tip and Teddy to hear Jesse Jackson. Doyle's hope was that Jesse would put the 'fire' of politics in one of his sons. Tip and Teddy had been adopted as infants. Doyle and his wife, Bernadette had one son, Sullivan, and wanted more, and when the chance to adopt a black baby came they grabbed it. They then found his brother, 14 months old was also available, and their family became complete, or almost. Within a short period of time, Bernadette, the love of Doyle's life, became ill with cancer and subsequently died. Doyle was left to bring up the boys on his own.
  
  On this night, Tip who goes to Harvard and is studying Ichthyology finally becomes tired of Doyle pushing his political preference in his face, and he starts an arguement with Doyle. It becomes more heated than either wanted, and Tip turns to go and walks in front of an on-coming car.
  He is saved by a black woman who pushes him out of the way. She is injured and rushed to the hospital. Not knowing the extent of her injuries as of yet, Doyle volunteers to care for the woman's young daughter. A full family at best. Now the issues of the past come to haunt the entire family, and some answers must be found. Tip and Teddy must come to terms with their past. And, Doyle must answer to his children.
  
  The life we lead is sometimes not what we think it is. The past may come to haunt us and decisions made for us and before us may not be what we want. Ann Patchett has the ability of taking a simple plot and making it into something it is not. The family and its center is the important aspect of her writing. This book was simplistic in plot, and the message was easy to grasp. It is a good novel, not one of her best, but enjoyable. After 'Bel Canto' the expectations were very high. There is something missing here and the plot though well devised is not as satisfying. But Ann Patchett's writing makes up for any deficit in plot- she is glorious in her use of the written word. Much to be admired.
  
  Recommended. prisrob 08-20-07
  
  Bel Canto (P.S.)
  
  Truth & Beauty: A Friendship

• Enjoyable read, but not Patchett's best  Oct 15, 2007 (22 of 25 found this helpful)

  "Run," a novel about a multi-racial adoptive family whose whole family structure is called into question as a result of an accident on a snowy night, was a quick, enjoyable read, though it definitely is not Patchett's best work. "Run" displays once again, the beauty and skill with with Ann Patchett writes. You can sense that each sentence and phrase is crafted carefully, each word carefully chosen.
  
  Though the writing was beautiful, the plot was slow-moving, a bit cliched, and not always believable. Patchett has great ideas for this book, but perhaps a few too many. She spends time developing a plethora of ideas, but developing each only slightly. Had she focused on only a few select ideas and developed them more, the novel would have felt more finished and believable. The very concept of "run" even felt forced at times, as if she just constantly threw out references to running to tie the loose ends together. And the ending seems to wraps things up just a bit too neatly.
  
  Don't let this discourage you from reading Ann Patchett, however. She is a fantastic author. If you were disappointed with "Run," read "Bel Canto" or "The Magician's Assistant" and experience Patchett at her best.

• mothers found and lost  Oct 15, 2007 (16 of 18 found this helpful)

  Run is a delicate, tender, and honest story of two adopted boys, Tip and Teddy, who lost their beloved adopted mother when they were preschoolers, and then are suddenly confronted by their previously unknown birth mother, Tennessee, as college-age adults. Tip and Teddy are opposites: Tip is driven, cold, logical, ambitious. Teddy is loving, outgoing, disorganized, always late. Patchett takes the reader through the mechanisms of confusion, doubt, anger, and mourning these boys feel when confronted with this lost birth mother, and together with their father Doyle they surprise the reader with the coldly practical worry that the boys have been "stalked" all their lives by this silent watcher.
  
  Because Tip and Teddy are black, and their adopted father Doyle is white, the reader may begin the book with expectations of discussions about race, but surprisingly there is very little of this. Instead, the central issue is class. A constant stream of images of Tennessee`s poverty contrast with Doyle, Tip, and Teddy's wealth and social status.
  
  The strength of this book is in its careful and meticulous character development. Doyle, Tip, Teddy, and Kenya (Tennessee's daughter) are very, very real. But Tennessee is the exception here. For most of the book she is unconscious, and the only bits we learn about her are from other characters. But when we finally get to hear from her, when she wakes up hallucinating after surgery, she doesn't ring true. And the extra storyline brought in during the hallucination seems unnecessary, and is not integrated with the rest of the story.
  
  Still, this is a strong and compelling book. Patchett paints a beautiful and expansive picture of family. A family that was at first unfamiliar but became so warm and memorable that I missed them when I had to close the book.
  

• Beautifully Written Novel of Family Dynamics  Oct 2, 2007 (8 of 8 found this helpful)

  Ann Patchett explores twenty-four hours in the life of an upper middle class Boston family. Bernard Doyle, the former mayor of Boston, has been widowed and the effects of the loss of his wife hover over this story. Sullivan is the prodigal son who returns unexpectedly during a snowstorm, but it is not until the middle of the novel that the reader learns of the scandal that forced him to run to Africa and leave his father disgraced. Tip and Teddy are two African-American boys the Doyles adopted and the father unabashedly tries to lead them into politics. They are dragged to lecture after lecture, and it is after one such outing to hear Jesse Jackson speak that Tip is struck by an SUV. He most likely would have been killed had he not been pushed out of harm's way at the last second by a bystander who calls herself Tennessee. When she is rushed to the hospital, the Doyles are left to care for her eleven-year-old daughter Kenya for the night.
  
  Patchett gives the reader many issues to mull over---race, class, politics--but it is family that cements all the issues she presents, family that binds disparate personalities and makes their essential differences a beautiful blending.
  
  Tip and Teddy are the heart of this story, the two blood brothers bound by shared parentage yet each finding his own path while hoping not to be crushed by the heavy mantel of their father's expectations.
  
  This is a moving story of an intense father, his biological son he is estranged from, his adopted sons in whom he sees his own future, and the young girl who comes unexpectedly and unbidden into their lives. It is a story of family and the secrets we discover and the ones best left hidden.