Run
by Ann Patchett
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Book Reviews of Run
Book Review: biracial family drama
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the second book I've read in recent years about a white father with two black sons. (The other was The Time of Our Singing by Richard Powers.) In this case, though, the sons, Tip and Teddy Doyle, are adopted, and a chance encounter with their birth mother changes their lives irrevocably. They find that they apparently have a much younger biological sister, Kenya, who confesses that she and her mother have been keeping close tabs on the Doyles for years. These three siblings seem to represent mind (Tip), heart (Teddy), and body (Kenya), as she is already an Olympic-caliber runner who embodies all the best qualities of the two brothers. There is also an older biological son, Sullivan, who is a ne'er-do well just back from Africa and not all that welcome at home. Despite the fact that he's white like their father (and deceased mother, for that matter), he's the black sheep, so to speak. His fatal mistake, alluded to early and revealed later in the book, is more sad than shocking. Kenya is the tie that binds, though, wise beyond her years, as she uses her charm, compassion, intelligence, and no-nonsense level-headedness to help each family member rediscover his way. This novel is briskly paced and, although not as robust as Patchett's Bel Canto, Run has its own merits, as the family drama is more intimate, with fewer characters and a shorter time span.
Book Review: Fairy Tales in Boston
Summary: 2 Stars
In one of the reviews written to sell this book, someone mentions fairy tales, but fail to mention that this book more closely resembles fairy tales than literary fiction. All the characters encountered in this book are warm, intelligent, articulate people with nothing but good intentions. The boys who grow up having lost their mother(s) twice and are forced to deal with being black kids raised by a well-to-do white politician have no complaints really, except whether they feel pressured to become doctors and lawyers. Harvard, Yale, Johns Hopkins? Oh, the choices!
African American culture isn't even brought into the book, unless you count parts of speeches by Jesse Jackson and MLK. Oh, and we can't forget the mention of the projects, albeit the nicer than typical projects. Unfortunately, it seems like race is brought into the book only as an attempt to make the book more politically charged and to sell more copies. Either that or it was a topic a comfortable writer had really wanted to write about but did not want to challenge herself with the investment and real work required to make this seem genuine, touching, or anything beyond technically proficient. I hope she has not become so comfortable with her success that her name can sell her books though had she been anyone else, her stories would not have.
Book Review: 24-hour story
Summary: 4 Stars
The 24-hour period covered in the story (about the length of time that elapsed from start to finish for me) makes for a "real-time" and fast-paced plot. Draws you in and keeps you reading.
Boston is slammed to a standstill by an unexpected snowstorm, just as a car accident plunges the Doyles into the mind-boggling puzzle of their past. Animation is suspended in the city while the family discovers and sorts out their ties with Tennessee and her young daughter Kenya. It's intriguing that in the end, the reader is the only one who knows the whole truth.
Other reviewers have questioned the plausibility of some of the plot's turns. How did Beverly pull off her identity change, for instance? She managed it because, just as none of the police or ambulance people were concerned enough to find out if Kenya had anywhere to go after the accident or to assist Tip, lying in the snow, no one was paying attention when two black women melted into one.
My only quibbles are with the Boston geography and weather. Why would you have to go past Mass. General on the way from the Back Bay to Mt. Auburn hospital? And Pachett should have made the temperature lower than 20 degrees on the sunny day after the snow storm to warrant all the fuss about the arctic conditions.
Book Review: S l o w read
Summary: 3 Stars
The story is about the Doyle family of Boston - former mayor Bernard and his wife had one son and then adopted two black sons named Tip and Teddy before her untimely death. Now, twenty years later, the eldest boy is an aimless disappointment while the younger sons are successful college students with very different personalities. On a fateful night, Tip is nearly run over by a car but is pushed to safety by a stranger who will come to impact their lives forever.
The first chapter told an interesting history of a beautiful religious statue that had been in the family for generations. The rest of the book, however, was completely different in tone. It's all about the night of Tip's brush with death, told in such excruciating detail that it was hard for me to keep reading. There is very little action and most dialog is followed by one or more paragraphs in which the speaker mulls over his words ad nauseum. This writing style got old fast for me. I grew impatient for something to happen and tried to skim the book, only to find that important details were tucked into the most boring private reflections.
The basic plot is a good one and would have been very successful as a short story, but for me, the novel is way too draw-out and dull.
Book Review: not her best work
Summary: 3 Stars
I've read all of Ann Patchett's novels and have found each one to be a little better than the last, so I was thrilled to happen upon 'Run' in the bookstore.
The first page was beautifully written and made me eager to see what was going to unfold, but gradually -- bit by bit -- the story lost me. After the first forty or fifty pages I felt no curiousity, and by its midpoint the novel seemed completely contrived. It's a bad sign when you find yourself checking to see how many pages are left before you can be finished with a book.
I have to say my greatest annoyance with 'Run' was that it felt padded. There's entirely too much narrative, minute details of what the characters remember or think or neglect to remember or think. I started resenting having to wade through all this ruminating that made the characters seem to exist only on paper. There's a long chapter near the middle of the book that basically explains the plot. I found it painfully long and distracting. A chapter like that should never be necessary.
I could not help thinking that this book was written because the author was contractually bound to crank out a book. I know she can do much better than this.