Run
by Ann Patchett
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.98 You Save: $11.01 (73%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Run
Book Review: Good writing with a so-so tale.
Summary: 3 Stars
This was the first Patchett novel I read. And, she certainly does know how to craft her words. But, one would think that since the story is constrained to happenings in one 24-hour period that there would be more action. Instead, the constraint actually worked against her.
In order to communicate who the characters are and their motives, Patchett is forced to make them dig up old memories, they either relive in their heads or talk about. So, mostly during the day characters eat, sleep, talk and visit the hospital -and it just gets a little tedious at times. Ultimately, this made it a so-so story for me, despite a couple of occassional surprises and her fine writing.
Having now read the other reviews I'm going to try one of her other books which so many claim are better. I'd love to see her great writing combined with a better executed story.
BOTTOM LINE: A generally enjoyable read because of her fine writing - but the story isn't executed as well as it could be and becomes tedious at points. Probably better to go for a different one of her novels if you're a first time Patchett reader.
Book Review: Ann Patchett's RUN
Summary: 5 Stars
I wanted to read Ann Patchett's book "Run" after reading her earlier book "Bel Canto" several years ago. This book has been out for several years, so my review is not timely! Since reading this book on my recent vacation, I've given my copy away and ordered additional copies for friends.
"Run" is filled with complexities, focusing on family, religion, politics, and relationships in general. It makes you think about how a moment--even one circumstance or event--can change the course of your life. It makes you think about what molds us--the age-old question of whether heredity or environment has the greatest influence on our lives and what part experience plays in who we become.
At its heart, "Run" is a story about love and how it transforms people--when it's important to reach out to someone and when it's important to let go--and all the consequences of the important choices we make.
Ann Patchett does her research, so you also learn some interesting facts in her books, in addition to loving the story and caring about her characters. She is a great writer and story teller!
Book Review: Too much too soon
Summary: 3 Stars
The action promised to be tight, with an accident kickstarting a chain of events over the next 24 hours that threatens to blow former mayor Bernard Doyle's pastiched family apart.
Patchett aims for a commentary on the social and racial divide, albeit in a self-conscious and obvious manner. The Doyles are a mixed-race-single-parent family, with the requisite white (black sheep) son, Sullivan, and two black adopted sons, Tip and Teddy, whom foster dad has political ambitions for.
The author also tries for a little bit of Toni Morrison's 'Beloved', with an overly lengthy episode involving a hospital conversation between the dead and the near-dead, as an attempt to give readers the backstory to the adopted sons' natural mother, Tennessee. The problem with this scene is that Patchett tries to plump up an otherwise flat and 'comatose' character in a rush job manner.
A reasonably interesting read, which however, leaves the reader wanting to feel more connected to the characters and their motivations, and for me, a more satisfying conclusion for the wayward son, Sullivan.
Book Review: Not as simple as it looks.
Summary: 5 Stars
Run by Ann Pachette
At first, my interest in this book was about a single parent with adopted children. It became even more interested when an incident brings another child to them for caretaking. This is a fantasy of mine, that I will be in a situation to care for a needy child.(I am a child and family therapist but cannot "rescue" children I work with professionally.) This part of the story is somewhat contrived but the ending, somewhat predictable but not in the sense of a recurring dream I have had since my husband died suddenly at a young age. In my dream, my late husband is always leaving. I'm now reading about a woman who disappears, needing to be invisible from her family.The theme of leaving a family under so many unusual conditions is a curious one. It leaves you wondering where is the character running away from or running toward. This is what made the book so interesting. I thought it was well written and now my favorite of Ann Pachette.
Book Review: a well made up story that is not truthful
Summary: 3 Stars
"Run" is certainly a page-turner. That is why I picked it up in the bookstore. However, it does not ring true when I finish it and look back. The characters have no emotional depths, and I suspect that is why the plot has to be so dramatic and have so many twitches and turns.
The story is about two African boys adopted by a white family, and they find their birth mom and a sister in an accident. All the main characters are very loving persons without any racial bias, though the book implies the larger society is very racist. The two adopted young men are extremely well behaved. They do not seem to harbor any anger or confusion being African American boys growing up in a wealthy white community. Barack Obama is an exceptional man in many regards, but even he was confused and adrift as a young man of mixed heritage. The author does not seem to be able to create a credible African American character, let alone four major ones in the book.