Run | Ann Patchett

Run | Ann Patchett | Good Read, Intriguing Characters

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Run

	Run Ann Patchett Harper, 2007 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 182 reviews view larger image
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Super

I was immediately pulled in from the moment I started reading this book. This is a story concisely written. It moves dynamically forward, constantly, never letting up, always bringing in some new element of surprise.

What struck me most about this book was that, despite the conciseness of Patchett's style, the characterisations are very strong, vivid, and lifelike. No-one is quite what or who he thinks he is in the end, and a lot of development takes place with each character. The storyline is believable despite the strangeness of the scenario - things like this could happen, and could happen to anyone.

I think the downside of my experience reading this book was the last chapter. I see the necessity of the information in it, but it's like a free-fall onto the pavement after having been flying high for so long.

It is true that she touches on many, many things that are Major Issues - race and so forth. Yet somehow the fact that she does NOT dwell on these issues is very refreshing. You can pick up Time or Newsweek to read about issues, if that's what you're wanting. I enjoy a break from that.

Good read. I recommend.

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Good Read, Intriguing Characters

RUN is a good book -- interesting, memorable characters, well paced. It was not a favorite though, and I am not sure that it is a book that I would read again, or that I could relate to, but I was very interested in what the outcome would be, in what would happen to the characters.

I am endlessly intrigued by the way that Patchett's characters have such compelling, defining obessions. The obsessions with politics, speeches, fish, running, and (lost) children were all very strong in this book, and that reminded me of BEL CANTO, where the obsession with music and opera was so palpable that it inspired me to try to listen to opera again (she wrote so beautifully of it that I thought it just MUST be beautiful, but, alas, I still don't care at all for opera.) In this book, I had to admire these obsessions with politics and speeches and fish and running, though I am well aware that I am not going to be able to share in any of these obsessions. Patchett's real achievement is in making them all sound interesting.

I was prepared for Patchett's pace after reading BEL CANTO, so I did not find this book slow at all. I also strongly disagree that this book is in any way any more unbelievable or impropable than BEL CANTO. The plots in both novel are similarly improbable in my view. I understand why she didn't, or couldn't, go further in exploring the characters, given the limited time span of the events in the novel.

Finally, I remain curious, and slightly suspicious of her treatment of race in the novel. She certainly did not ignore the issue -- I suppose she couldn't, wouldn't dare -- but what she did cover barely scratched the surface. I suppose I am not surprised, but I am a little disappointed.

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Run

I'd like to begin this review by stating that I never divulge the plot in my reviews (that would be a "book report" - instead I'll tell you what I thought of the book overall and how it made me feel. "Run" was my first experience with Ann Patchett's work, and I can't say that I eager to go back for more. It is a thickly layered story of improbable events and contrived emotion. I felt as if Patchett was constantly trying to provoke a reaction by bombarding the reader with a seemingly never-ending series of shmaltzy plot turns. As an adoptive parent I thought I would connect with this book on some level, but there just wasn't any part of it that I could believe in. It was simultaneously too in-depth and too shallow (if that is possible), resulting in a boring read that caused me to roll my eyes more than once as the plot slowly unraveled. The dialogue is stilted and unnatural, and the emotions the characters express are not entirely believable. In all, Run is a slow read with a tiresome plot and unrealistic characters.

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