Run
Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto is one of my favorite novels of the last five years. Mrs. Got Books and I enjoyed that novel so much that we bought each other Patchett’s latest novel, Run, as gifts. Surprise!
Run takes place over a highly compressed time frame (a day) in which the characters lives are turned upside down as explosive revelations rock the Doyle family’s relatively staid lives. The extent of change and revelation seem to be a bit far fetched and may be part of the downfall of the novel. And then there is the premise.
Bernard Doyle, former mayor of Boston (white), finds himself a widower with three sons. Two of the boys, Tip and Teddy, are adopted African-Americans from a poor household. Whatchu talkin’ ’bout, Ann Patchett? Apparently no one on the editorial staff said, “Wait. Like Diff’rent Strokes?”
The remaining brother is a prodigal son who has just returned, unannounced, from Africa. Their dead mother is almost literally worshiped by the family – she looks just like a statue of the Virgin Mary that the boys keep in their room. Just a bunch of men getting in one another’s way in a large house, until…
One night, after seeing Jesse Jackson speak at Harvard, one of the boys is pushed out of the way of an oncoming car by a stranger who is herself hit by the SUV. The little girl (African-American) accompanying the mysterious woman seems to know an awful lot about the adopted Doyle sons. Drama!
The novel seems to hit on several themes while untangling the lives of all involved. Black children named Tip and Teddy in Boston would certainly appear to be some sort of statement about race, nature vs. nurture, liberal/democratic politics and policies, etc., but it’s hard to pull out what exactly the author is trying to say. Patchett also comments upon Catholicism, what it means to be family, economic disparity, and pride vs. belief. There’s a lot going on in this “day in the life.”
Reading back over this, it sounds like I didn’t care much for this book, which is not the case. I brought high expectations into the reading of this novel, and the author nearly met those expectations. If anything, the author tried to do too much with this novel. Sub par Patchett is still better than most.
April 9, 2008 10:11 am 5 Comments
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By Russ, April 9, 2008 @ 11:57 am
if you thought the theme and/or characters in Run were at all captivating, read the last stephen l carter book..it’s virtually the same story, but with a powerful racial undertone and some urgency.
fyi, i’ve never read bel canto, though lucy insists i should
By Tim, April 9, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
Read Bel Canto. I’ll skip the Stephen L Carter book though.
By Beth (The Decatur One0, April 9, 2008 @ 12:52 pm
Love Ann Patchett. Seems I need to hit the new Wordsmiths location this weekend …
By Elizabeth, April 10, 2008 @ 9:27 am
This was a very good review. I really liked Bel Canto and had read 2 other books of Ann Patchett previous to this. I felt this was just not as good, but certainly readable.
If you haven’t read it, I liked The Magician’s Assistant.
By Nitro Nicole, April 27, 2008 @ 8:47 am
I loved Bel Canto and I can not even believe that Patchett wrote this book. I think your review was very generous. I felt that the story was implausible and condescending with her stereotypical portrayal of black kids make good with white parents – ugh! Disappointing…….