I just finished reading Run for my book club. I had heard of Bel Canto by reputation so when one of our members suggested Run, I thought how bad could a book by Anne Patchett be? I was wrong. For a story that takes place over a 24 hour period, there were far too many themes -- adoption, race, politics, family relationships, issues of nature vs. nurture, religion, death and loss etc. -- none of which could be fully developed. With so many themes and such a short timeframe, there was no opportunity for the characters to be fully developed. Finally, some of the plot twists were incredibly unrealistic to the point where they diminished what Patchett was trying to accomplish. I finished the book simply because I was curious about how it would end. However, it was not worth reading.

Even though I told myself not to read other reviews before writing mine - I read several of the other 3 star reviews. I have to say I agree with most if not all of their criticisms. I do appreciate a well-written book by an obviously smart, talented writer, but Run is something I would put in the category of "quick read", just engaging enough. I was very surprised and am still puzzled that Ms. Patchett called the book a "political novel" in the discussion included at the end. For me it was definitely about family, in a kind of 3-hour-special made-for-TV way.

"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.

"Run" takes place mostly in one day. During that time, the biological mother of two African American men, who were adopted by a former Caucasian mayor of Boston, pushes one of her sons away from an oncoming SUV saving his life, and jeopardizing her own life and her eleven year old daughter's as well. These people had never met, but had been observed by the mother and daughter for the daughter's entire life. Needless to say, when the boys and their father find out who their savior was, it was a life altering experience. But there were too many coincidences to give this story credence.
I don't want to spoil the unfolding of the story for anyone who will read this book, so I can't go into all the contrivances.
Nevertheless, the characters are well defined and interesting.

While I have read many excellent books this year, few (if any) have resonated with me the way that this book did. While Ann Patchett presents her story in a straightforward easy to read style, each plot twist, each character, each paragraph is thick with meaning and insight.

The book describes a 24-hour period in the life of the Doyle "family" (quotes conveying the extended nature of the family), and the experiences that ensue when Tip, the black adopted middle son of white, Irish, former Boston mayor, Bernard Doyle, is saved from an oncoming hit and run (at the sacrifice of life and limb) by his theretofore unknown biological mother.

The author uses this event as the jumping off point for the exploration of family. The Doyle family consists of Bernard Doyle, his now deceased wife, Bernadette, his two adopted black sons, the aforementioned Tip and Teddy (named for two famous Massachusetts politicians), Doyle's biological son, nere-do-well Sullivan, and the dead mother's uncle, Father Sullivan. The family of the sacrificing biological mother, Tennessee Moser, consists of Tennessee, Kenya, her talented, intelligent, intuitive 11-year old daughter (and presumably Tip and Teddy's sister), and a largely unnamed friend (who comes to play a small, but crucial role later in the tale).

Ann Patchett does an extraordinary job of raising many compelling questions on the nature of family and the roles of the persons who comprise it. The following are some of the issues that caught my attention:

1. The author's message seems to be that a "family" is more a collection of persons who elect to view and treat themselves as such, rather than a relation based on blood or common ancestry. The book begins with a tale (a fable?) of a statue (a startling likeness of the now dead Bernadette) that gets passed down through the generations. Which "family member" ends up with the statue supports this view.

2. I was particularly interested in the presentation of the tension between the duties of a member of a family and the individual's desire to following his own interests and path. The elder Doyle desperately wanted his sons to adopt his social conscience and enter politics, while the studious Tip preferred the solitude of the ichthyology (fish) lab, and the caring Teddy desired to follow the lead of Uncle Sullivan into the priesthood. At one point, Tip and Kenya end up in his lab filled with fish specimens in glass jars, and he is so moved by the interest she shows in the specimens and Tip's knowledge--drawing a stark contrast from his father's lack of interest.

3. Tennessee, the boys' biological mother who gave them up, spent the last 20 years living as an unknown, unseen witness to the boys' lives, but always retaining a connection--even though they didn't know it. Passing them in the street, seeing them in restaurants and theaters, looking through their windows when they passed the house, knowing their interests and career paths, without them ever noticing. Honestly, this description gave me a chill. Tennessee relates to one instance when she almost touched Tip in a crowd, and even discusses feeling electricity when touching him for the brief moment necessary to push him away from the oncoming car. To have that much love and connection with someone who doesn't know you exist--even when passing you on the street--is truly a remarkable notion.

4. The books described pattern of familial behavior into which family members permit themselves to fall, and which tend to define the person, but aren't necessarily who or all those family members are as people. In this light, I was fascinated by the scenes involving the nere-do-well son, Sullivan, and his facility in interacting with the distraught Kenya--something the other family members found much more difficult. Sullivan was really much of a person than his family structure permitted, but sadly, even he himself bought into this restrictive definition in defining and comporting himself.

While I could go on, my best recommendation is to RUN and buy/read this truly extraordinary book.

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.

I wanted so much to like this book. It speaks to so many life-impacting themes - family, race, class, politics, science. But, the many enjoyable parts do not congeal into a satisfying whole. The prose is softly spoken even when describing pain and death, and follow-on grief. The writer turns some phrases so well that they warrant reading them aloud. In a natural, off-hand manner, Patchett centers the plot on a white politician's and his wife's adopting two black children to fill out their one-child family. The children's acceptance by the Irish extended family further defines the capacity to love those born outside our bloodline. This is a strong, well done element of the book. The first sentence tells us that Bernadette, the mother has died, and this sets the tone for how the all-male unit, including the uncle, Father Sullivan continues in her absence. Yet, she is never truly absent; her memory drives the men's thoughts and actions. Also, the writer uses the device of the mother to connect to the other females, including the statue of the Madonna. Two of these females are another mother and her daughter, who are introduced in a contrived scene (one of several that just don't ring true). All the characters, including walk-on parts, convey nearly total goodness. Perhaps, this is the critical weakness in the story: everyone is just too good. The inter-generational conflict, the appearance of the birth mother, everyone's quiet approach to loss (lots of losses here), are subdued to the point of robotic. Yes, the characters are likeable, even lovable, if too often flat. The research in history and science is apparent. There just isn't enough dramatic heat to fuel total interest in the story.

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.

Twenty years ago or so His Honor Bernard Doyle and his Wife Bernadette adopted an African American baby. Later they get a phone call, the mother can't care for the child's older brother, would they adopt him as well? So, the Doyles, who already had a twelve-year-old son now have two new sons, ages five and fourteen months.

Four years later Bernadette dies and Doyle has to raise the children on his own. He's a lover of politics and he wants that for his new sons, but one turns to science, the other wants to be a priest and his oldest has turned out the be the black sheep of the family. It's because of him that Doyle had to leave politics.

In the present Doyle drags his sons to see a Jesse Jackson speech. A car bears down on one of them. An African American woman rushes from the crowd, pushes the boy to safety, but is struck herself. She has a young daughter named Kenya and from her the Doyles learn Kenya's mother is also the mother of Doyles two sons.

And there you have it, the setup for a heartwarming, sometimes feel good, sometimes sad, always real story. There isn't the tension here you'll find in Bel Canto, but there is more humanity, more soul. I thought so anyway, but Lord knows I could be wrong, I often am, but this story moved me in a way Bel Canto did not, though I don't want to be seen to be slighting Bel Canto in any way as it's a masterpiece, just different than this story, I guess that's what I'm saying. This is a book about family. It's an important book, one you'll remember.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Fast paced and engrossing from the first page. Beautifully and sensitively written novel about families and the decisions made to benefit and/or protect family. Interesting and realistic characters.

This was probably one of the worst books I have ever read. The premise was a good one, but Pachett did nothing with it. She made some situations, so far-fetched, the whole plot became unbelieveable. All the characters were flat and boring. I felt nothing either way for the characters. I do feel embarassed for Ann Pachett, who put out this sophmoric book. Even at Amazon's bargain price, RUN away from this one.

I first read Ann Patchett in "Truth and Beauty," her non-fiction work about her friend Lucy Grealy. When wandering through the library and saw her name on "Run," I had to read it. I remembered Patchett's clear, beautiful prose and felt her fiction would be a worthwhile experience.

I was not disappointed. The writing is as good as I expected, with sentences that read like a cool glass of water. Patchett brings us into the world of Doyle, Sullivan, Tip, Teddy, and Kenya slowly, subtly, until you're surprized to learn how involved you are in their lives, how much you want it to all work out ok.

"Run" is an excellent story touching on interesting social issues. Thought provoking in a casual, almost sneaky way I found this to be very enjoyable. If you enjoy good fiction, you won't be disappointed in this novel.

Ann Patchett is a wondrous writer, capable of small miracles of grace that come seemingly from nowhere, illuminating her characters and bringing joy to the reader. Even though RUN, her latest novel, may have flaws, how can I give it less than five stars for the joy it gave me throughout? The joy that kept me reading from one magic moment to the next. The joy, even more, that would make me put the book aside, the better to savor the anticipation of what might lie ahead.

As she had done in her first novel, THE PATRON SAINT OF LIARS, Patchett begins with a prologue that is half miracle, half folklore. This concerns a rosewood statue of the Virgin Mary that has been in the family for generations, passed down from mother to daughter. Two stories are told about its origin, the first romantically heartwarming, the second more realistic and largely contradicting the facts of the first, but satisfying on an even deeper level. This prologue does two things. It sets up the basic family unit: a young mother recently dead, leaving a son of her own (Sullivan) and two younger boys (Tip and Teddy, African-American, adopted), to be brought up by the widower, a former mayor of Boston named Doyle. It also demonstrates the power of storytelling, to reveal things in one light and then to illuminate them from the other side, making them seem entirely different. The whole book will be about families and their stories, the stresses that pull families apart, and the miracles that knit them together again in unexpected ways.

Flash forward a dozen years. Despite Doyle's hope to steer his adopted sons into politics (look at their names), Tip is becoming a marine biologist and Teddy is considering the priesthood, following the example of a beloved uncle, Father Sullivan; the other Sullivan, the eldest brother, has become estranged and now lives in Africa. An accident in the snow at night after a lecture by Jesse Jackson brings two other people into their lives: an unwed mother named Tennessee, and her eleven-year-old daughter Kenya, both black. The main action of the book will follow these seven characters for the next twenty-four hours. If Patchett were writing an opera, almost all her scenes would be duets; she has a way of bringing her characters together in different combinations, and to reveal something new about them each time. Essentially, this is the same structure as in her celebrated BEL CANTO; none of the scenes here, though, are love duets in the conventional sense, but all are suffused with love in other ways, and this is perhaps the greatest miracle of all.

It is hard to illustrate this without giving the plot away, but perhaps I can quote from one of the few solo scenes in the book, where the old priest Father Sullivan contemplates his death. "He had started to wonder if there was in fact no afterlife at all . . . How wrongheaded it seemed now to think that the thrill of heartbeat and breath was just a stepping stone to something greater. What could be greater than the armchair, the window, the snow? Life itself had been holy. We had been brought forth from nothing to see the face of God and in his life Father Sullivan has seen it miraculously for eighty-eight years . . . This was not the workings of disbelief. It was instead a final, joyful realization of all he had been given."

RUN is right up there with all but one of Patchett's previous books, although its African-American characters and theme of parenthood brings it closest to TAFT. But some readers looking for a repeat of her masterly BEL CANTO, its immediate predecessor, may well be disappointed. The brushstrokes -- that texture of close personal interactions -- are exactly the same, but the canvas here is smaller. The hostage situation in BEL CANTO allowed Patchett to set small scenes within a large political context; she has remarked that she thinks of RUN as a political novel too, with Doyle a kind of Joe Kennedy, but really her essential focus is on the human level. I also have to say that the climactic scene in RUN does not have quite the same cogency of those that lead up to it, and not all the loose ends are tied up; but to be honest, I recall being disappointed by the ending of BEL CANTO too. Nonetheless, my discovery of Ann Patchett's work five years ago almost single-handedly restored my delight in reading, and I rejoice that even in a slightly imperfect book she can still bring such pleasure now.

This novel is a rather kindly, subdued look at a mix of family, race, and class issues that in other hands would likely have been far more explosive. Boston, Irish politico Doyle (no first name given) has single-handedly raised his two black, adopted sons, Teddy, age 20, and Tip, age 21, for the last sixteen years. His natural-born son Sullivan, age 33, has proven to be a disappointment, but his adopted two have grown to show great potential for whatever life may bring.

The story, which occurs over a twenty-four hour period, gets its impetus when Tip's life is fortuitously saved by a black woman who knocks him out of the way of a SUV in a nighttime snow storm, only to be seriously injured herself. The woman has an eleven-year-old daughter named Kenya, who seems to be remarkably mature and prescient, especially in terms of her knowing details of the Doyle family. As the mother Tennessee is visited in the hospital and Kenya is taken under the wings of the Doyle's, more is learned of the connections and commonalities of all parties.

The book is basically a feel-good examination of family and its possibilities even in the face of the premature death of a parent, the short-changing of birth-mothers, and the difficulties of adoption. The book is fairly short as the night's events are resolved; the characters are no more than sketched; but the most interesting character by far is Kenya. Overall, the book is a nice, short story, but it really makes no effort to aspire to greatness.

Take your time reading this one. This is a book that forces you to care deeply about the characters in it, the urban landscapes, nature and everything everything everything in it. You'll want to savor each page and take it all with you. Be prepared for a few nights of serious sleep deprivation.

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.

The characters in this novel were flat and one dimensional if not completely stereotypical. I found the writing very loose and exceedingly boring. It seemed like a good outline for a story but was lacking in character development, tension, realism and emotion, in other words it was missing everything that makes a good story.

This is the story of a father and his two adopted sons, they are black, he is white. Their adoptive mother, Bernadette, died when they were little. On a cold and snowy night their father takes them to hear Jesse Jackson speak. Afterward there is a car accident. Tip, the elder of the two sons, is injured but it could have been much worse if it weren't for the quick thinking and heroic actions of a complete stranger. The woman who pushed Tip out of the way was seriously injured. Now this woman and her daughter are connected to them.

I guess I expected the book to explore racism, or racial inequities or what it's like to have a racially mixed family. But Ann Patchette doesn't deal with the issue of racism in this book she merely refers to characters including the color of their skin.

Are the white police officers and EMTs racist because they assume the black people at the scene of the car accident are related to each other? Maybe, possibly, but not necessarily.

I thought that this book started out with a good anecdotal story about Bernadette's grandfather and how he came to possess a much adored statue of the Virgin Mary. I expected that story to be foreshadowing about family dysfunction, errors in judgment, love, faith and forgiveness. But the story about Bernadette's grandfather seemed to be where the story-telling left off.

This is the first of Ann Patchett's novels I have read and I thought it was weak in every aspect. I didn't care for the story, the telling of it or the characters. There wasn't any real examination of the relationships or any real insight to character's feelings, the characters themselves were not at all developed.

I had more questions than answers at the end of this book and it was all tied up a little too symmetrically at the end, I didn't find it believable.


* *SPOILERS*AHEAD!* *
I have questions like...
Did the aunts agree with Doyle's decision about who got the statue?
If not then we can talk about racism, otherwise they were just being very literal old bats at the beginning of the book.

How on earth could Beverly stalk someone for twenty years and not be seen by the family or just completely exhausted or an in-patient at a mental hospital?

How did Beverly assume the identity she did? How did that work, I wanted the details...

How did Doyle adopt his daughter? Again Some details would have been nice. And any details about the characters feelings would have been nice as well.

Over all I thought this book fell completely flat.

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.

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.

Unlike some reviewers, I believe this novel had potential. Family themes are some of my favorites in literature. Unfortunately, this book is jammed with so many Big Theme Messages that the characters come across as mouthpieces for the writer rather than real people, and the plot turns out to be a mere megaphone for said mouthpieces. We leave this book less with a lingering presence of the people Ms. Patchett has created, and more with the knowledge that Ms. Patchett has Something To Say about race, religion, politics, class.

Most of this Something is steeped in political correctness, to the point that she utilizes the very stereotypes that she seems to find offensive. On top of this, one-scene characters in this novel have no personality, but their race is always noted. Is this Ms. Patchett's idea of taking on racism--paying obsessive attention to race?

Ms. Patchett's writing style is mostly pleasing. I found her construction of sentences easy to enjoy. In fact, after reading some of these reviews, I would consider reading _Bel Canto_. I would hope, however, that her other works include tighter scenes than are provided here. Interior monologue tends to mire this book's pace until the title becomes ironic.

In addition to the neverending Deep Thoughts of the characters, there were times I wanted to muzzle the narrator. For example, on p. 93,94:

"'Awake?' Teddy said. They had been saying it to each other all their lives, sleeping in their opposite beds or, in this case, opposite couches. It meant, Are you there, are you listening to me, will you talk to me now?"

Yes, asking if one is awake implies that one wants to talk. What reader needs to be told this? But in this book, the spelling out of subtext is worse than irritating or insulting. Something about it tries to be wise, as if everything these characters say must somehow further what the writer has to say. Sadly, this straining for profundity only marginalizes the characters, a fatal flaw for a character novel.

At the end of this book, I felt as though Ms. Patchett did not start her work with Doyle, Tip, Teddy, Sullivan, or Kenya. I felt she started with a formula: "Rich white father, white, wayward son and black, less wayward sons meet poor black mother and poor-but-amazingly-gifted black daughter."

As F. Scott Fitzgerald said so perfectly: "Begin with an individual and you find that you have created a type; begin with a type and you find that you have created--nothing."

The former mayor and father of three (1 natural and 2 adoptive) Bernard Doyle is the protagonist is Ann Patchett's bargain priced novel Run. I won't say I'm the biggest Ann Patchett fan and during the course of reading Run I felt like the tome would last an eon or so, but I did finish it and can't say I was all that disappointed. In fact, I might even go as far as to say I enjoyed it. In typical Ann Patchett style we are given a family that is dealt some serious blows and must learn to cope.

Patchett's writing, as always, is lovely and serene and makes what borders on the magical in her novels seem true. In RUN, this serene unreality gives the story the quality of a parable, with both the beauty and lack of excitement that reading a parable offers. Despite the slowness, the characters come to life enough to keep the pages turning with a desire to know their fates--and what initially feels far-fetched in the plot, at times, becomes a really good story.

But there is a political agenda here which, while gracefully delivered, weakens the book as a work of literature. This story of one Boston family and its estranged and adopted members is a coded message saying that Barack Obama (the character named Kenya) is the heir of the Kennedys (the Doyles--Teddy,Tip,Sullivan), and that this character can bring everyone together and should "RUN". The book was published in 2007 and written before Obama did run so is in some ways prescient. But getting this message across ends up convoluting the plot and at times there is the kind of sentimental idealization of the oppressed characters that gives old liberals a bad name. Certain plot constructs seem contrived and quotes from politicians past feel stilted.

Still, Patchett writes beautifully and there are many passages and moments that are very moving.

I cannot believe all the five star reviews of this aweful book. It was boring, boring, boring - probably all the way to the end. I couldn't even read it. The characters were so unbelievable, the dialogue retched, and I couldn't believe all the paragraphs that were a page or longer! How on EARTH did this P.O.S. get published? Who did she have to kill? There are so many talented writers dying to get a book in print but instead we get...THIS???????

Not as good as Bel Canto, but then what is? It is a good read, as are all of Ann Patchett's fiction books. I liked the charactors and especially enjoy the way Patchett writes so I feel as though I know the people she is "talking" about.

Ann Patchett's great talent is as a storyteller. Run opens with a short story about a statue of the Virgian Mary, and you are drawn into her web, bewitched and intrigued. Even as that story ends up having very little connection to the rest of the book, her narrative skills keep you under her spell, much as they did in Bel Canto: A Novel.

The biggest difference between Bel Canto and Run is that the former was, at bottom, a romance, and Run is an identity story. And while understanding love in the real world is not essential to writing an excellent romance, understanding identity issues in the real world IS important to identity stories. Run has a whole series of identity stories---parents and others not who the characters thought they were---and Patchett's delivery of those issues is certainly the book's weakest point.

The characters (like those in Bel Canto) also suffer a bit from being absurdly outstanding. This detracts from any sense of realism the book might aspire to and, with the African-American characters in this book, leaves one with the disquieting feeling of watching one of Sidney Poiter's "saint" movies from the 1960's, such as To Sir, With Love.

These criticisms notwithstanding, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it. Patchett's story telling is so compelling not only for its plot elements and her language, but also for her success in spurring reflection about her themes. Here, most effectively, parent-child and sibling relationships. Though her characters may be stereotyped and unrealistic, there is plenty for readers to recognize and reflect upon in their interactions.

Having read and loved Bel Canto and the Magician's Assistant, I couldn't wait to start Run and as usual Ann Patchett met my expectations. The characters, twists and turns and imagery kept me bound to the book. I was hoping for a different ending for Sullivan though.

As much as I like Run, Bel Canto is still my best Ann Patchett book, closely followed by the Magician's Assistant. This was my book club read. Very Good!

My first book by this author and it has received extremes in reviews. For the most part I enjoyed it and I think Doyle should have recieved some praise for successfully raising his boys without their mom. There were only about 2 reviewers that hinted of the assumed identities and if I understand what I read, Tennessee wasn't really Tennessee nor the mother of Kenya. That being said Kenya was not the biological sister to Tip and Teddy, but the woman struck by the car was in fact the boys biological mother. And I guess old Father Sullivan knew something by feel that none of the others even grasped. This story is much deeper than it sounds and I surely didn't find it boring.

i read this book for a class... i tend to shy away from modern fiction for grown-ups, and fiction in general, so this never would have made it to my 'must read' list. i suggest that it doesn't make it to yours, either.

the characters were empty. they felt forced. normally there's at least one character that i can become attached to while reading, but that just wasn't the case. all the dialogue was awkward... and again, forced. more than once i felt that the book was racist - though not intentionally, i just feel that things weren't handled appropriately, realistically, or with grace. the story wasn't moving, inspirational, or even entertaining. it was a difficult task to finish this book.

find something else to read. :)

RUN is my first novel by Ann Patchett and I enjoyed it for the most part. This is a well written book with interesting situations and characters. Unlike some other literary novels I have tried, this book has a well-structured plot and is surprisingly fast-paced (almost everything takes place over a 24-hour period).

As other reviewers have noted, RUN has a bit of a contrived quality, like a TV-movie of the week. I think Patchett wanted to tackle a lot of difficult emotional themes with this work, but ends up dealing with many of them too quickly and superficially. That being said, I ended up enjoying the novel anyway, since I genuintely liked all the major characters in this book, who are portrayed as flawed yet decent people.

Although this has been promoted as a literary work, I would probably classify this novel more as a work of commercial fiction, in the vein of Anita Shreve or Jodi Picoult. If you like those authors, you may want to give RUN a try. My understanding is that Patchett's BEL CANTO is far superior to this book, so I'll have to give that title a try in the near future.

Three and a half stars.

I agree with I. Peters "Miezekatze"'s review and will just add this book had no depth, no intrigue, and was just plain boring.

Let me start off by saying I don't usually "do" books on tape (or, in this case, CD). "Do" being the audio book listener's lingo for "read." But I have a long commute these days and figure I might as well spend it catching up on reading I would be doing if I wasn't behind the wheel.

Let me next say that I am a huge fan of Ann Patchett. I have read all of her books and when I learned that Run was coming out I wanted to "run" right out and get it. With school and teaching I haven't had a lot of time for reading novels, so I waited and eventually picked it up on CD at the library. My wife was the first to listen to it. She didn't even get past the first disc. She promptly pronounced it "boring." Thinking she must not have given it a chance (after all, how could a book by Ann Patchett be boring?) I decided to listen to it anyway. I wanted so badly to like it. And yet, I did not.

Maybe it was the voice of the guy reading it. Maybe it was the cheesy smooth jazz music that opened and closed each disc. Maybe if I would have had the book in book form everything would have been different.

But I doubt it. The real problem was deeper than that. Not one of the characters in Run felt real to me. Unlike the characters in all of her other books, people I grew to love or at least care about, Run boasts a long list of essential characters, all of whom have interesting things happening to them, but none of whom I felt I really got to know. The book was like listening to overly precious narration of a stranger's family photo album.

If you have never read any of Patchett's work before, please don't start with Run. Her other books are really wonderful and you'd be cheating yourself if you let Run keep you away from them.

I really wanted to enjoy this novel. Unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. There is some fine writing here, and some great imagery. But the whole story: the mixture of choice and chance just didn't engage me.

The only character who really caught my interest was Tip, but it wasn't enough to really hook me. I kept reading simply because I wanted to see where the story would end. And having reached the destination, I don't consider the journey was really worth it.

Perhaps I was running in the wrong direction?

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

All twins aren't alike. Sometimes there's the good one and the smart one. That's what people say about Tip and Teddy, who in an unexpected collision on a winter day find themselves facing their past and the pain that's been skating under the surface of their lives. As a little girl's pain unfolds, so does the story of their lives and the mother they never knew. In a nuanced, page-turning tale, Patchett reminds us all that sometimes in life, you've just got to run.

Another winner - not in the same class as Bel Canto, but a good story and good reading

somehow, i made it through this book. i found it boring, even through a 2 hour wait. it wasn't only boring it was odd and just unbelievable. i know that's the point of fiction and entertainment but this didn't etertain at all. i couldn't wait to just finish it and be done with it and now it just sit in the attic collecting dust awaiting the next garage sale.