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Run

by Ann Patchett, Peter Francis James (Narrator)

3.47 of 5 stars 3.47 · rating details · 18,843 ratings · 3,099 reviews

Since their mother's death, Tip and Teddy Doyle have been raised by their loving, possessive and ambitious father. As the former Mayor of Boston, Bernard Doyle wants to see his sons in politics, a dream the boys have never shared. But when an argument in a blinding New England snowstorm inadvertently causes an accident that involves a stranger and her child, all Bernard Do...more

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Published September 25th 2007 by HarperAudio (first published January 1st 2007)

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Oct 22, 2007 Yulia rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-to-me-by-frank

how can i put this? this was a horrendous book, painfully targeted to the oprah book club readers of the world and oh so politically-correct, with one-sided characters that can be summed up with one adjective (tip was the serious one, teddy the sweet one) and who are allowed to express contrary thoughts only once to show there may be more to them than is shown by patchett ("shut the fuck up about the coffee," as kenya thinks out of the blue, to show she is a human after all). after reading "bel...more

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Apr 21, 2008 Frank rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: A gas-powered woodchipper

This claptrap pile of PC bullshit was built for Oprah's Book Snub. Sainted mothers come in black and white; issues of race and grief receive a sponge-over paint job that would make Bob Ross' happy little tree's wilt and die. Matchstick characters are globbed together with gooey dialogue that spills from their cardboard souls.

Everybody's so goddamned pious, righteous and waxen that you pray for an axe-wielding murderer to crop up and start hacking the shit out of these uber-annoying stick figure...more

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Mar 24, 2013 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, book-clubs, 5-star-books, again

One out of the park for me - a complete surprise. It was a book club read that others had finished before I started, foolishly I read some of the comments and what I read was not encouraging. I started reading, thinking it was likely to be similar to Bel Canto which I found okayish but not memorable - although I now see that I gave it four stars.

it serves me right for pre-empting things! Seriously wow!

I am considering another star but will wait and see what further reflection brings. Run reson...more One out of the park for me - a complete surprise. It was a book club read that others had finished before I started, foolishly I read some of the comments and what I read was not encouraging. I started reading, thinking it was likely to be similar to Bel Canto which I found okayish but not memorable - although I now see that I gave it four stars.

it serves me right for pre-empting things! Seriously wow!

I am considering another star but will wait and see what further reflection brings. Run resonated so deeply with me that I am left feeling a little breathless. One of the many things I love about books and reading is the way one person responds almost viscerally to a book yet another is left unmoved. I believe this is because it's a contextual thing, our reaction depends on where your head and heart are whilst reading. I suspect this book has had such an impact because I am currently looking at connection in relation to my work - real honest connection appears to be the cornerstone of authentic relationships. The connection theme is strong and interwoven through out this. It is about exploring what matters most, whilst there is lots of distraction around politics, race, religion, financial status and education it comes back to connection. All be it good thought provoking distractions but distraction all the same.

The nature vs nurture debate rages through out (a topic that always pulls me in) and whilst we know that genes reign supreme the intricacy with which Ann Patchett presents this, really is clever and there are a few fun twists. The dialogue from each of the characters thoughts is a beautiful thing, I especially enjoyed the son who feels abandoned and betrayed by life's events. In a short 24 hr period he figures a few things out, as does his uncle who has devoted his life to religion begins to wonder at 80 something if perhaps he had it all wrong. One more aspect I particularly liked was the linking of self to home and house.

At times I felt as if Ms Patchett resides in my head, her description of how it feels to gain focus around an event through exercise was superb. Already as I use this review to put my swirling thoughts into some semblance of sense I feel a five star rating coming.........and another read some other time.(less)

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Jun 20, 2008 Erin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just finished reading "Run" last week. I loved "Bel Canto", so I was excited about the new book. I even bought it new in hardcover and everything. I started reading it, despite being in the middle of "Musicophilia" by Oliver Sacks. I tore through the book. All I wanted to do was go home and read.

It is one of those books that reveals the sadness that lies right underneath happiness. It makes me think something about how rich and beautiful life can be although our lives may not be lives we woul...more

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Apr 24, 2008 Gregory Baird rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of Jodi Picoult

Shelves: amazon-vine, arc, fiction-literature

Ann Patchett’s “Run” explores the concepts of race, religion, class and, most importantly, family through the eyes of a pair of families over a twenty-four hour period. First are the Doyles: Bernard, the patriarch and former mayor of Boston; his biological son, Sullivan, whose grief over his deceased mother has caused him to descend into perpetual screw-up status; Teddy, the black son that he adopted after his now departed wife was unable to have any more children; and Tip, Teddy’s biological ol...more Ann Patchett’s “Run” explores the concepts of race, religion, class and, most importantly, family through the eyes of a pair of families over a twenty-four hour period. First are the Doyles: Bernard, the patriarch and former mayor of Boston; his biological son, Sullivan, whose grief over his deceased mother has caused him to descend into perpetual screw-up status; Teddy, the black son that he adopted after his now departed wife was unable to have any more children; and Tip, Teddy’s biological older brother who was unexpectedly included in the adoption agreement after his biological mother decided to give him up too. Despite their mixed race status the Doyles are a pretty typical family. Bernard loves his sons, but his efforts to push Teddy and Tip into political careers are dangerously toeing the line of becoming overbearing. This festering disgruntlement leads to a near-accident for one of his sons, who gets saved from walking in front of a car at the last second by a Good Samaritan who ends up taking the hit instead. But this good Samaritan turns out to be no stranger to Tip and Teddy, bringing us to family number two: the Mosers; led by Tennessee, who is the impoverished biological mother who gave Tip and Teddy up but has been following their lives closely while raising her daughter, Kenya in the projects a few blocks away. She has been watching them grow up, but they have never noticed her. Over the next twenty-four hours, while Tennessee lies in a hospital bed and the Doyles are forced to temporarily assume custody of Kenya, questions regarding family, loyalty, sacrifice and forgiveness will have to be answered.

Having never read her incredibly well-received novel “Bel Canto,” this was my first experience with Ann Patchett. While she certainly has a sweet tone and a sentimental eye, I must admit that I don’t really see what the fuss is about. The truth is that while her characters are fairly developed they never really become more than mere character types to me (the loving but overbearing father, screw-up son, affable twin, strict twin, etc.). They don’t seem like real people, and the set-ups feel forced and contrived. Characters go on expeditions into the winter air or stay awake and then go off to sleep at set intervals in order for Patchett to give each of them a turn at being alone with each other to share a moment. It feels like a play, where at least one character has to be onstage at every moment regardless of the time of night, and the others are waiting in the wings for their cue to enter. This is a novel of plot-related conveniences, right down to the fact that a pair of adopted brothers apparently never once thought about finding their biological mother, so that when she unexpectedly surfaces it comes as a complete shock to them. Come on, even after their adopted mother passed away they never succumbed to curiosity? And while Patchett’s descriptive style is warm and welcoming it is also prone to some wild continuity gaffes. Lying in her hospital bed, Tennessee notes that all of the nurses taking care of her are very skinny, prompting her to wonder if the hospital had hired “starving refugees” – but in the next sentence a nurse is un-ironically described as “fat and sickly pale”. Later on, a character suffers a fall so fast that he didn’t even have time to throw his hands out to protect himself, resulting in a cut on his head from where it hit the ground. But describing how he appeared after the fall, Patchett remarks that one arm is pinned underneath his head – “both above his head and behind it.” That was very surprising to me. Most surprising of all to me, however, was that despite the novel’s seemingly liberal leanings it comes off as very insulting to the poor. Patchett unwittingly argues that a poor person, no matter how loving or well intentioned, is not fit for parenthood. I don’t think she meant for it to come off that way, but that’s what I got from her story.

Patchett seems like a capable enough writer, but I don’t believe that “Run” is her finest hour. It’s sweet but unintentionally rude, intelligent but hopelessly flawed. I’m sure that many readers will enjoy this book for its complicated family drama (book clubs in particular might have some good discussions about it), so I would probably recommend it to fans of Jodi Picoult. Otherwise, I’m tempted to tell you to skip it.

Grade: C-(less)

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Mar 01, 2008 Molly Jones rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In the early stages of reading Ann Patchett's Run, I wondered how the novel had become a best-seller, and if, perhaps, its popularity stemmed solely from the author's previous success with her 2002 novel, Bel Canto, which sold over one million copies, won the PEN/Faulkner Award and was named the Book Sense Book of the Year. The eight main characters (Bernadette, Bernard, Sullivan, Sullivan Sr., Teddy, Tip, Tennessee, and Kenya) are introduced hastily enough that one almost needs a guide to make...more In the early stages of reading Ann Patchett's Run, I wondered how the novel had become a best-seller, and if, perhaps, its popularity stemmed solely from the author's previous success with her 2002 novel, Bel Canto, which sold over one million copies, won the PEN/Faulkner Award and was named the Book Sense Book of the Year. The eight main characters (Bernadette, Bernard, Sullivan, Sullivan Sr., Teddy, Tip, Tennessee, and Kenya) are introduced hastily enough that one almost needs a guide to make sense of which is which, especially considering how the voices of the characters overlap and how similar the names themselves are. Initially, there is very little to like about any of these characters and not enough individuality on the page to hold one's interest about them, regardless. In fact, when one of the characters dies within the first thirty pages, the distance Patchett has created between reader and character is so great, that the death is affectless. So, it came as an absolute surprise to me when, some one-hundred pages later, I suddenly found myself caring about the fates of these characters. I actually looked up from my book and asked aloud, "when did that happen" and then, "how did she do that?" Some writers continue to be best-sellers because of their reputations from previous books or because a pop icon hails their latest work; some are best-sellers because their writing is simply that good. Ann Patchett is the later.

Run covers two winterly Boston days, during which the lives of two families collide, literally, and forever change. Tip and Teddy Doyle, the African-American, twenty-something, adopted sons of the Anglo former-mayor, Bernard Doyle, find themselves being dragged, once again, to a political speech. Bernard hopes the speech will inspire his sons to pursue careers in politics -- that is, the two sons who might be viable candidates, not the biological one, Sullivan Jr., whose long-ago "accident" still haunts him. Teddy, who plans to become a priest like his uncle, Sullivan Sr., has no problem placating Bernard by attending such a rally. Tip, however, finds Bernard's constant coaxing offensive and leaves the speech ranting at his father. In his blind anger, Tip doesn't see the car headed for him.

Had it not been for the courageous shove of one woman, Tip would have been hit by the car and, most likely, died. Consequently, the brave, African-American Tennessee Moser is severely injured, unconscious and hospitalized, leaving her young daughter, Kenya, temporarily orphaned. The Doyles deliberate about what to do with this stranger's child and worry about the legal implications of bringing Kenya home with them. That's when Kenya, who's been instructed since birth to keep a secret, informs the Doyles that she isn't truly a stranger to them.

Not once in this novel is Ann Patchett heavy-handed and yet she manages to evoke complicated questions about race and identity. She allows the story to speak for itself rather than use her characters as talking heads. The plot, one might assume, is predictable. Based entirely on the summary above, one might guess the relationship between Kenya and the Doyles. This novel, however, doesn't play into simple stereotypes and it is anything but predictable. Patchett delivers the kind of plot twists that not only heighten the suspense and propel the story forward, but, unlike red herrings, also deepen the meaning of her work. The way in which she intricately weaves together the lives of her characters causes the reader to ask, "what does this mean for Tip/Bernard/Teddy/Kenya?" and to be genuinely concerned about the answer to that question. More importantly though, long after the last sentence has been read, one will ponder the implications of his or her subverted expectations and the broader meaning of this important book.

Can a novel be both entertaining and thought provoking? With Run, Ann Patchett answers, "yes."(less)

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Feb 09, 2008 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, fiction

As an admitted Anne Patchett fan, this is the third novel of hers that I have read. I had the good fortune to start her work with Bel Canto, which stands up respectably against some of my other all time favorites. Although this was still an enjoyable read, it did not leave me with the breathless appreciation of wonder that Bel Canto did.

Run, told in the third person from the perspective of several characters takes place during a 24 hour period of time on a stormy snowy Boston night. What Patch...more

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Nov 23, 2008 Xysea rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Ann Patchett fans, but only by way of contrast to Bel Canto

Shelves: book-on-home-shelf

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Okay, let me say that I love Ann Patchett. Bel Canto was a moving novel, and one that lingered with me long after I'd read it. It was one of my favorite books in 2007.

And this, Senator, is NO Bel Canto. (Yes, bad pun intended!)

It's well-written, but it didn't move me. Where Bel Canto was surprising and unique, this was predictable. The plot line was nothing new, or original, so I gravitated toward looking at the characters to provide the 'meat and bones' of the book.

Unfortunately, they did not....more

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Dec 15, 2008 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My response to Ann Patchett's writing is very mixed. Bel Canto is one of my all-time favorite books; The Magician's Assistant is one of the worst books I've ever read. I'd have to classify Run as somewhere in between. I was interested enough in the story line to finish reading it in a couple of days--I wanted to see where she was going with it, and how it would end up. I must say there were several good plot twists, and at least one as it unfolded was completely unexpected. Unfortunately, the ch...more

10 likes · like · see review

May 01, 2008 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As usual, Patchett's character development was superb so I guess I can excuse one glaring editing error (there is no 500 meter event in track and field!).

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 12, 2009 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed Patchett's "Bel Canto" several years ago, so I decided to try another book by the same author. I enjoyed this one just as much. It is the story of a very interesting family. The father, called only "Doyle" throughout the novel, is the former mayor of Boston. He and his wife Bernadette have one child, but then adopt two African-american brothers ten years later. Bernadette dies of cancer when the boys are relatively young, leaving Doyle to raise the three boys by himself. He want...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Jane rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 24, 2008 Joanna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction

This book sucked me in from the first page. I stayed up late after a not-quite-long-enough-flight to finish reading it. The writing is smart and the premise fascinating. Just the right mix of family drama and political implications. Definitely a little far fetched at times...one too many coincidences...and one near-death hallucination I could do without to add yet another twist to this windy road. But as always, Patchett's prose is lyrical without ever being overly wordy and a delight to read!

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Sep 12, 2008 Johnny rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: NOBODY!

Shelves: trite, fiction, new-england, adoption, race

This was so bad. (Sorry Janet!) I really don't understand how the same person who wrote Bel Canto wrote this. Oh man it was the definition of trite. As an adoptive parent, I probably took greater offense at the tired old storyline that biological parents are out there just yearning and searching for the children they gave up so many years before, but here it just bordered on completely idiotic. Patchett so clearly wanted to write this book about the great racial divide but it just comes across s...more

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Mar 25, 2008 D'Anne rated it 1 of 5 stars

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 tim...more

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Mar 04, 2008 Christy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This story centers around a small, religious statuette which bears a strong resemblance to Bernadette Doyle. It is tradition in Bernadette’s family that the statue be handed down from mother to daughter, but Bernadette and her husband have one biological son, Sullivan, and two adopted sons, African American brothers, Tip and Teddy, but no daughters, so the ultimate fate of the statue is in question. Bernadette dies from cancer when Tip and Teddy are young and Doyle assumes the responsibility of...more

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Mar 08, 2008 Trebro rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm going to put the Trebby Take up at the top of this one--RUN. Just stay as far away from this book as possible. It's terrible, from start to finish. I cannot even begin to imagine why there are so many people who want to read this thing.

Imagine if you will the the following. A man adopts two black children in what has to be roughly the late 70s or early 80s and goes on to be Mayor of Boston. He wants to be governor but his son--the biological one--screws things up for him ala Kennedy, in a te...more

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Sep 19, 2007 Ashley rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I had finally read Bel Canto last year, and I really wished I'd read it sooner. It was such an amazing work, and although I haven't gotten around to reading anything else by her yet, I got the chance to read this one pretty soon after it came out. I expected something if not as good as Bel Canto, at least comparable, but I was disappointed.
It was a pretty quick read, but I found myself finishing the book just for the sake of finishing it. There was something about the pacing that bothered me th...more

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Nov 30, 2007 Paul Allor rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People who like snow, or running, or families, or good books.

I had a little trouble deciding whether to give this book three stars or four, but then I realized I was letting my expectations interfere. This book was good -- really good -- and if it had been written by an unknown author there'd be no question of giving it four stars. But instead it was written by the exquisite Ann Patchett, and was her first book after Bel Canto, an absolute masterpiece. So, of course it suffers in comparison. I imagine this is a common problem in art. Answer quick: What wa...more

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Oct 29, 2008 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have to preface this review by saying that I loved Ann Patchett's Bel Canto so I may just be a big fan of her particular style of writing. With that said, I loved this book. The characters were interesting and the story was developed and complicated (but not annoyingly so). I really enjoyed that most of the book takes place in a period of 24 hours; it really increases the urgency and drama of the plot. I also respected that I couldn't predict all of the events that happened, not all of them go...more

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Dec 04, 2008 Alida rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Bel Canto clearly a tough act to follow.

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Nov 07, 2008 Clara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was excellent. First of all I LOVE Ann Patchett. I think she is quite possibly one of the best writers of my generation, she has this amazing ability to make you totally invested in her characters. And, she is the only writer who has ever made me cry actual tears of sadness. And for those of you who know me, this is a huge feat... I never cry.

This book definitely lived up to my expectations and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes well written and moving fiction. Just read i...more

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Oct 09, 2009 Elise Cohen added it · review of another edition

"I almost never read contemporary fiction, yet couldn't put this compelling novel down. It's a masterpiece of weaving threads of lives, thoughts, ambitions, and moralities together into a fabric of prose.[return]Bernard Doyle has lost his wife to illness, his oldest son to get-rich-quick-at-the-expense-of-others morality, his older adopted son to academia and his youngest to dreamy hopes of priesthood. Yet one night after a Jesse Jackson speech to which he drags the younger two, all the Doyle's...more

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Mar 29, 2009 Ric rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tip Doyle is saved from being hit head on by a Chevy Tahoe by a stranger. The stranger, Tennesee Mosher, black woman who's daughter watches in horror from the sidewalk. Tennesee jumps in front of the Chevy and pushes him out out of harms way. Only to release a series of discovers in the 24 hours that would follow. So starts the first chapters of "Run" in which Tip and Teddy are both adopted black children of a white former mayor of Boston. Once everyone is safely in the hospital the real mysteri...more

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Mar 02, 2009 Stephanie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

IT must be hard for Patchett to write a novel that lives up to the standard of her 2001 bestseller, Bel Canto, about a group of guerillas who hold an international gathering hostage in a house in an unspecified South American country.

That novel is, in this reviewer's opinion, as close to perfect as a work of literature can be, with its seamless narrative, evocative prose, and utterly convincing cast of characters.

Her latest novel, Run, is a somewhat clunkier and less compelling affair. Set in c...more IT must be hard for Patchett to write a novel that lives up to the standard of her 2001 bestseller, Bel Canto, about a group of guerillas who hold an international gathering hostage in a house in an unspecified South American country.

That novel is, in this reviewer's opinion, as close to perfect as a work of literature can be, with its seamless narrative, evocative prose, and utterly convincing cast of characters.

Her latest novel, Run, is a somewhat clunkier and less compelling affair. Set in contemporary Boston, it again throws an unlikely group of characters together, though under slightly less dramatic circumstances.

Doyle, a white widower and one-time mayor of Boston, is the father of three sons. Sullivan, his wayward and only biological son, is hardly around. His two younger sons, Tip and Teddy, are black boys whom Doyle and his late wife adopted after their mother abandoned first one and then the other. Tip, the intelligent one, is an undergraduate at Harvard, but to his father's disappointment is more committed to fish (he studies ichthyology) than people; his younger brother Teddy is charismatic and people-oriented, but seems more likely to go into priesthood than politics.

When Tip and Doyle get into an argument after the later has dragged his two unwilling sons to a lecture by politician Jesse Jackson, Tip is almost knocked down by a car, but is pushed aside by a nearby woman, who suffers severe injuries instead.

Her 11-year-old daughter, Kenya, is the one who reveals to the stunned family that her mother, Tennessee, was the woman who gave up Tip and Doyle all those years before -- though she obviously continued to keep watch over them.

This is a character-driven novel, so it is a little disappointing that the characters fail to be convincing as real people. Tip's obsession with fish, for one, never entirely rings through, despite Patchett's careful depictions of him identifying various pickled specimens by sight. Menawhile, Teddy has an annoying habit of quoting Martin Luther King wholesale, making him seem more like a automaton than a genuinely commanding speaker.

That said, it is impressive how Patchett manages, even with a less-than-fully fleshed cast, to weave a riveting portrayal of family dynamics. Doyle's failed ambition and his hope to realise it in his sons is heartbreaking in its familiarity and intensity, while Tip's and Teddy's initially awkwardness and then cautious affection towards Kenya is developed without teetering into sentimentality.(less)

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Feb 25, 2009 Sandie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-lit

I am an admirer of Ann Patchett and two of her previous works; Bel Canto and Patron Saint of Liars. Run contains many thematic similarities to her previous books but manages to approach them from a different perspective. All of Patchetts books present the reader with addictive tales about unusual and troubled characters forced by unexpected circumstances to confront and resolve compelling questions confronting them in their everyday lives.

Run is a story of intersecting destinies; an exquisite f...more

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Feb 18, 2009 Flissy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008

My mother in law gave me this book for Christmas. A few years ago, I gave her Bel Canto. She read it and loved it and passed it on to friends who also loved it, and she thought of me when Patchett's new book came out.

I just love Ann Patchett. Bel Canto was heartwrenchingly good. She digs deep into her characters, and exposes all their flaws compassionately. This makes it all the more surprising that she can be really aggressive with the storyline and really break our hearts.

I really don't want t...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Ann Patchett writes about families-from The Patron Saint of Liars (1992), in which young, unwed mothers become family, to Bel Canto (2001), in which hostages and their kidnappers forms unexpected bonds. Beautifully written, Run again explores family, this time through the lenses of birth, class, and race. While mainly a domestic drama, Run also touches on larger themes-such as social exclusion, privilege, and obligation; politics; and religion and the afterlife. Critics overall lauded Patchett's

...more

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Feb 01, 2009 Carrie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love Patchett - I think she is the best kind of writer, a person who can write like anything and still manages to tell a good old fashioned story, with real human emotions (unlike, say The Sea by John Banville, which despite it’s Booker award winning status seemed to me to be all writing and no heart). This story, about a Boston Irish-Catholic political family, their two adopted black children, and what happens when their birth mother reenters their life seems resonates even more for me now p...more

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Jan 31, 2009 Barner rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Barner by: Jane

Yes, Jane, I enjoyed the book which I purchased because of your review. I did not want it to end, and I was left feeling out-of-touch because the conclusion came faster than I expected (more pages remaining but they consisted of a converstaion with the author.) I so enjoyed Sullivan, the oldest "lost" son, and I continue to wonder what he did during the time Tip was in medical school. Is it fair to ask the reader to answer so many questions at the end?

We do learn that family bonds are not necess...more

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About Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett is an American author. She received the Orange Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2002 for her novel Bel Canto. Patchett's other novels include The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, and The Magician's Assistant, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and received the Nashville Banner Tennessee Writer of the Year Award in 199...more

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Quotes from Run

“It would be incorrect in every sense to say that so near the end of his life he had lost his faith, when in fact
God seemed more abundant to him in the Regina Cleri home than any place he had been before. God was in the folds of his bathrobe, the ache of his knees. God saturated the hallways in the form of a pale electrical light. But now that his heart had become so shiftless and unreliable, now that he should be sensing the afterlife like a sweet scent drifting in from the garden, he had started to wonder if there was in fact no afterlife at all. Look at all these true believers who wanted only to live, look at himself, cling onto this life like a squirrel scrambling up the icy pitch of a roof. In suggesting that there may be nothing ahead of them, he in no way meant to diminish the future; instead, Father Sullivan hoped to elevate the present to a state of the divine. It seemed from this moment of repose that God may well have been life itself. God may have been the baseball games, the beautiful cigarette he smoked alone after checking to see that all the bats had been put back behind the closet door. God could have been the masses in which he had told people how best to prepare for the glorious life everlasting, the one they couldn't see as opposed to the one they were living at that exact moment in the pews of the church hall, washed over in stained glass light. How wrongheaded it seemed now to think that the thrill of heartbeat and breath were 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 had seen it miraculously for eighty-eight years. Why wouldn't it stand to reason that this had been the whole of existence and now he would retreat back to the nothingness he had come from in order to let someone else have their turn at the view. This was not the workings of disbelief. It was instead a final, joyful realization of all he had been given. It would be possible to overlook just about anything if you were trained to constantly strain forward to see the power and the glory that was waiting up ahead. What a shame it would have been to miss God while waiting for him. ” — 7 people liked it

“Maybe that was the definition of life everlasting: the belief that the next generation would carry your work forward.” — 7 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/255514.Run?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1298481796l/255514.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/255514.Run?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Run by Ann Patchett[/url]

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