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 Doyle cares about is his ability to keep his children—all his children—safe.
Set over a period of twenty-four hours, Run takes us from the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard to a home for retired Catholic priests in downtown Boston. It shows us how worlds of privilege and poverty can coexist only blocks apart from each other, and how family can include people you've never even met. As in her bestselling novel Bel Canto, Ann Patchett illustrates the humanity that connects disparate lives, weaving several stories into one surprising and endlessly moving narrative. Suspenseful and stunningly executed, Run is ultimately a novel about secrets, duty, responsibility, and the lengths we will go to protect our children.
There is a magical quality to the writing - not a hocus-pocus abracadabra, pull a rabbit out of the hat magic, but a more primal magic that makes one shiver in realization that below the mundane every-day world is a shimmering substrata of unconditional love. (Reviewed by Lee Gooden).
The Boston Athenaeum
As the fates of her exquisitely rendered, wholly sympathetic characters unfold, Patchett has much to tell us about ourselves and how we choose to live our lives.
Library Journal - Sarah Conrad Weisman
[A]n engrossing and enjoyable novel. While there are a few unexpected turns, the reader very quickly figures out where the plot is headed, but that does not detract from the pleasure of reading.
Publishers Weekly
[T]he book is lovely to read and is satisfyingly bold in its attempt to say something patient and true about family. "Signature review" by Andrew O'Hagan.
The Times - Helen Dunmore
Chance and accident rule this novel. Ann Patchett’s characters may believe that they possess their lives and construct their own stories, but as the narrative twists and swerves these assumptions are swept away. Just as a regulated and smoothly-running city can be paralysed by a snowstorm, so the five people who step out of the Kennedy School will never live out the futures they hold in their heads.
The Guardian - Patrick Ness
This is above all a book about good people who try to do their best by each other. Patchett's great strength is to accomplish this without sentiment or stupidity. While there may never be a great, evil Ann Patchett villain, there is sadness, and if it is surrounded by compassion rather than starkness, by good humour rather than bitterness, why should that make it any less affecting?
The Telegraph (UK) - Judith Hawley
This is a humane and sympathetic novel. It shifts between characters, linking them through verbal echoes. We move easily from the dreams of one to the reveries of another without feeling that liberties are being taken with the reader's trust.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by MCM Run I had read Bel Canto a few years ago and was excited to read Run. I found the first chapter to be very engaging, and I was drawn into the story immediately. I especially liked Kenya's character and I thought Patchett did a nice job of having her... Read More
Rated of 5
by Betsey Van Horn Implausible, pandering--but with panache and beutiful writing The writing is intelligent, the pace like a good, healthy jog. I have two minds about this book. Was it deep tasty chocolate, or plastic fruit? I could not put it down--it IS somewhat like good TV and is obviously written with cinema in mind. I... Read More
Rated of 5
by Barbara Just OK I loved Bel Canto and was eager to read Run. Although it was well-paced and interesting enough to keep me engaged, the plot didn't seem plausible and none of the characters stayed with me once I was finished. With other books the characters... Read More
Rated of 5
by GPL Run My book club read, and enjoyed, Bel Canto. I thought I would experience the same pleasure with Run. Sadly, I was disappointed. This book was more "run" of the mill, than page turner. I felt that the characters were unrealistic on one level (how... Read More
Rated of 5
by J. Arnold Outstanding Ann Patchett's Run has to be one of the best books I have read this year. The plot of the story is light and the ending is predictable, but the character development and use of shifting point of view is brilliant. Each character in this novel is... Read More
Rated of 5
by Mary Spilsbury Ross Run and Find this Book Like Ann Patchett's bestselling Bel Canto, Run is easily believable. In a 24 hour period we get to know a half dozen people who though related in various ways are all different in thought, ambition, desires and weakness. Icy cold is the... Read More
Tip Doyle is an aspiring Ichthyologist.
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology that
studies fish. This includes skeletal fish,
cartilaginous fish and jawless fish.
There are at least 25,000 fish species in
existence. Each year, about 250 new species are
discovered and described.
The largest species of fish known is the
Whale Shark, which can grow to up to 50 feet
in length and can weigh 15 tons or more.
There is much debate over which is the smallest
known species of fish. One contender is the tiny
carp-like Paedocypris progenetica, that grows to
a maximum of about 10mm.
Another is the male Photocorynus spiniceps which
grows to about 6 mm at maturity; but he is
hampered in his claim by the overly-large female
spiniceps that grows to a record-destroying
4.5cm!...
When her family is destroyed in a Russian pogrom, Lillian comes to America alone, determined to make her way in a new land. When word comes that her daughter, Sophie, might still be alive, Lillian embarks on an odyssey that takes her from the world of the Yiddish theater on New York’s Lower East Side, to Seattle’s Jazz District, and up...
Elegantly written and ferociously paced, emotionally nuanced and morally complex - marks the emergence of a prodigiously gifted new novelist.
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Fearless, gripping, at once darkly funny and tender, spanning three continents and numerous lives, Americanah is a richly told story set in today's globalized world.
The story of an American family, middle class in middle America, ordinary in every way but one. But that exception is the beating heart of this extraordinary novel.
First time novelist Vaddey Ratner captured my heart and senses in this novel based on her childhood in Cambodia. Her story transcends any news story...
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From the first page, I was drawn in by the lyrical writing of the author and mesmerized as the narrator, eight year old Raami, remembered the years...
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Trite but true, all good things must come to an end. I so wanted to keep reading the wonderful prose, the settings that let one think they are part...
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Amazon cuts off 5200 affiliates in Minnesota(Jun 19 2013) With Minnesota's online sales tax law due to take effect July 1, Amazon has played a familiar card by cutting ties with 5,200 members of its Associates...
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of 5
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by Betsey Van Horn
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