Run: A Novel (Paperback)

by Ann Patchett (Author)
Key Phrases: Father Sullivan, Tennessee Alice Moser, Regina Cleri (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
SignatureReviewed by Andrew O'HaganNovelists can no longer take it as an insult when people say their novels are like good television, because the finest American television is better written than most novels. Ann Patchett's new one has the texture, the pace and the fairy tale elegance of a half dozen novels she might have read and loved growing up, but the magic and the finesse of Run is really much closer to that of Six Feet Under or ER or The Sopranos, and that is good news for everybody, not least her readers.Bernadette and Bernard Doyle were a Boston couple who wanted to have a big lively family. They had one boy, Sullivan, and then adopted two black kids, Teddy and Tip. Mr. Doyle is a former mayor of Boston and he continues his interest in politics, hoping his boys will shape up one day for elected office, though none of them seems especially keen. Bernadette dies when the adopted kids are just four, and much of the book offers a placid requiem to her memory in particular and to the force of motherhood in lives generally. An old statue from Bernadette's side of the family seems to convey miracles, and there will be more than one before this gracious book is done. One night, during a heavy snowfall, Teddy and Tip accompany their father to a lecture given by Jessie Jackson at the Kennedy Centre. Tip is preoccupied with studying fish, so he feels more than a little coerced by his father. After the lecture they get into an argument and Tip walks backwards in the road. A car appears out of nowhere and so does a woman called Tennessee, who pushes Tip out of the car's path and is herself struck. Thus, a woman is taken to hospital and her daughter, Kenya, is left in the company of the Doyles. Relationships begin both to emerge and unravel, disclosing secrets, hopes, fears. Run is a novel with timeless concerns at its heart—class and belonging, parenthood and love—and if it wears that heart on its sleeve, then it does so with confidence. And so it should: the book is lovely to read and is satisfyingly bold in its attempt to say something patient and true about family. Patchett knows how to wear big human concerns very lightly, and that is a continuing bonus for those who found a great deal to admire in her previous work, especially the ultra-lauded Bel Canto. Yet one should not mistake that lightness for anything cosmetic: Run is a book that sets out inventively to contend with the temper of our times, and by the end we feel we really know the Doyle family in all its intensity and with all its surprises.Andrew O'Hagan's novel Be Near Me has just been published by Harcourt.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From The Washington Post
Reviewed by Jonathan Yardley

This fifth novel by the author of the much-admired Bel Canto is engaging, surprising, provocative and moving. Its force is diminished somewhat by a couple of extended passages in which Ann Patchett resorts to conversation rather than action to fill in some of her plot's holes, but these are minor annoyances in what is otherwise a thoroughly intelligent book, an intimate domestic drama that nonetheless deals with big issues touching us all: religion, race, class, politics and, above all else, family.

Patchett opens the story with the description of a small statue of ambiguous provenance that has been in the Sullivan/Doyle families for three generations. It is of Mary Queen of Angels, but it bears a striking resemblance to Bernadette Doyle, who died more than a decade ago, leaving a husband (whom Patchett simply calls Doyle throughout) and three sons. The statue is "maybe a foot and a half high, carved from rosewood and painted with such a delicate hand that many generations later her cheeks still bore the high, translucent flush of a girl startled by a compliment." Traditionally the statue has been handed down to a daughter, but since Bernadette left none, its future is in doubt; where it ends up, and how, are the threads along which Patchett has strung her tale.

Doyle and Bernadette had one son, Sullivan, and about a decade later adopted two, Tip and Teddy. The younger boys are African American, now 21 and 20 years old; Sullivan is 33 and, in the years since a terrible auto accident, rarely at home. In the decade and a half since Bernadette's death from cancer, Doyle has been the younger boys' father, mother, teacher and caretaker, and his love for them is almost painfully intense. It is also, as is often true of love, complicated, because Doyle wants nothing so much as for his adopted sons to follow him into his own cherished career of politics. He is a former mayor of Boston, and when Tip, a student at Harvard, develops a passionate interest in fish, Doyle is taken aback:

"He would admit that his [own] youth had been marked by a great interest in marine life, but that it came along with an interest in the Red Sox and Latin, twentieth-century American novels, Schubert, the Democratic Party and the Catholic Church. His plan had been to pass all of those interests and dozens more along to the boys in equal measure in hopes of making them well-rounded, well-educated citizens. He did not mean for any of his sons to become ichthyologists. He had meant for them, at least one of them, to be the president of the United States."

Both boys are appealing and apt, but neither shows much interest in taking up their father's causes. "Tip was smarter and Teddy was sweeter. They had heard it since a time before memory," though it really isn't true because "Teddy wasn't stupid, he just wandered." While Tip "could be pinned into place by an idea," Teddy is haunted by the memory of his lost mother and wants nothing so much as to be told stories about her: "That was how he came to be so close to his great-uncle, Father Sullivan. It turned out that the priest had stories stacked up like dinner napkins. . . . Somewhere along the line Teddy's love for his mother had become his love for Father Sullivan, and his love for Father Sullivan became his love for God."

So one son wants to be an ichthyologist and the other may -- the jury is still out -- want to be a priest. It's hardly what Doyle had bargained for, and he resists it with all his quite considerable might. At the age of 63 he tries "very hard to think of ways to keep ahead of his sons," but it gives much evidence of being a losing cause. These are "the last moments of his ability to exert any sort of parental authority." He has retained an "essential closeness" with the boys not merely because of love but also because this closeness "was born out of their own bad luck." Now, on the brink of adulthood, they remain deeply loyal to him, but they are about to head in their own directions, ones not dictated by Doyle.

Then an accident occurs. Walking with his father after having been dragged to a political speech, Tip suddenly is struck by a passing car. He might well have been killed had not a woman, a stranger, leaped out of the dark and shoved him away. Tip suffers a relatively minor injury, but her condition is more serious. Her name is Tennessee Alice Moser, and she is African American. She is taken to the hospital, leaving her 11-year-old daughter, Kenya, at loose ends. Doyle allows her to spend the night at his house, but he does so reluctantly, because he fears that sheltering someone else's child could lead to unpleasant legal complications.

It leads to complications, all right, but not the ones that Doyle fears. When it becomes clear that Tennessee will be hospitalized for some time, the Doyles find they have little choice except to let Kenya stay on with them in their comfortable house in a part of Boston where gentrification is still a sometime thing. It turns out that Tennessee's tidy but very modest apartment is barely a stone's throw away: "That was Boston: on one block there were houses so beautiful the mayor himself could be living in one and three blocks away there was a housing project where it maybe wasn't always so nice but it was still a lot nicer than some other places." The project is called Cathedral:

"The sprawl of mustardy-yellow brick buildings turned into something of a maze and no good ever came of mazes, but there was a playground that kids actually used. Because it sat hip to hip against a better neighborhood, it was patrolled with greater regularity. The police pushed down hard on the nefarious elements and in doing so managed to hassle most of the decent citizens as well, so the crime rates stayed down and for the most part no one was happy. Boston Medical Center was only blocks away. There was a woman's shelter, a food pantry, plenty of resources and yet every one of them was stretched thin enough to snap. If Doyle could have been the mayor again he liked to think there were some things he would do differently."

Doyle is a believer in politics. He thinks that "it's something that a person has to do," and he would agree with another character who believes that "there were some people who had the ability to tell other people what was worth wanting, could tell them in a way that was so powerful that the people who heard them suddenly had their eyes opened to what had been withheld from them all along." He feels responsible for the difference between the lives of the people living in Cathedral and those living in more prosperous neighborhoods, though history makes plain that there's only so much that he -- or anyone else in public office -- can do about it.

In the end, though, more than anything else Run is about family, and the infinitely surprising ways in which families can intersect with each other. Patchett has populated the novel with an uncommonly interesting and attractive group of people: Doyle, at once sentimental and tough, generous and willful; Tip, purposeful and uncompromising; Teddy, warm-hearted and kind. I found myself especially drawn to Kenya, a preternaturally gifted runner blessed with "strength, grace, concentration," and to Sullivan, irreverent and idiosyncratic, the prodigal son who reappears unexpectedly and, despite his father's suspicions and doubts, provides his own kind of strength in a time of change and uncertainty.

To the novel's many strengths, one last must be noted. Endings in novels aren't easy and sometimes really don't matter, since in the reader's mind the characters keep right on living, but Patchett has given this one an ending that is just about perfect. Certainly it felt that way to me as I quite reluctantly reached the final page.

Copyright 2007, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (July 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061340642
• ISBN-13: 978-0061340642
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (220 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,860 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

122 of 133 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful novel written with artistry and heart, August 19, 2007

By	Mike Birman (Brooklyn, New York USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Run (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Run is the latest novel from the pen of Ann Patchett, the acclaimed author of Bel Canto. It is the story of an unusual Boston family. Bernard Doyle is a former Mayor of that city. He is a widower, his wife Bernadette having died of cancer some years before. He has three sons: Sullivan, the eldest and two adopted sons, Tip and Teddy. Tip and Teddy are biological brothers and they are black. It is their story that is most rivetting and provides much of this novel's essence and consequence. For the two young men, 21 and 20 respectively, are profoundly different. Tip is drawn towards science, Teddy towards religion. But there is much more at stake here. Patchett creates a beautifully detailed snapshot of America at the beginning of a new century. And through interactions whose randomness and emotional complexity these characters do not fully comprehend, some powerful and despairing truths regarding race, class, politics and faith are uncovered. Patchett's glistening prose reminds me of a jeweler studying a diamond with steely precision and a cool, clear radiance that reveals every facet and flaw.

Her elegant prose is strongly reminiscent of another writer: James Joyce in his seminal story The Dead, perhaps the finest short story ever written. Even the technique seems similar. Here is spare, limpid prose laying bare the deepest recesses of the human heart. Here are the dead and the absent forever impacting the lives of the living and damaged. It struck me that Patchett has thoroughly absorbed Joyce's technique. This is high praise indeed, but impossible to prove. Or so I thought until Teddy quotes several sentences from the famous ending of The Dead. With some vindication, I think I can safely claim that Ann Patchett has used Joyce as her model. It is an indication of the artistry of this fine writer that she has done so successfully. This is a brilliant novel, filled with truth and deep feeling. Her artistry is quiet, never calling attention to itself. But artistry it is. You won't forget this book. My strongest possible recommendation for Run.

Mike Birman

44 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Upon All The Living and The Dead, August 20, 2007

By	prisrob "pris," (New EnglandUSA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Run (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

"His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling; like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead." James Joyce 'The Dead'

Ann Patchett has written her sixth book in the framework of a family and how the end justify the means. Each character is a study in love and the affection they have for each other. The gifts that are given by these people to each other is overflowing with meaning.

Doyle, an ex-mayor of Boston had given up his office, voluntarily, but in the realm of disgrace. His profession in politics was his love, and he had hoped that one of his sons would follow in his footsteps. On this cold winter's night he brings his two younger sons, Tip and Teddy to hear Jesse Jackson. Doyle's hope was that Jesse would put the 'fire' of politics in one of his sons. Tip and Teddy had been adopted as infants. Doyle and his wife, Bernadette had one son, Sullivan, and wanted more, and when the chance to adopt a black baby came they grabbed it. They then found his brother, 14 months old was also available, and their family became complete, or almost. Within a short period of time, Bernadette, the love of Doyle's life, became ill with cancer and subsequently died. Doyle was left to bring up the boys on his own.

On this night, Tip who goes to Harvard and is studying Ichthyology finally becomes tired of Doyle pushing his political preference in his face, and he starts an arguement with Doyle. It becomes more heated than either wanted, and Tip turns to go and walks in front of an on-coming car.
He is saved by a black woman who pushes him out of the way. She is injured and rushed to the hospital. Not knowing the extent of her injuries as of yet, Doyle volunteers to care for the woman's young daughter. A full family at best. Now the issues of the past come to haunt the entire family, and some answers must be found. Tip and Teddy must come to terms with their past. And, Doyle must answer to his children.

The life we lead is sometimes not what we think it is. The past may come to haunt us and decisions made for us and before us may not be what we want. Ann Patchett has the ability of taking a simple plot and making it into something it is not. The family and its center is the important aspect of her writing. This book was simplistic in plot, and the message was easy to grasp. It is a good novel, not one of her best, but enjoyable. After 'Bel Canto' the expectations were very high. There is something missing here and the plot though well devised is not as satisfying. But Ann Patchett's writing makes up for any deficit in plot- she is glorious in her use of the written word. Much to be admired.

Recommended. prisrob 08-20-07

Bel Canto (P.S.)

Truth & Beauty: A Friendship

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars mothers found and lost, October 15, 2007

By	Ann Lewis (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Run (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Run is a delicate, tender, and honest story of two adopted boys, Tip and Teddy, who lost their beloved adopted mother when they were preschoolers, and then are suddenly confronted by their previously unknown birth mother, Tennessee, as college-age adults. Tip and Teddy are opposites: Tip is driven, cold, logical, ambitious. Teddy is loving, outgoing, disorganized, always late. Patchett takes the reader through the mechanisms of confusion, doubt, anger, and mourning these boys feel when confronted with this lost birth mother, and together with their father Doyle they surprise the reader with the coldly practical worry that the boys have been "stalked" all their lives by this silent watcher.

Because Tip and Teddy are black, and their adopted father Doyle is white, the reader may begin the book with expectations of discussions about race, but surprisingly there is very little of this. Instead, the central issue is class. A constant stream of images of Tennessee`s poverty contrast with Doyle, Tip, and Teddy's wealth and social status.

The strength of this book is in its careful and meticulous character development. Doyle, Tip, Teddy, and Kenya (Tennessee's daughter) are very, very real. But Tennessee is the exception here. For most of the book she is unconscious, and the only bits we learn about her are from other characters. But when we finally get to hear from her, when she wakes up hallucinating after surgery, she doesn't ring true. And the extra storyline brought in during the hallucination seems unnecessary, and is not integrated with the rest of the story.

Still, this is a strong and compelling book. Patchett paints a beautiful and expansive picture of family. A family that was at first unfamiliar but became so warm and memorable that I missed them when I had to close the book.