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 Family Stories August 20, 2008
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 be 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.
 Nice, feel-good story (3.25*s) August 11, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
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.
twenty stars for this one August 11, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
 Super July 25, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
 Weird and what WAS the point? July 24, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
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