Run

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Critics

• A warm feeling inside

  Run by Ann Patchett 295pp, Bloomsbury, £14.99 Warmth is an underrated literary quality. So readily does it congeal into schmaltz, so quickly can it become as insufferable as those wretched Mitch Albom books about the people you'd hope to avoid when y ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

• Accidents will happen

  Run by Ann Patchett Bloomsbury £14.99, pp304 Boston, midwinter. A crowd of Democrats gathers at Harvard to hear Jesse Jackson speak. In the audience is Bernard Doyle, a middle-aged white man and the city's former mayor, and two young black men, Tip a ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

6 Reviews

• It is just a few weeks after Christmas, and the unforgiving New England weather has taken a turn for the worse. Doyle has dragged his reluctant sons, Tip and Teddy, to a speech by Jesse Jackson. Though his own political career is over, dealt a fatal blow by a family scandal, Doyle is still fired by ... (continue)

  It is just a few weeks after Christmas, and the unforgiving New England weather has taken a turn for the worse. Doyle has dragged his reluctant sons, Tip and Teddy, to a speech by Jesse Jackson. Though his own political career is over, dealt a fatal blow by a family scandal, Doyle is still fired by Jackson's rhetoric and perplexed by his sons' indifference. The two boys, both adopted, are close enough in age to be taken for twins, but in character they couldn't be more different. Teddy - open, affectionate, the gentle dreamer - thinks he has found his calling in the Catholic Church. The elder by a year, Tip is more serious, reserving his own passionate interest for ichthyology: he is happiest alone in the warmth of his lab, labelling and categorising fish specimens. When they are involved in a violent accident in the treacherously icy road, the Doyles are forced for the first time to confront certain truths: about how the death of Bernadette, Doyle's beloved wife, has affected the family, and about the anonymous figure, never discussed, who is the boys' real mother.

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  Brian Gilberthorpe said on Aug 4, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  I gave it two stars just because I found myself itching to "skim" through several parts. The ending was a little rushed and incomplete in my opinion.

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  Leahrussell76 said on Jun 22, 2009 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

• 

  My first Ann Pratchett book gets a gold star

  A little sad, yet hopeful tale about the complicated love of parents for their children & the reciprocal. The story of Bernard Doyle, a prominent, white Bostonian who with his wife adopts two Afro-American males. Pratchett weaves a convoluted but engrossing story that comes full circle.

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  Marion the librarian said on May 11, 2009 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

• 

  A subtle book. Easy to read but deep in nature. Themes of religion, politics, family....a modern Brothers Karazamov. Patchett hits it out of the park again.

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  Dchase21 said on Apr 25, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  disappointing story from a normally wonderful writer - some interest in the race aspect, but none of the surprise and excitement that have been present in her other books

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  Gail Paris said on Oct 27, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  In an interview, Ann Patchett said that to her the book was about politics, to her publisher it was about family, but she wants every reader to see in it what he/she will.

  Tennesee Moser gave her baby up for adoption. A very short time later, she decided she wanted her boys to be together, so ... (continue)

  In an interview, Ann Patchett said that to her the book was about politics, to her publisher it was about family, but she wants every reader to see in it what he/she will.

  Tennesee Moser gave her baby up for adoption. A very short time later, she decided she wanted her boys to be together, so (through the adoption agency) she requested and got permission for the new family to also adopt her little boy. Of course, when the white mayor of Boston adopts a black baby, and soon after another little black boy, it is easy for Tennessee to figure out where her children are. Ten years later, she finds herself raising a daughter named Kenya. Throughout the years, she and Kenya stand in the shadows of her boys' lives, watching over them. Other than flashbacks and flash-forwards, this book takes place on a winter day in which Tennessee sees one of her boys back up (while arguing with his father) into the path of an oncoming SUV. She pushes him to safety, putting herself in the path of the oncoming vehicle. At this point, the paths of the two families begin to intertwine. The characters are believable, likeable good people with flaws. Their lives all change on this day, in some ways for the better, in some ways for the worse. The novel is beautifully crafted and it was a pleasure to listen to.

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  Missmath144 said on Sep 25, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
  (17)
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• English Books
• Others 343 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0747594961
• ISBN-13: 9780747594963
• Publisher: A1bazaar
• Pub date: Jan 01, 2008
• Also available as: Paperback, Hardcover and eBook
• In other languages: other languages Libri Italiani

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