Run

Back in October, I sang the praises of my friend for buying me a signed, first-edition of Run. Finally, I had a chance to read it (Eat, Pray, Love really took a long time to finish!).

It's no secret what a fan I am of Ann Patchett. Bel Canto is on my top ten list of great books. So the bar is set pretty high. Run takes place in about a 24-hour time span, and I read it nearly as fast. It was easy for me to get involved in the Doyle family's lives. I found it very interesting that with only a short time to get to know the characters, I was just as pleased as if I had read about years of their lives.

The story involves a widower, his birth son and two adopted sons. Surprisingly, Bernard Doyle's oldest is not who makes him the happiest – instead it's the younger adopted black boys. What happens on this particular night changes the dynamic of the family forever. Again, with a limited timespan, Patchett is able to go into great length with each person's life. And normally I find that books rush through the last chapter or two to neatly wrap up and end the story, but I was quite satisfied with the way Run ended, the openings it left and the answers it provided. I can't say any more without giving too much away. Run doesn't replace Bel Canto as my favorite by Ann Patchett, but it was definitely a great story.