It would be difficult for me to praise this book as highly as I would wish to, because anything I might attempt would be insufficient in comparison with Ann Patchett’s work; its greatness truly speaks for itself. Having read her other four novels The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, The Magician’s Assistant, and the much acclaimed Bel Canto, and her memoir Truth & Beauty: A Friendship, I can say with confidence that Run is her best work yet. I urge you not to take my word for it, however: read all her books and decide for yourself.
It is hard to say what Run is about because the events occur within a twenty-four-hour timespan. An assortment of characters, all of whose ‘believability’ as actual people almost defeats the boundaries of fiction, learn each in his or her own way what family means. Doyle, the aging father. Sullivan, the prodigal son. Tip and Teddy, the adopted ones. And among all of them, Bernadette, Doyle’s dead wife. Behind this family exists another, smaller, more essential: Tennessee and her daughter Kenya. These people’s lives touch during a car accident during a snowstorm in Boston. What results is Truth and Beauty, which is perhaps what Ann Patchett really writes about all along.
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