Sincere their mother’s death, Tip and Teddy Doyle have been raised by their loving, possessive, and ambitious father. As the former mayor of Boston, Bernard Doyle wants to see his sons in politics, a dream the boys have never shared. Set in a 24 hour time period, Run begins on a snowy night as Bernard Doyle and his two adopted sons, who are African American, attend a Jesse Jackson lecture at Harvard.
An argument and a car accident jump-start a change of events that will transform not only their lives, but the livesof a stranger and her daughter. Set in Boston and a world where privilege and poverty co-exist blocks from each other, the novel is formed around wonderfully human characters that are faced with large questions about family and how family can even include those you have never met.
Ann Patchett states: “In my novels, I like to bring together a group of far different characters, throw them into an unexpected situation, and then explore the consequences. What connections are made and what sense of responsibility do these strangers come to feel for one another?”
Run is a story about family, but also the larger family: the family of community, the family of country, and our responsibilities to that family.
Ms. Patchett weaves several stories into a surprising and heartfelt narrative. Both suspenseful and emotional, Run is a novel about secrets, duty, responsibility, and the lengths we will go to protect our children.
This is a wonderful book that makes you feel better for having read it. I cared about each character and his/her fate, and I enjoyed Ms. Patchett’s style of telling a story: weaving different character’s stories together to a culminating surprise ending. Ann Patchett is also the author of Bel Canto, which was on the New York Times bestseller list.