Ok. So. This is not Bel Canto. I know that's my refrain if you've talked to me in the past few days. But I love that book. And Run is not Bel Canto. I have to remind myself to let this newer book try to make it on its own instead of being smushed by the earlier (better) book. Regardless, Run (by Anne Patchett) isn't bad. I love the way Patchett writes and I like the general idea of the storyline and I found myself genuinely interested in all of the characters. Ok, that's all of the general information--the rest contains spoilers (which I'm going to try to put in the same color as the background so it should only be seen if you highlight it--we'll see if that works out for me).
My first concern is that the reviewers let it slip that Tennessee dies. She doesn't die until the penultimate chapter and at the very very end of that chapter. We get an idea she might die in an earlier chapter but nothing is confirmed until later. I don't like knowing about the end before it happens unless the author has intimated something. And I don't like waiting for that event to happen, thinking that the book will actually "happen" after that point. It was like waiting for the murder/trial in Stranger in the Kingdom. It's unsettling and leaves me less than invested in a character that isn't dead yet.
My second concern is the conversation between Tennessee and Tennessee. So, it's a dream or hallucination or step into the afterlife, whatever. But are we to take that information seriously? If we are, Kenya is not the dying woman's daughter and, therefore, is not the sister of Tip and Teddy. Yet there are several points at which her hands are noticed as similar to Tip/Teddy, her running ability matched to Tip/Teddy, her personality, etc. This is where there's the slight possibility of a "they all look alike" statement, making Patchett racist. I don't think that's the case and think the argument is a stretch. But I don't know what we are to do with the information that the dying Tennessee is not Kenya's mother. That makes me question whether she is Teddy's mother (because he was placed first and she assumed from only a photo that he was her child). I can deal with Tennessee not being Kenya's mother but then that seems to make some sort of "better with the white man even though she's not the boys' sister" statement that I'm not comfortable with. I can handle a "family no matter what, regardless of blood relation, etc" statement. But that seems problematic because parents aren't the most reliable thing in this novel. Tennessee gives up Tip and Teddy. Bernadette dies. Kenya's father is somewhere but not with her. Kenya's birth mother dies. Kenya is "adopted" by Tennessee who drags her around to look at her "real" children. And Bernard Doyle trades in children every now and then; Sullivan wasn't working out so he paid more attention to Tip/Teddy and then Tip/Teddy weren't doing what he wanted so Kenya became his favorite. He's a good dad but he's made some major mistakes. And all of this seems to say that mothers are not all that necessary. Three of them die in the novel and the best case scenario for Kenya is to live with Doyle. Regardless of all of that, I don't know what we are supposed to do with the information. That's a pretty big thing to drop in the lap of the reader--Oh yeah, this woman who you think is Kenya's mother? She's not but no one knows that. Meanwhile Kenya feels a strong bond to men she's never met because she's been lied to about a biological relationship. Ok. We're done with that. On with the story I want to be telling about Kenya being related to Tip/Teddy. That's a problem.
MAJOR PROBLEM! Kenya being promised the statue of the Virgin. She never met Bernadette! I don't like that one bit. I think Sullivan or Teddy should have gotten it because there were no girls before Bernadette died and the statue was passed on based on appearance or disposition--Sullivan looks most like the statue and Teddy acts most like her. It should probably go to Sullivan because he really got the short end of the stick in this whole situation. That scene at the end at the graduation where its finally realized that Doyle is making Kenya a favorite and Sullivan has been knocked further down on the totem pole is very sad. I wanted to know more about Sullivan.
Ok. I think those are my major issues with the book. And, even though that's a big rant up there about the Kenya's biological mother situation, if you can get past that problem, the book works on every other level.
I do wish there had been more about Sullivan. He was probably my favorite although it is unnerving to see my name in a novel--I don't know if it's happened before now. I almost would have preferred that he adopt Kenya rather than Doyle. Hmmmm.
I didn't read with a pen in hand (I know, silly me) so I didn't underline anything but a line stuck out nonetheless--when the older Sullivan, the priest, is thinking about his healing powers and his death he says something like, it would be a shame to miss God looking for Him. I just think that's a wonderfully simple but important idea. Religious or no, looking for the all-important, end-all-be-all of anything will often result in overlooking the thing itself which is quite often very simple.
I love the scenes where each man finds his bond with Kenya. Teddy comforting her at the scene of the accident (does he have a bonding moment with her after he finds out she's his sister?). Tip being thrilled that she's interested in the fish. Doyle loving that she hears the stream in his music. And Sullivan's first meeting with her--maybe that's why I like him the most, he seems the least reserved, the least outwardly concerned with how all of this will effect him and understands that at the moment it's about a little girl whose mother has been hit by a car.
And I like Kenya. I like that she reminds herself to be honest (having no idea who Thoreau is). And I think Patchett just nailed her character with things like being simultaneously scared and thrilled that there were new things to be discovered (I had to laugh at her thinking all of the birds had yet to be discovered). And the cadence of the writing seems to mimic Kenya's movement--that calm that builds and builds until she just bursts with energy and has to run.
I do like the book a good bit. I just wish I could cut out that Tennessee/Tennessee conversation.
No comments:
Post a Comment