RUN

 Ann Patchett is the author of five novels, including Bel Canto (winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize), and the bestselling nonfiction book, Truth & Beauty. She has written for The Atlantic, Harper’s, Gourmet, the New York Times Magazine, Vogue, and the Washington Post. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

“Patchett has once again written an intelligent, thoughtful novel that oozes emotional intensity. She is the kind of storyteller who makes the reader sad to come to the last page.”
— Financial Times

“Run is a book that sets out inventively to contend with the temper of our times, and by the end we feel we really know the Doyle family in all its intensity and with all its surprises.”
— Publishers Weekly

“Run is strongly recommended.” — New York magazine

“Ms. Patchett comes home.” — Wall Street Journal

How would you characterize Teddy and Tip’s relationship as siblings? How does it compare to their relationship with their brother, Sullivan?

At the Jesse Jackson lecture, Doyle reviews the personalities of his three sons and thinks about which of them would be most able to lead. Which of the boys do you think would make the best politician? Do you think Doyle’s assessments of their characters are accurate or biased?

Discuss the concept of nature versus nurture. Do you think that Sullivan, Tip, and Teddy are who they are, or would they have turned out differently had Bernadette lived? How would those differences manifest themselves?

Discuss the different meanings of the title. How many different ways does the word “run” work for you?

Run includes several incidences of doubling—two brothers who get adopted, two mothers who die, two men named Sullivan, two Tennessee Alice Mosers, two accidents involving hospital stays. What is the effect for you as a reader of seeing similar characters and events repeated over the course of the book? Can you think of any other examples of doubling in literature?

Why is Kenya the one subject that Sullivan and his father can agree on? How does her adoption into the family help Teddy and Tip understand Sullivan and what he went through growing up?

Towards the end of the story we see images of four mothers (including the Virgin Mary) on Kenya’s dresser. What is the author saying about women and mothers to have them all there together?

Why does Kenya’s mother conceal her true identity from her daughter? Do you think that she imagines the conversation in the hospital with Tennessee Alice Moser after surgery or do you think it really happened?

What does Father Sullivan’s encounter with Tennessee in the hospital suggest about his ability to heal?

Doyle is very invested in politics on both local and national levels, but he falters at the idea of taking home a stray child. What does this book say to you about social responsibility?

Of the many characters in Run, which did you feel most connected to on an emotional level? How do you explain that connection?

How did you react to Bernard Doyle’s decision to bestow the heirloom statue on Kenya, a daughter who has literally shared nothing with his former wife, Bernadette? Do you think he made the same decision his wife would have made?