The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty

August 7, 2006 -- The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
Location: Blue Moose at 6:30

Sometimes there are moments when a person has to make a decision, as opposed to just letting things just happen. A person then has to happen himself. I have never done this. Life bounced off me, and bounced me, and now it was going to bounce me to death.—from The Memory of Running (p. 77)

Meet Smithson "Smithy" Ide, an overweight, friendless, chain-smoking, forty-three-year-old drunk who works as a quality control inspector at a toy-action-figure factory in Rhode Island. By all accounts, especially Smithy's own, he's a loser. Then, within one week, Smithy's beloved parents are killed in a car crash, and Smithy learns that his emotionally troubled, long-lost sister, Bethany, has turned up in a morgue in Los Angeles. Unmoored by the loss of his entire family-Smithy had always hoped Bethany might return-he rolls down the driveway of his parents' house on his old Raleigh bicycle into an epic journey that will take him clear across the country. (read more here)

Moving between past and present in alternating chapters, Smithy's story is so gripping several of our group found themselves skipping ahead to read how one strand turned out before they were willing to move back to the present in the next chapter. Marci pointed out the great "cliff-hangers" that inspired her to do that....
"Sal thought he heard a muffled scream from inside the car; then it turned into the high reeds and disappeared." (chap. 14)
"That's when Carl Greenleaf's pick up truck hit me from behind." (chap. 29)
"...and the fat-faced redheaded guy shot me." (chap.47)

Pam noticed the metaphor of legs in the story. I guess it makes sense because Smithy was a "running man" though he doesn't really run again until the very end. He often feels his fears or inadequacies first in his legs. The title of the book shows up when their dog gets fixed. "He'll have the memory of running. Then he'll forget about girl dogs and be fat and happy." --Bethany"You thought my legs is all there is." --Norma"I don't have legs enough for my family." -- Smithy

We found ourselves trying to decide if Norma, the neighbor confined to her wheelchair who'd been nursing a 40 year crush on Smithy, was believable.... But we all believed Bethany--the "voice" and her poses. We hated Glen Golden (the golfing psychiatrist) and Georgiana Glass and decided this book didn't paint a very good picture of the medical profession and what's with all the "G's?" This story made us think about humanity... the different people Smithy meets, the way he is treated, the conclusions we jump to...

This was a pleasant book.... despite the sadness and the struggle, it wasn't maudlin. We were all glad to have read it. Thanks for the recommendation Larry.