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Loading... Die unglaubliche Reise des Smithy Ide (original 2004; edition 2008)by Ron McLarty, Rainer Schmidt (Übersetzer)
Work detailsThe Memory of Running by Ron McLarty (2004)
I found this book to be very entertaining, though overly depressing at points. I would recommend it to anyone in need of an uplifting story that shows no matter how far down the road of life you are you still have time to change and set things right. (  ) MaryAnn12 | Apr 4, 2013 |  Good book, however, just some parts unbelievable. Good story line. Sad that he had to loose his entire family to find himself, but at least he did. And lost weight and quit drinking because of it. (  ) kkhughes | Oct 13, 2012 | Smithson (Smithy) Ide is a middle-aged, overweight, hard-drinking resident of Providence RI. As the story begins, his parents are both killed in an auto accident. As he is going through his father's mail, he finds a letter notifying him that his schizophrenic sisters body has been found and identified by dental records, and is waiting in California to be picked up. Without thinking, Smith jumps on his old bicycle and starts pedaling to California. The chapters alternate between Smithy's current adventures and the long, strange road leading up to where he is now and where his sister is now. The chapters are short enough that this works well. I like McLarty's storytelling style. I had met him at a book-signing quite a few years back, and it added a lot to the story that I could hear his voice telling it. Good book! ( ) tloeffler | Nov 19, 2011 | I didn't really like this book going into it. But I found the story about the sister very interesting. Too bad they never really do tell you what's technically wrong with her. But his journey across the country is interesting. I'm glad he stop being a fat lard and an alcoholic. It kind of got to me that he was so hard on himself being fat and an alcoholic and it was just sad that he was constantly putting himself down. The best part of the book was when the psychiatrist threatens to call the cops on him for raping and beating his sister. I was in complete shocked and would have been fine although gruesome and disgusting it the author had ended it there. But that is when I got a lot more into the book trying to find out if it was true or not. What a turn of events, a different way of seeing what was going on in their life! It's so sad that life seems to keep kicking him when he's down. The cop that beats him, getting shot again, and his history of going into war and the effect that it has on him mentally. It turned out to be a really good story. All the probabilities of what had happened in his past that the book brings up and then finally finding out the truth in the end. ( ) KMJMurf | Jun 15, 2011 | This is a great late coming-of-age story, with a great and enormous cast of characters. (  ) lizzy-x | Jun 8, 2011 |
 Although Mr. McLarty's book is not wildly original, it has a generic likability and the upward trajectory of a shy guy's recovery from loneliness. Its itinerary is also wry enough to sustain interest, as when Bethany winds up in a hippie commune that believes in the sanctity of vegetables. Smithy's actual bike trip is punctuated by encounters with people and books (his revived interest in reading provides a small, amusing subplot) that affirm its underlying faith in human nature. For all the hardships and wrong turns it describes, "The Memory of Running" amounts to a string of happy accidents. In this story, which has a dark side but no real shadows, even being hit by a pickup truck can turn out to be a life-affirming vignette.
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0143036688, Paperback)Ron McLarty has joined the ranks of writers of the quirky hero with The Memory of Running. His hero, Smithy Ide, is in the grand tradition of Ignatius J. Reilly of A Confederacy of Dunces and Quoyle of The Shipping News. What these gentlemen have in common is their lumpen-loser looks, their outsider status and their general befuddlement about the way the world works and their place in it. Smithy rises above them because of his self-effacing nature, his great capacity for love, his inability to show it and his endless willingness to forgive.Smithy is a 279-pound, hard-drinking, chain-smoking, 43-year-old misfit who works in a G.I. Joe factory putting arms and legs on the action heroes. (How did McLarty come up with that?) He is also the most beguiling anti-hero to come into view in a long, long time. McLarty, an award-winning actor and playwright best known for his many appearances on TV in Law & Order, Sex and the City, The Practice, and Judging Amy, has added another star to his creative crown with this novel. The first sentence of the book is: "My parents' Ford station wagon hit a concrete divider on U.S. 95 outside Biddeford, Maine, in August 1990." This tragic accident eventually claims both their lives. It is on the day of their funeral that Smithy finds a letter to his father about Bethany, his beloved and deeply troubled sister, stating that, "Bethany Ide, 51, died from complications of exposure... and she has since that time been in the Los Angeles Morgue West." Beautiful Bethany, given to taking off her clothes in public places, holding impossible poses for long periods of time, responding to voices that only she can hear, and disappearing for no known reason. This time, she has been gone for many years and now Smithy knows that she died destitute and alone. When he reads the letter, he is drunk, grief-stricken and, despite a house full of people, he is alone. He goes out to the garage to smoke and have another drink and spies his old Raleigh bicycle. He sits on it, flat tires and all, wheels it to the end of the driveway--and--Smithy doesn’t know it yet, but he is going to ride a bicycle from Maine to Los Angeles to claim his sister's remains. On the road he meets the good, the bad, and the really bad. He frequently calls Norma, the Ides' across-the-street neighbor, confined to a wheelchair for years, and always in love with him. He has never acknowledged nor returned her ardor, but he starts to count on her friendship during his travels. Their conversations are sweet and revelatory. McLarty has done a superb job of showing us who Smithy is and who he is becoming. It's a wonderful story told with great poignancy and humor. --Valerie Ryan (retrieved from Amazon Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:47:32 -0500) Working as a quality control inspector at a toy factory in Rhode Island, friendless alcoholic Smithy Ide considers himself a loser until a tragic event prompts him to set off on an epic cross-country bicycle journey that promises him a final chance to become the man he has always wanted to be.… (more) (summary from another edition) |
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