The Memory of Running

By: Ron McLarty

Narrated by: Ron McLarty

Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Award-winning actor and playwright Ron McLarty is well known for his audiobook performances. What fewer people realize is that he's also an accomplished author. In this wonderfully quirky novel, available exclusively as an audiobook, McLarty takes readers on a quest to find hope and redemption with an unlikely hero.

Smithson Ide is 43 years old and weighs 279 pounds when his parents die in an accident. Lost in memories of childhood, Smithson uncovers his old Raleigh bicycle in the garage and begins a cross-country journey to find his beautiful, but tragically psychotic sister. Keenly aware of how ridiculous he must appear, Smithson nonetheless perseveres through a journey that is hilarious and horrifying. It is a trip, he soon realizes, that might provide his last chance to become the person he has always wanted to be.

In late 2003, in his column in Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King called The Memory of Running "the best novel you won't read this year." This glowing endorsement of the audiobook resulted in Ron McLarty receiving a $2 million two-book deal from Viking Penguin. Also, Warner Brothers has shelled out big bucks for the movie rights to The Memory of Running, for which McLarty will write the script.

©2002 Ron McLarty (P)2002 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Ron McLarty's The Memory of Running is the best novel you won't read this year. But you can experience it, and I'm all but positive that you'll thank me for the tip if you do....What I hope is that you'll order a copy and experience it for yourself....It's bighearted and as satisfying as one of your mom's home-cooked Sunday dinners." (Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly)

Kept waiting for it to get better

I don't normally object to a book full of unlikable characters, if they are complex and realistic, or if I can even find some common ground for empathy. But nearly all the characters in this book are not only unlikable and vaguely offensive in their cluelessness, they are also boring. I thought perhaps the story would take them somewhere, that the characters would develop through their experiences. They did, somewhat, but ultimately were as unlikable and boring at the end as they were in the beginning.

Cringeworthy

Smithy, the main character, bothered me too much to entertain any pleasure from this book. He was an unlikeable, lazy human. He didn't enjoy much about life and didn't have any ambitions. He was nice, but completely feckless and taken advantage of by just about everyone he met. I wanted to like him because I felt sorry for him. Smithy was so loathesome I couldn't even force myself to develop a scrap of concern and actually rolled my eyes throughout the course of the story. The amount of times his life was endangered was quite ridiculous and at certain points I wished he wouldn't survive because I wanted the book to make an unpredictable turn- which it didn't. However, McLarty did an excellent job as narrator. A+ for character voices.

Nothing Special

I normally will finish a book just to make sure I don't miss anything. This book never really gets started and all the jumping around did not draw me in. Simple sentences and observations by the main character like "Bananas are really easy to chew and they fill you up." and "I was happy to discover bananas again, they are really good." just could not hold my attention for another four hours.

Couldn't get into it

I'm no stranger to books with slow starts, so I was patient for the first four hours, but after three discs it never really pulled me in. Nothing horrible about the book, but it never seemed to get started. I'd pass on it.

Don't understand all the fuss

Dissapointing. I can't believe I had to waste 2 book credits. I kept waiting for it to get better, but it didn't.

ended strangely

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

this book just ended strangely and I was not at all surprised. They dragged it on so long to then just end it

Very juvenile plot line with awkward sex scenes

I struggled with this book. The first few chapters were extremely dull. It did get better, but not by much. It's confusing what age range this is meant for bevause the writing style is so juvenile but then there's random sex scenes in it that made me cringe listening to them. Every character in this book is extremely boring and the narration showed no emotion at all - which is a bummer since the author reads it. Nothing gets explained at the end, a lot of assumptions. Not a fan at all.

Dull, Dull, Dull

I must be missing something here, to judge from the other reviews! But this book is unpublished for a reason: it's deadly dull. Endless tedious details in a story that moves along like molasses, and seems to have nothing much to say. Out of more than 200 Audible books downloaded, this is only the second title I couldn't stand to listen all the way through (gave up after 3 extremely boring hours). Maybe it gets really interesting later on... but I doubt it. Nicely read, though.

Waiting for something to happen

Their is nothing exciting about this book. It?s about the every day types of trials and tribulations many of us go through. If you want to escape from reality this is not the book. I normally do not write reviews but in this case I felt compelled to give my opinon. I purchased this book based on others opinions and reviews. This is the first time I have been disappointed in my purchase. I am far from being qualified to write reviews, BUT I know what I like, and don?t like. I am sure other may find this book intriguing I found it uneventful

Boring, couldn't wait for it to end.

Would you try another book from Ron McLarty and/or Ron McLarty?

No.

What was most disappointing about Ron McLarty’s story?

The story was too long and repetitive. I was hoping for a great end, but was disappointed in that too.