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)

Tiresome, irksome, noisome

Smithy Ide is a dismal, twisted, overgrown adolescent whose ability to tell his own story is limited and irritating. If this were an actual memoir, an editor would have removed the many sentences ending with the phrase "and stuff", and also would have restricted the number of panting references to women's breasts. But this is a novel, written with the vocabulary and insight of a stupid, self-loathing buffoon whom the author no doubt thought would become another Ignatius J. Reilly. He does not come close.

The book's secondary character, disappearing sister Bethany (a name which doesn't even register on the name popularity charts for the year she was supposed to be born), is one of the worst representations of mentally ill women in fiction, and the manners in which community, family and medical team attempt to deal with her behaviors are totally unrealistic. Even if we were being subjected to her adoring brother's faulty memories of the events, this would be forgivable, but to conclude that is to necessarily scrap the entire rest of the narrative.

Which I recommend. McLarty's narration is done with a petulant, half-wit intonation not present in McLarty's normal voice, as evidence by the attached interview. Why does he choose to make his "hero" sound moronic? I'm stunned that so many people think this is a great, important novel, and that McLarty is a talented writer. Then I remember how many (presumably, of the same) people voted for George W. Bush. Twice!

Couldn't Do It

This is the first audiobook that I abandoned midway through. I tried ... I really did. But I could not empathize with the main character, did not find him funny, and could not see his "travels" leading anywhere. A self-proclaimed loser, he came across as ridiculous. I just couldn't stand to hear him go on and on and on.

I rated this book with 2 stars, only because the actual writing was done well.

Interesting story- foul language was too much

The premise for this book was very interesting, unfortunately the foul language was excessive and I found totally unnecessary. Why people feel they need to fill a book with every filthy word they can think of and to describe in minute detail the thoughts going through a man's mind during a sexual encounter is beyond me. Listening to this makes all of this too difficult to finish. At least when I read it I can skip over it. Even then it is tough. I couldn't finish it because I caught myself thinking about all the crudeness day and night. I really get into books and become part of the story mentally. Unfortunately in this book I felt like I was being verbally abused. Not everyone wants sex and awful language. Rewrite it without all that and I would highly recommend the book.

don't listen to the other reviews

I tried giving it a chance, but after 6 hours, just could not do it anymore...save the time and money!

Good hearted, but doesn't pay off

I never really related to the characters or the premise, even though I really wanted to. I respect the author for his very good intentions, but the book never delivered for me. The good humored acceptance of adversity that the main character shows could make Job look impatient, but after a while the incidents became depressing and then almost absurd. I started trying to figure how much of the book was left by how many plot points hadn't been resolved.

Rambling and Uninteresting Story

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

No. The writing was fine, the reading was good, the story was not of interest to me.

What could Ron McLarty have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Write a different story.

Have you listened to any of Ron McLarty’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. Reading was good.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No, I couldn't finish it.

Too much detail!!

At some points I felt asleep. I kept reading just because I wanted to keep practicing my english, but the fun was gone long time ago. I liked the last 3h of the book because it got really interesting at that point. I liked that the author was the narrator. My audio credit was wasted here.

Dull dull dull

I don't understand the appeal. After the first hour, nothing seemed to happen. I scrapped this two-thirds through part one. Many words and little plot.

Really, really awful

If this is the best book I won't read this year
as Stephen King refers to it, then conversely, it is the worst book I did read.

I found it tedious, badly narrated, and unremarkable.

Pass.

Just couldn't finish it.

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

Maybe

How could the performance have been better?

Perhaps with an additional narrator or two

Any additional comments?

Really tried to hang with it long enough for the story line to hold my attention. Just about the halfway mark the narrators monotonous voice became a little irritatating. I am sure the second half of the book is more interesting than the first. But I found it to be one of those books that you could put down....that I actually wanted to put down. Maybe I'll try again at a later date.