• The Memory of Running

  • By: Ron McLarty
  • Narrated by: Ron McLarty
  • Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (3,519 ratings)

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The Memory of Running

By: Ron McLarty
Narrated by: Ron McLarty
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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)

What listeners say about The Memory of Running

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Overall
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Funny and Fascinating, A Wonderful Book

I first heard about this book while reading Stephen King's review of it in his Entertainment Weekly column. I put in a request for the title here at Audible and I am so glad they added it. This really is a terrific book, read by the author who is one of my favorite narrators. I didn't know what to expect at first and certainly did not see myself caught up in the story like I became. It is a truly heartwarming tale about a born loser who seems to be just smart enough to know he isn't very smart. You begin to root him on and as the tale and his journey progress he may have the chance to become the person he always wanted to be. I have listened to many audiobooks over the years, a few that I couldn't stand, some that were simply tolerated, many that I really liked and this one that I wished would just never end. I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. This book was in turns hilarious and touching. A terrific effort by Ron McLarty and I hope to see more from him. I recommend this book whole-heartedly no matter what your normal listening tastes may be.

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175 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Marvelous

I usually like suspense, thrillers, anything that makes my heart pound. But I thought I would try something a little different - and I must say that this is the best possible book I could have chosen for my exploration. Gentle yet strong, lost, yet deeply sure in a million little ways, the main character touches me, and gives me hope for humanity. It is lovingly written, with great love for all the characters, and the reading makes you a part of the book. A marvelous read.

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61 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A great book written to be listened to

After hearing the terrific narrator Ron McLarty talk about how he felt this was a book written to be listened to, I had to agree. The story and charactors are clear and the sense of place cleanly defined. While there may not be a lot of depth to Smithy you get a great sense of exactly who he is and what he is about. Also there are holes in the narrative, but McLarty's prose and narration glide so smoothly over them, that you are swept along with Smithy as he travels the U.S. on his bike and traveling his past in his mind. What keeps this book from being great is perhaps the lack of real speed bumps and potholes that would have given the book a sense of tension. Still, the charactors we meet are well worth the visit

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51 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

The Negative Reviews Say It All For Me

When I research and bought this book all I could see were all the 5 star raving reviews and the Stephen King endorsement. To me, this story is frustrating, slow, boring and lacking plot. The characters are wandering, undeveloped and what is there is really just plain unlikable. I can't recommend it--though based on reviews others seem to love this dreary book. I'm just sorry that I wasted even a minute on this listen. Disappointing.

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41 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Give it a chance

After the first three hours, I almost put this one away. I am so glad I did not.

In those first three hours, the simplicity of the main character almost drove me away. In the end, I came to appreciate his simplicity more than anything.

Once Smithson Ide begins his long journey, breaking free from his cloistered, pathetic existence, the story quickly gains momentum. I became engrossed in his quest, remembering simple joys I have not thought of since childhood. What followed was an entertaining listen, sincere retrospection of my own life, and a main character I will not soon forget.

Through all the tragedies that befall him, Smithson Ide's decency and appreciation of the great gift of life lift him to a higher existence.


Well done, Ron McLarty - on both fronts. Good writing and sensitive, meaningful narration. I would highly recommend this book to others and look forward to your next effort.



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32 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Cathartic

You can't help but fall in love with the protagonist, Smithy. Ron McClarty does an excellent job endearing you to Smithy and his family. In a way, it reminded me of Catcher in The Rye, and accordingly it shows that you are never too old to come of age!

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

if you want just a lovely book with heart

This book made me smile and tear up. I like a book that makes me feel. The protagonists are sister and brother bound together in a story about love and loss. I stumbled upon this book and I am so glad I did.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

A Disappointment

I tried and tried to like this book. But I couldn't. I kept hoping it would end, but it went on endlessly and aimlessly, until it got the better of me. I had to quit.

Ron McLarty is a wonderful reader, and he has a glimmer of hope as a writer. However, he needs to take plot and character lessons. The book had no plot and, on the few occasions when it tried at plot, it failed. The characters started out as likeable, but then they grey tiresome in their exceeding simplicity, almost stupid and silly ways.

I would have given this book one star, but the reading by Mr. McLarty, as usual, is excellent, even though the words went nowhere.

I think Mr. McLarty might actually make it as a writer someday, but not on this one, I'm sad to say.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

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.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

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!


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15 people found this helpful