“This novel is an elegant, unpretentious, but disarming story about Smithy Ide's redemption. When the story begins he is a person who has for the most part stopped participating in life - fat, alcoholic, heavy smoker, and no self-esteem (but oddly not at all bitter). After both of his parents die on a motor vehicle accident he is trying to settle their affairs. One night, while tremendously drunk, he finds his old Raleigh bicycle in his parent's garage and by accident he rolls of on a journey that will take him across the entire United States.
Every other chapter is a flashback where we learn about Smithy's difficult past, including caring for his nearly always heart-breaking schizophrenic sister (who had a habit of running off and getting in trouble) and his being severely wounded in the Viet Nam War. During the present tense chapters we follow Smithy as he pedals cross country, eats fruit, drops his bad habits, his job, and ultimately his alienation. His redemption comes to fruition in a number of ways: his examination of why he went from being a thin "runner" (as a child he ran, never walked, everywhere he went) who was an active participant in life to an obese, unhealthy, self-loathing drunk; his cross country healing journey; his reading of a couple of cheesy but inspiring paperbacks; his encounters with various characters along the way - all of whom Smithy helps (and in turn they help Smithy); his "closure" regarding his sister; and his ultimately finding love that was there all along. Sound corny? Well, in a sense it is - but this is an affecting and fortifying story.
Smithy is a simple person who seems to be nearly empty. He reminds me a bit of "Chance" from Jerzy Kosinski's Being There - although Smithy is a more intelligent than Chance. All the characters he meets just open up to him. As he sheds pounds and bad habits he seems to shed the weight of his past.
I would suggest that the bike riding readers that enjoyed *The Memory of Running* also read *Heft On Wheels* by Mike Magnuson. This is a non-fiction account of a forty-ish, overweight, drinking, smoking individual who starts taking his cycling seriously and changes his life. It is, however, a much different story - Mike's change is an active process on his part whereas Smithy's change just sort of fortuitously rolls over him. Never the less the two books go together nicely.
This is one of those books that you look forward to reading. Last weekend while I was reading it with the radio on (NPR's West Coast Live) I heard the author being interviewed - talk about serendipity. The author's story of how the book came to be published is in itself fascinating, and I imagine that this book will become inconceivably successful and will be made into a popular movie.”
moik wrote this review 9 days ago.
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