Ron McLarty

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. Reader's Guide included. Reprint.

The Memory of Running

Steven Ovadia

I grabbed this after I heard it name-dropped in season 2 of In Treatment. It's a great story, but it's not very deep and some of the writing is a bit overdone.
In a lot of ways, it's a contemporary Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, told in a much more straight-forward (and flatter) manner.
Still, whatever weaknesses the book has are pretty much overcome by the great story.

Jackie Cunningham

Hanna Tillmanns 

Tim Pennington-Russell

Kevin. j Mercil 

Smithson Ide's life so far has led him nowhere. He's 43 years old, weighs 279 pounds, and keeps himself numb with food and alcohol. His only emotional ties are to his parents and to the memory of his older sister, Bethany, who has been missing for 20 years. Then his parents die in a car crash and he learns of Bethany's death in LA County. Suddenly there isn't enough beer in the world to keep Smithy from his feelings. Drunk and bereft, he takes his old Raleigh bicycle and starts cycling. Once he starts, he can't stop and then he's riding across America to recover his sister. Along the way he meets all sorts of people who help or hinder him. He hears the confession of a priest, he rescues a boy from a snow storm, he has a gun pointed in his face, he's hit by a truck and helps a man dying of AIDS. Smithy's ride is an extraordinary quest, to rediscover the past and memories of Bethany, but it's also his journey back to life.

The Memory of Running

Reviews