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ellarebee 's review for:
The Runner
by Cynthia Voigt
After reading this, I'm surprised it was Dicey's Song and not this book that won the Newbery. I knew going into this that the book would be intense - if one has read the previous installments in the cycle, they'd know Bullet was killed in Vietnam and that when Abigail Tillerman found out, she threw her phone through the window of the telephone company. So, I braced myself.
I was not prepared for the racial tensions, which was rampant during the time this took place. Nor was I prepared for how deeply Bullet's emotional turmoil ran. This was the first book in which Ab's husband, John, as well as Liza's children's father, Frank, are introduced. Both are more off-putting than previously mentioned. What I really wasn't prepared for was how much I would care for Bullet. At first, I wanted him to connect with someone, anyone at all. Then, I wanted to scream at him during a pivotal scene with his dog (a scene that almost made me abandon the book, I was crying so badly). I smiled at his running success and his kind-of partnership with Tamer Shipp, whose foreshadowing (to those that haven't read previous books) prophesy about Bullet pierced my heart:
"You're going to end up really great or dead."
It made the epilogue of the book, Ab received the news that her son has been killed all the more poignant. Honestly, I think this is the best book of the series (that I've read so far). It is heartwrenching and profound and falls into the elements of it setting perfectly. I would definitely recommend this for upper middle/high schoolers.
I was not prepared for the racial tensions, which was rampant during the time this took place. Nor was I prepared for how deeply Bullet's emotional turmoil ran. This was the first book in which Ab's husband, John, as well as Liza's children's father, Frank, are introduced. Both are more off-putting than previously mentioned. What I really wasn't prepared for was how much I would care for Bullet. At first, I wanted him to connect with someone, anyone at all. Then, I wanted to scream at him during a pivotal scene with his dog (a scene that almost made me abandon the book, I was crying so badly). I smiled at his running success and his kind-of partnership with Tamer Shipp, whose foreshadowing (to those that haven't read previous books) prophesy about Bullet pierced my heart:
"You're going to end up really great or dead."
It made the epilogue of the book, Ab received the news that her son has been killed all the more poignant. Honestly, I think this is the best book of the series (that I've read so far). It is heartwrenching and profound and falls into the elements of it setting perfectly. I would definitely recommend this for upper middle/high schoolers.