Elizabeth Banks

Bookclubbers! As a reminder, we read Ron McLarty's The Memory of Running - did you read it? - and guess what? Ron McLarty himself agreed to answer some of our Book Club questions about his lovely book.

This book is a "recommend." For a complete synopsis, go HERE.

For a taste of what's in store, to answer some Q's you may have had while reading, or to use at your own book club's next meeting, check out my email conversation with Ron and Happy Reading!

EB: Why was it so important to set this in the 60s and 80s as opposed to any other time periods in history?
RM: I wanted the story to be time-specific. It's a period I know and still see clearly in my strange head. Also, (and importantly) there was the absence of our current technology so people related to the world and others in it very differently then they do today. For example, when they did phone each other as Norma & Smithy do--it was in an important not ordinary event.

EB: How much of this story is autobiographical? You seemed to know Providence and its environs intimately.
RM: I'm an East Providence native and attended Rhode Island College after high school. My family attended Grace Episcopal Church in Providence. The germ of the story came from a friend of mine whose sister suffered pretty much the same life altering things that consume Bethany in my story. Also my parents did die in a single car crash while returning to Rhode Island after vacationing in Maine, but there my similarity to Smithy ends.

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EB: How did you research mental illness? Is this also something you know intimately? Do you consider the book a social commentary on how we treat the mentally ill?
RM: This was simply a story to explain the world to myself. People do suffer. People lose and find themselves. Mostly this is a tale of a guy who had dropped out of life because of the tragedy of mental illness is his life and how he manages to crawl back into it.

EB: Everyone in this story is essentially a misfit. Was there any character you particularly loved writing?
RM: I liked all the characters. I probably couldn’t have included them if I didn't. Even the ones who don't display much redeeming social value have it deep inside. At least I think they do. I hope they do. And on some level everyone has a little bit of the misfit in them even if it isn't apparent on the surface. I have heard from many people around the world (MEMORY is published in 15 languages) and I am always amazed by how they respond to Smithy--how much people want to believe in healing and redemption--that it exists and is available to them or their loved ones. Because Smithy is the lens through which we view the other characters he obviously has a special place in the novel and it's creation.

What did you think of The Memory of Running?

Watch this space for the announcement of our next Book Club selection!

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