As many of you know, I'm a transportation (specifically a railroad) enthusiast. The one thing that I really found intriguing about The Memory of Running was that Smithy, of all people, decided to bike across the nation.
First off, as one would think, biking is not the fastest way to get across the nation. Flying would take a matter of hours, while driving or taking the train might take a few days. Biking, however, is a rather slow and tedious process. It takes Smithy weeks to take his journey, and he also uses a lot more energy than he would have if he had gone by any other means.
This was something which struck me as odd about Smithy: the Smithy we know when he sets out on his cycling journey does not seem like somebody who would be up to the challenge to bike across the nation, nor does he seem like somebody who would even try to. Most people we hear of who do transcontinental bike rides are in peak physical condition. While they're going a lot faster than Smithy, it's still a very physically exhausting and demanding exercise. I think Smithy would know this heading into it (especially since he doesn't seem to have exercised in a LONG time), and would have chosen another way, such as taking the train. Quite honestly, I think Smithy would fit in on the train, which always seems to have an interesting and odd group of misfits onboard.
I get it that Smithy's journey represents the formation of a "new Smithy" away from all the vices that had kept him back in the past. But why, in the very first place, did Smithy decide to bike? If he wanted to go to LA to claim Bethany's body at the morgue, you think he would get there in a more urgent manner, since it is a time-sensitive issue. Even if Smithy doesn't realize this since he's drunk, I still think he'd have enough sense (and I don't think it would take much, honestly) to realize that biking there would not only be impractical but impossible as well.
I also know that some people seem to think that Smithy is biking to get away from everything at home. While the loss of his family is definitely a tragic and traumatic experience for Smithy, I don't see why that would motivate him to leave everything behind. I think that it would actually lead to Smithy hitting the booze and food more, since that's what has comforted him, was comforting him, and would continue to comfort him. He's even drunk when he decides to bike out west! Some people find therapy in exercise, but I don't think that would be Smithy's mindset, since he doesn't seem to be a person who'd be very interested in exercise, as I said above.
I understand that without Smithy's bike journey we wouldn't have much of a story. There might be some interesting scenarios on a train or plane ride, but there wouldn't be a true journey, at least a heroic one. The fact that Smithy chose to (and actually did) bike across the nation is heroic, and it's something that not many people can do. Anybody can take a plane or ride a train. Not many people could bike across the nation, and even fewer will do that. The bike ride is what sets Smithy apart and makes him a unique and interesting character, and it's what drives this novel and allowed it to even happen.
Well, the book wouldn't really be the same if he hadn't ridden a bike. Because I'm sure it would have been easy to get junk food on the train and he wouldn't have gotten exercise or fresh air or anything, so I think the bike ride was essential to this book. Also, it brought back memories of his childhood and bethany.
ReplyDeleteA novel set on the Amtrak wouldn't be impossible, or terrible, it just would be a much different book. (And with all the delays and stops to let freight trains pass, it probably would take about the same amount of time!) You're right that a train can be a great setting for a novel (see _Murder on the Orient Express_), and even one like this--I can easily imagine Smithy meeting all kinds of freaks late at night in the observation car, getting beat up by local cops at two-hour layovers, etc.
ReplyDeleteBut the bike has specific personal meaning for him, as his *old* form of transportation, and there's something elemental about riding a bike, where human energy is the source of the movement. He literally *gets himself* across the country, and the feat seems all the more implausible in his case. The train wouldn't necessarily encourage his new and improved eating habits, and it certainly would encourage him to keep drinking--the whole point of the bike is that it feels good for him to be healthy and active again, and he has no desire to drink or smoke because he feels so good.
I think what this means is that *you* need to now get started on a novel about a guy who takes a spontaneous train ride across the country . . .
In reply to your comment about how unlikely the whole story seems to be -- yes, I totally agree. I believe that a certain element of unlikeliness is necessary to make this whole story extraordinary (if Smithy were healthy, physically and emotionally, there would be no hero's journey), but I'd understand if people don't enjoy this book as much if they find the whole bike ride hard to believe.
ReplyDeleteHere's what one Goodreads user had to say about The Memory of Running:
I couldn't get past the whole "you have got to be kidding" syndrome. Come on. A forty-something, 300 lb. alcoholic smoker gets on his childhood bike one day and just keeps going? Okay, maybe he found inner strength to not miss the vodka, and to ignore what I am sure would have to be serious physical pains and strains and discomforts. Maybe he even managed not to have a heart attack..... but he never even thinks about a cigarette? And at nearly 300 lbs, and riding anywhere from seven to twenty miles a day, he subsists just fine on bananas, protein bars, tuna fish and water? Do you have any idea of the caloric intake needed to sustain a man of that bulk, let alone one engaged in strenuous exercise?