On the Run

The Runaway by Terry Kay
Published: October 28, 1997 by William Morrow & Company
Back when I read A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash I mention how much it reminded me to To Kill a Mockingbird. Now with The Runaway I can saw not only did it reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird but also of A Land More Kind Than Home.

All three start off with a child in a small Southern town who is innocent of the political and social issues that those older than them are dealing with. Except while that child is the focus of the entire book in the other two, it isn't the case here. In The Runaway we start of with Tom, a young boy who likes to runaway from home, but about a quarter of the way through the book the main narrator switches to the sheriff of the town. Tom is still mentioned throughout, and is the catalyst for the events that follow, but it isn't really his story.

I'm not quite sure the cover fits the book though. At least until I looked at the covers of both To Kill a Mockingbird and A Land More Kind Than Home, because it actually fits in with the mood of each of those. It's just more that it isn't what I would have chosen, and I don't feel it really captures the essence of the story..

I did have a bit of a hard time getting through this. It was actually our book club book, but I wasn't able to finish it till a few days after we met. It wasn't that I disliked the book, since overall I actually enjoyed myself, it's just that it read slowly. In some ways it read like a dog day of summer, the type where you're enjoying yourself, but the day seems to last forever. But now that I'm looking back, part of me wishes I could go back and relive it.

4/5

Today I'm linking up with Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club Friday!