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Running Away With Frannie
From the celebrated author of Above the Thunder, a novel about wanderlust and reconciliation
with family.
Sam meets Frannie in a West Virginia truck stop where she is a waitress on the verge of being fired for flushing a potato down the men’s room toilet.
Sam has tried five colleges in five different states and has worked an endless variety of jobs, including mail carrier, hospital orderly, factory drudge, and Chuckles the Clown. It isn’t until he encounters Frannie – who has moved forty-eight times in two years and who believes that her destiny, like that of all the great wanderers in history, will be revealed in the journeys she undertakes – that his restless heart meets its match.
However, as this pair of young nomads fall in love, they realize that staying together means, at least for a time, staying in one place. And as Sam tries to link his past with the present, he hopes to disprove the prediction his father, now deceased, once made for The whole world is divided into runners and chasers. You’re either running toward, or you’re running away. You’ve spent your whole life trying to escape.
with family.
Sam meets Frannie in a West Virginia truck stop where she is a waitress on the verge of being fired for flushing a potato down the men’s room toilet.
Sam has tried five colleges in five different states and has worked an endless variety of jobs, including mail carrier, hospital orderly, factory drudge, and Chuckles the Clown. It isn’t until he encounters Frannie – who has moved forty-eight times in two years and who believes that her destiny, like that of all the great wanderers in history, will be revealed in the journeys she undertakes – that his restless heart meets its match.
However, as this pair of young nomads fall in love, they realize that staying together means, at least for a time, staying in one place. And as Sam tries to link his past with the present, he hopes to disprove the prediction his father, now deceased, once made for The whole world is divided into runners and chasers. You’re either running toward, or you’re running away. You’ve spent your whole life trying to escape.
330 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Renée Manfredi
8 books6 followersRenée Manfredi received her MFA from Indiana University, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and was a regional winner of Granta's Best American Novelists Under 40. Her short story collection, Where Love Leaves Us, won the Iowa Short Fiction Award. Her short stories have been published in The Mississippi Review, The Iowa Review, The Georgia Review, and the Pushcart Prize Anthology, and featured in NPR's "Selected Shorts" series.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 9, 2016
3.5 stars.
Sam is leaving his home, family and girlfriend to wander aimlessly; he hasn’t told anyone he is leaving. Almost immediately, he meets Frannie, a waitress who has just lost her job. He agrees that she can come with him. They come to a small town in North Carolina, where they decide to find jobs and stay a while. Despite all their baggage and quirks, they fall in love and try to build a life together. With all the emotional baggage, especially Frannie’s, it is not easy for them.
It was a good book. There were plenty of times where I disliked both Sam and Frannie or one or the other, especially Frannie. But, overall, I thought it was quite good.
Sam is leaving his home, family and girlfriend to wander aimlessly; he hasn’t told anyone he is leaving. Almost immediately, he meets Frannie, a waitress who has just lost her job. He agrees that she can come with him. They come to a small town in North Carolina, where they decide to find jobs and stay a while. Despite all their baggage and quirks, they fall in love and try to build a life together. With all the emotional baggage, especially Frannie’s, it is not easy for them.
It was a good book. There were plenty of times where I disliked both Sam and Frannie or one or the other, especially Frannie. But, overall, I thought it was quite good.
December 12, 2007
Found this book through my online book club. It was interesting to see the guy in the relationship try harder to make it work than the woman. It was great to get this different perspective so well crafted and intricately woven throughout the story. I was actually rooting for the guy which being a strong independent woman does not happen very often. Overall it was a great find and I am excited to read more from Renee Manfredi.
April 4, 2015
This was such a fascinating story. I couldn't stop reading it. It was like watching a train wreck! Definitely kept my interest! 5 stars for me!
January 22, 2013
Quick read as this engrossing train wreck of a situation between two people who's loving, unlikely relationship is undermined by mental illness.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews