Making The Run

by Heather Henson

Making the Run is a debut novel of two girls on the verge of their high school graduation, each struggling to find her own, very different future in small-town America.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Coming Of Age, Romance, Teen, Photography

Paperback

First published May 1, 2002

Reviews

[Kornelija Baranskaite · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Vienišė Lulu", "pamišėlė Lulu", – tokiais vardais visą gyvenimą buvo vadinama Lulu Makelan, pagrindinė šios knygos herojė. Augdama mažame Kentukio miestelyje, Lulu jautėsi taip, tarsi iš šalies žiūrėtų į viską, kas jame vyksta. Galbūt todėl jos gyvenimas susideda iš fotografijos kadrų. Kad viskas, ką ji mato ir jaučia, bet ne visada supranta, įgautų prasmę. Dabar, kai mokyklos baigimas jau čia pat, Lu ir jos draugė Džinė slysta per gyvenimą tarsi skęsdamos kvaišalų ir alkoholio liūne. Lu mano, kad ji tiesiog žymi laiką ir laukia, kol pagaliau prasidės tikrasis gyvenimas. Tačiau kelyje daug nepažymėtų posūkių. Be išankstinio įspėjimo Lu pirmą kartą aplanko meilė, o Džinė pradeda dramatiškai kristi į nežinią.

[Paloma]

ihsafipafissg.
There's this girl and she smokes a lot of pot and she has this best friend and she drinks too much. Then she dies.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review: https://hiplibrariansbookblog.com/200...

[Alex Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine. It was a generic mid 2000s contemporary YA. I didn't feel much when I was reading it, but I did marginally enjoy it. I wanted it to be something more, something memorable, but honestly it was just a forgettable book that entertained me for the better part of two hours. It didn't really make me feel any emotions, I thought the 28 year old sleeping with the 18 year old on her literal birthday was gross, and it was all just a little deadpan for me.

It was just fine. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my favorite book in high school. I vividly remember the violence of the language, the inferred trauma of grooming while convincing yourself everything's lovely. Maybe I wouldn't have fucked so many older men in my youth if I didn't read this book LOL but I so desperately wanted the freedom and control Lu yearns for, even if I knew I would hurt later. Reading it again after all these years, I could see why I loved it, and I still cried.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot tell you why or how, but this book has always stuck with me. I read it years and years ago and it was always one of those impactful coming to age stories that could have been any of us who were looking for escape, looking for freedom, looking for a way out.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another nostalgia reread. Also just at great as I remembered it

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, love heather hensons writing style. Awesome story.

[Courtney Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read and re-read this book several times and I love it more and more.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

i kinda liked this, although i got spoiled that ginny dies. but it still shocked me.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lu is angry. Very angry. She's mourning the too-soon loss of her mother and she wants nothing more than to get the hell out of small town Rainey, Kentucky. She bides her time with partying, numbing herself with drugs and booze, and taking photographs. But it's the night she meets Jay -- a boy left Rainey himself and who'd been her brother's best friend -- that suddenly she begins questioning what it is she wants in the future. She won't not leave, but maybe now she'll have someone to take along with her, especially as her best friend Ginny's plans have gone off course and then when they go further off course and she's killed in a car wreck .

Will Lu ever get out of Rainey or is she forever isolated to this small place?

Henson's novel is enjoyable, and it tackles grief, loss, the overwhelming desire to get out of a place that's too suffocating. She does a good job of writing an angry and hurting character who isn't on the path to "out" in the same way others may be. There's no golden scholarship and college in the future for her. Instead, she has to chart her own course and figure out the whats and hows in a different way. Life has a funny way of trying to keep her in Rainey, and as everyone changes around her, Lu begins wondering if she is even strong enough to do it anymore. There's a nice first romance here, and it's authentic in depiction, even if it's not necessarily an ideal relationship. The passion Lu has for photography is nicely woven into the story and showcases the fact she has interests and hobbies that can and may help her find her own way.

I appreciated the depiction of a small town and of desperation, sadness, anger. There's a great line from Jay that sums it up for me: "you have to decide if you're going to use your anger or if your anger is going to use you."

I'd have loved this book as a teen.

[Eriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an Ok book. I'm not going to lie and say it was the best book I have ever read but it was Ok. The narrator was a teenage girl that used drugs and got high all the time. It was kind of disturbing actually. She starts to date her brothers friend who is like 28 years old, and she is only 18. And she mostly talks about just getting out of her hometown as soon as she graduates. She wants to travel around the world and be a photographer. I would recommend this to people who like books about troubled teens I guess.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book ! I just picked it up thinking oh I might read this if I run out of other books ,then I read it .. and it was like "wow that was great , I'm amazed" . I like being pleasently surprised and I def was with this book , I really enjoyed it . It was sad through some parts though , it made me cry once or twice . I recommend it though , really good book . (:

[Amalthea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent enough read. Written from a different worldview than my own, which I normally find fascinating, but I felt it tended to be nihilistic at times and left the reader with a bad taste in the mouth. There was a small bit of redemption in the end, but it wasn't satisfying enough for me. Nor did it seem particularly coherent with the character to suddenly have a change of heart.

[Jessy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely amazing. It touched me in a way a book hadn't in years. The characters are so real that you feel as if you know them. I'm surprised that more people haven't heard of this book and it's hard to find on many sites. It's great for anyone in their teens or up. I'd love to find a copy to reread from time to time.

[Katrina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get into this book. I felt like the narrator was just another generic teen who used drugs and alcohol as a way to make it through high school living in a small town. Maybe someday I will pick this one up again because others seemed to enjoy it, but for now, I consider it a dud.

[Riley · Rating 2 out of 5]

For some reason this juvenile tale of a young girl's mundane life has stuck with me since I first read it years ago. Tells the story of a 17 year old who drinks and has a distant father. Typical? Yes. Unforgettable? Yes.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one flies off the shelf with my junior and senior girls.[return][return]Eighteen-year-old Lu is set on leaving her Kentucky home town after high school graduation, but her plans are complicated by friends and family, old grief, and new love.

[Eb · Rating 5 out of 5]

i want the book so i can re-read it and fall in very deep likes with it again. i can rem. some of the things int the work but i cannot remember all of it like i would like to [i read it roughly 4-5 yrs ago].

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is quietly poignant and really makes you think. It left me wondering about what life's really about. I'm not sure I would read it twice, but it is definitely worth a read.

[Katie Mau · Rating 5 out of 5]

A forgettable, but good for time killing book. Quite sad throughout but an interesting plot. An overall good book.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite books growing up and i still love it today!

[.. · Rating 2 out of 5]

this is a great book for when you're bored. It's interesting, but not that exciting. It's an easy book to read.

[Meredith Winter]

Really liked it, considering i relate to it...

[Bernadette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite book in high school. I read it over and over and over again.

[Tiffany Ann Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in one night as a teen. Couldn't put it down, just had to know what happened next. Back in '04 was very relatable, could still be today. It's a coming of age for the female outcast.

[Chelsea Hoskisson · Rating 2 out of 5]

typical teen read. fairly decent and can be covered in a few hours if you're really that bored.