Run Plant Fly

by Ellie Belew

Book by Belew, Ellie

261 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Andrea Bauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never read a book quite like this before. The way the author integrates her warmth of feeling for the natural world of the Pacific Northwest with her warmth of feeling for her characters is beautiful. And the way she gets under the skin of very diverse characters -- diverse in age, race, gender, occupation, life experiences -- is also beautiful. The sci-fi aspect is just barely there, but it's enough to add yet another dimension to a layered, atmospheric story. Belew doesn't hit you over the head with her themes, but one of them is certainly the meaning of freedom, another the preciousness of our relationship to nature, and a third the balance among people between autonomy and connection.

[Ronald Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first novel by this Pacific Northwest writer of whom I learned through an interview with Belew on KUOW's The Beat (9 March 2004). High-tech money and technology from Seattle cross the mountains and invade the small town of Raventon, whose people are trying to survive after the closing of its wood chip plant. This book had a major impact on my perceptions. The main characters are about my age and struggling with issues of aging, that are very familiar to mine. I read much of this book while traveling by public transportation from Seattle to visit my mother amid the forests outside Port Townsend. During that visit my nephew led my partner and me on a bike ride that traveled nearby trails I had ridden as a child. We rode through an old-growth forest which abruptly ended at the edge of a housing development in which some of Seattle's richest have second homes. I will be revisiting, in my mind, personal issues and perceptions addressed in this book for a long time to come.

[Anne Hartman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't love this book...too much to have to think about. If it's not spelled out for me, I get a bit lost!

[Christina Dudley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just met Ellie Belew at the Seattle U Book Festival, and we book-swapped. I'm four pages into this novel of a small WA town where a simulation game comes and adventures ensue.