What do you think?
Rate this book
Running the Bulls: A Novel
One year and six days into an unsatisfactory retirement, Howard Woods is awakened by his wife in the early hours of the morning to hear the news of a decades-old betrayal. He does not take it well. Howard upends his well-ordered life and, to the dismay of his family, announces his intention of traveling to Spain to join the annual running of the bulls in Pamplona.
Having thrown his life into chaos, Howard finds that his wife is no longer willing to restore it to order as she has always done in the past. He is now miserably committed to a Hemingway-inspired course of his own choosing but with little idea of how to change it or to achieve the resolution he desires. Instead of at home where he wishes to be, he ends up living at the Holiday Inn.
How does a middle-aged man of the Eisenhower era (who still can't do his own laundry) survive in the age of cell phones and cable TV? The result is hilarious and, at times, achingly poignant.
Cathie Pelletier's novels have been praised as "hilarious, generous and genuine" (New Yorker), "bitingly original" (Vogue), "masterful," (Washington Post), and "funny and unexpectedly moving" (New York Times). She is "absolutely, inherently funny," says the Los Angeles Times, "yet she can walk the tightrope between humor and grief without once losing her balance." In Running the Bulls, she is in top form.
276 pages, Hardcover
First published August 3, 2005
2 people are currently reading
71 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 1, 2011
There are only 36 plots, all derived from the Greek mythology. In "Running the Bulls," Cathie Pelletier exploits the one where an event throws the protagonist out of his orderly life and launches a series of events. Into this cookie-cutter formula she places a memorable character facing the double whammy of his retirement from teaching at the university and his wife's revelation about an old affair.
Unable to accept either facts, Howard Woods throws his life into chaos, running head-front into situations from which he cannot extricate himself. Having fun, he is lonely. Needing his wife back, he realizes that it is too late; she's restored her life without him.
I can just hear the great discussions in reading groups around the country, debating the impact of old affair, of truth-telling, of middle-age crisis, of balancing a life filled with grief and humor.
Very well done.
Unable to accept either facts, Howard Woods throws his life into chaos, running head-front into situations from which he cannot extricate himself. Having fun, he is lonely. Needing his wife back, he realizes that it is too late; she's restored her life without him.
I can just hear the great discussions in reading groups around the country, debating the impact of old affair, of truth-telling, of middle-age crisis, of balancing a life filled with grief and humor.
Very well done.
February 16, 2018
The best one I have read by this author so far!
Love the characters and the interaction between them in their unique community where nature is present in the words of this writer.
This one is a treat to experience with full-bodied personalities and insight into the thinking of each main character in the storyline.
I could read it a second time if I had some spare time on my hands.
Love the characters and the interaction between them in their unique community where nature is present in the words of this writer.
This one is a treat to experience with full-bodied personalities and insight into the thinking of each main character in the storyline.
I could read it a second time if I had some spare time on my hands.
Read
January 7, 2020What a fantastic novel by my dear friend Cathie Pelletier. It is insightful, humerous, poignant, and spot on. Yes, there is a strong connection to Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, which is now my book of choice after reading this novel. Cudos to Cathie on a terrific book.
January 4, 2022
An alternate title for this book could be "Let's Humiliate Howard". It starts well enough with a searing scene when wife Ellen's conscience grows too much for her. She wakes Howard and tells him 20 years ago she had an affair with a fellow teacher. Lucky Howard when his wife vomits her guilt onto him, crashing both of their retirements.
Howard can no longer stand living with his wife and moves out that night. The rest of the book is mostly Howard tripping over himself, because a man just can't live without his lying, cheating wife, can he?
Ellen uses classic cheating behaviour, deflecting and making herself the victim. And gives Howard this nugget: "You took what should have been a private issue between a husband and wife and you turned it into an extravaganza" <-- said every cheating spouse ever. Oh poor me, you shone a bright light on my squalid, dirty affair. And then she calls Howard a coward. Yes well Ellen, there's a some choice names we can call you, too.
Ellen's cheating included a particularly hurtful episode. Supposedly flying out to visit her mother for a week while Howard's working. Howard drives Ellen to the airport. It's a sham - she doesn't board the flight. Her boyfriend is waiting in a car for her and takes her to a motel. When the week ends, her boyfriend drives her back to the airport an hour before her flight's arrival home. Howard dutifully picks his wife up. The rotten charade is complete, Ellen has cuckolded her husband. This wasn't just a 'mistake' by Ellen, this trip alone was hundreds of mean, selfish, cruel decisions by her.
The ending, yawn.
Howard can no longer stand living with his wife and moves out that night. The rest of the book is mostly Howard tripping over himself, because a man just can't live without his lying, cheating wife, can he?
Ellen uses classic cheating behaviour, deflecting and making herself the victim. And gives Howard this nugget: "You took what should have been a private issue between a husband and wife and you turned it into an extravaganza" <-- said every cheating spouse ever. Oh poor me, you shone a bright light on my squalid, dirty affair. And then she calls Howard a coward. Yes well Ellen, there's a some choice names we can call you, too.
Ellen's cheating included a particularly hurtful episode. Supposedly flying out to visit her mother for a week while Howard's working. Howard drives Ellen to the airport. It's a sham - she doesn't board the flight. Her boyfriend is waiting in a car for her and takes her to a motel. When the week ends, her boyfriend drives her back to the airport an hour before her flight's arrival home. Howard dutifully picks his wife up. The rotten charade is complete, Ellen has cuckolded her husband. This wasn't just a 'mistake' by Ellen, this trip alone was hundreds of mean, selfish, cruel decisions by her.
The ending, yawn.
July 28, 2015
With some books it's like watching a play from balcony seat. You are detached from what's going on with the characters. A really great author takes you into their story and you find yourself feeling angry, shocked, sad,
or filled with joy. I was so angry with the central character, Howard Woods. Shortly after he retires, His wife Ellen confesses she had an affair 20 years before with a fellow teacher. Howard literally goes off the deep end. Howard ends up a cowardly, resentful and unforgiving man who finds he wants to hurt his wife any way he can. When He tries to throw her out of their house, she won't leave, so he is forced to pack up and go live at his son's house. That stay doesn't last long since his son and his wife think he's an insane idiot. So he is forced to relocate to the local crummy Hilton. While there, He decides the thing to do is go to Pamplona and run with the bulls.He sees this as a way to recover his shattered masculinity.
On the day he is to leave for his big Spanish adventure a horrific accident happens leaving him senseless with grief. He wants to come back and comfort Ellen, but she is wiser. She tells him that if she takes him back, things would be good but then he would again become the unforgiving person his was and is.
This is very powerful message about forgiveness and letting the past go. Not an easy book but worth it.
or filled with joy. I was so angry with the central character, Howard Woods. Shortly after he retires, His wife Ellen confesses she had an affair 20 years before with a fellow teacher. Howard literally goes off the deep end. Howard ends up a cowardly, resentful and unforgiving man who finds he wants to hurt his wife any way he can. When He tries to throw her out of their house, she won't leave, so he is forced to pack up and go live at his son's house. That stay doesn't last long since his son and his wife think he's an insane idiot. So he is forced to relocate to the local crummy Hilton. While there, He decides the thing to do is go to Pamplona and run with the bulls.He sees this as a way to recover his shattered masculinity.
On the day he is to leave for his big Spanish adventure a horrific accident happens leaving him senseless with grief. He wants to come back and comfort Ellen, but she is wiser. She tells him that if she takes him back, things would be good but then he would again become the unforgiving person his was and is.
This is very powerful message about forgiveness and letting the past go. Not an easy book but worth it.
September 16, 2009
For some reason I'm addicted to these light, 2-day-read novels.
April 17, 2011
Retirement, Betrayal, Life....It was an okay read.
November 7, 2011
I really LOVED this book. So funny but also heartbreaking.
December 1, 2015
Not as good as her earlier books....
January 25, 2013
It's funny, it's sad. I really enjoy her books!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews