Book Review: What Mad Pursuit: Short Stories About Runners

What Mad Pursuit: Short Stories About Runners. Rich Elliott. Kindle Direct Publishing, April 19, 2021, Trade Paperback and E-book.

Reviewed by Charles Kuner.

In a conversation I had with a friend recently, the idea of running as a metaphor for life was raised. In the sense, life, like running, is a mostly solitary experience, as you are running against yourself and in competition with others. There are the physical mechanics of running–the external part, but there are also intellectual and philosophical parts to running. As it is not just a physical game, but a mental one, requiring runners to devise strategies and tactics for both. With that in mind, the 17 short stories of Rich Elliott’s What Mad Pursuit are inspirational and must-reads for current or aspiring track athletes or interested in coaching runners.

To become a successful runner, one must deal with issues such as resiliency, prejudice, competency, jealousy, and resentment, and to have the grit to gain the endurance and suffer the pain needed to compete. The themes of survival and struggle run in these stories just as they do in life, except that runners seem to embrace these obstacles in an enthusiastic and often reckless rush as if each day were their last. 

The language of the dialogue and the narrative have a flow and a cadence that is reminiscent of a runner’s pace; it is natural and real, spare, and to the point. Elliott parses his words in an economy of language, and because of this, there are parts of the stories that beg to be read aloud, and I occasionally found myself doing so.

The adage “write what you know” proves to be true in Rich Elliott’s case, as many of the stories in the collection have both obvious and subtle biographical aspects and feelings. There is an underlying teacher’s empathy and understanding of literacy. This is most apparent with his use of literary and pop culture references to connect with the audience in a meaningful way. Furthermore, Elliott’s experiences as both a runner and a coach add fullness to his characters, situations, and stories. In effect, what the reader gains from Elliott’s writing are realistic and grounded portrayals of track athletes as complex human beings. Because of this, the collection’s lessons are not just those of running or runners, but universal human ones. Yes, it is a collection of short sports stories, and yet running is framed as part of the larger human condition. It confronts the real world and real experiences instead of, as too many sports stories do, seeking escape from the mundane.

The stories are replete with vivid, colorful, and complex characters; they are rich in characterization, and the situations feel very real. These are not cardboard and stereotypical people. They are people in situations that will be familiar to the lives of readers. The writing is spare and to the point, and it has prose that seems to mimic the pace of a runner.

The stories lend themselves well for analysis, as there is so much below the surface of the iceberg. It was a real pleasure to read about moralistic heroes instead of the currently popular, so-called anti-heroes, to make a point.

Finally, as a result of reading this collection, this reviewer has come away with a far more positive understanding of runners, their coaches, and their perspective on the human condition.