The Runner

The Runner by Cynthia Voigt is a young adult novel, and the fourth book in the Tillerman series. It follows the story of Samuel “Bullet” Tillerman, an avid runner and track star who struggles against his abusive father and passive mother, while trying to achieve his dreams to run at any cost. Set during the era of the Vietnam War, Bullet struggles with his own ideas of what to do with his life, and has to face his own prejudices when a young, promising African American runner joins his track team.

The novel begins with the story of Bullet Tillerman, a troubled senior in high school who is trying to find a way to do what he loves, while navigating the family life he seeks to flee. The novel is set during the period of the Vietnam War, and Bullet, as a budding eighteen year old with a dream, wonders how he will spend the rest of his life after high school. Bullet grew up in an abusive household, with a violent, dictatorial father and a mother who, after decades of dealing with her husband's abuse, seems to have given up the fight. Bullet has watched his older brother and sister flee their home, to escape the rage of their father. This leaves Bullet and his father to tend the family farm. But Bullet doesn't want to be stuck with his father, despite knowing that he is needed at home. He thinks about running away or enlisting in the Vietnam War to escape the pull of his toxic family.

Despite Bullet's troubled home life, he does have one thing he loves – running. Bullet is on the track team, and is a star within his high school and the district. Bullet wins nearly all of his races, but he isn't into running for the glory or the victory or the thought that he is better than his peers. Instead, Bullet runs on his own terms, because his body is made to run. In running he finds joy, freedom, and release from the constraints of daily life. In essence, Bullet runs to escape.

Problems arise, however, when the one sanctuary for Bullet, his track team, enlists a new runner named Tamar. This rising star on the team is African American – and Bullet finds himself hating the new guy, not only because he is infiltrating his team, but because of his skin color. Bullet starts to harass and bully the new kid, channeling the ugliest and most racist parts of himself in order to make Tamar feel unwelcome. Bullet's harassment doesn't go unnoticed, and soon he is forced to reconcile the thought of being kicked off of the track team if he doesn't change his behavior. The problem is, Bullet is pretty sure he would rather never run again than train with a boy who isn't white.

As Bullet struggles with his own feelings and belief systems, he spends more and more time with Tamar. Bullet has always played by his own rules, and struggled with his distaste for the belief systems and feelings of others – in many ways, he did it to survive the onslaught of attacks from his father. Having grown into a man who wants to do what he wants to do without answering to anyone, Bullet is confused when his ideas about what is right begin to conflict with what he is seeing and experiencing. As the novel progresses, Bullet finds himself becoming, slowly, more accepting of Tamar, and of his place on the team. As he finally grows to accept Tamar, Bullet realizes that his ideas about the world are more myopic, and more selfish, than he imagined.

Though the novel is tragic in its ending – Bullet manages to escape his father by enlisting in the Vietnam War after graduation, and soon finds himself a casualty of that brutal, dangerous jungle – the novel is less about the tragedy of this family, and more about Bullet's growth as he works to overcome his cynical, traumatized views of the world, and to learn how to love not only running, but people in the world who deserve to be loved.

Cynthia Voigt is an award-winning author of young adult novels in a variety of genres, including fantasy, adventure, and mystery. She wrote seven novels in the Tillerman series, which follows various members of the Tillerman family after they are abandoned by their mother, and forced to search for their estranged grandmother to connect with the remnants of their family. The books deal with difficult subjects, including child abuse, trauma, war, and racism. Voigt has also written the Kingdom series, the Mister Max series, and many others. She is the winner of a Newbery Medal, and Edgar Allan Poe Award, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults Award, and a Phoenix Award.