Problems with The Memory of Running

After reading The Memory of Running, I realized that I have a couple problems with the stories realistic nature, and so I thought I would write about these problems as my final post on The Memory of Running. In my previous post, I wrote about how surprised I was by the complete lack of training or skill either of Bethany's psychologists had, and how I was not sure if it was really realistic that the psychologists would let Bethany live a normal life when she was obviously capable of terrible things such as murdering Count's dog, but there were a couple other problems I also had with the novel.

One of my biggest problems with the first half of the novel was how Smithy so easily adjusted to biking 10 hours a day, living off bananas, and not smoking or drinking. For someone who was as dependant on alcohol and nicotine as Smithy was, it seems very unrealistic that he would be able to go cold turkey and still be able to function normally, which Smithy seems to do. Smithy rarely if ever mentions any desire to drink or smoke after he leaves, which seems like a giant change for someone who was physically and emotionally addicted to these drugs. Smithy also seems to be able to ignore his lack of physical fitness, and although he complains about being in some physical pain towards the beginning of his journey, he doesn't seem to really be experiencing as much pain as I would expect a middle age man who weighed almost 300 pounds to feel when he was riding a tiny bike for 10 hours a day. The fact that Smithy was able to keep going despite his lack of physical prowess, is even more impressive given the injuries he sustained at the beginning of the journey, yet he still is able to bike and not need to eat much, which again strikes me as a little far fetched.

The other scene in the novel that really strikes me as unrealistic is when the girl biker tried to sleep with Smithy, but Smithy turned her down. Although this is a heroic refusal by Smithy, especially given his weird views of women that aren't Bethany or Norma, it also seems a little unrealistic that this random women would try to sleep with Smithy. First of all, he hadn't had a real shower for weeks, so there is no way that he smelled at all pleasant, even with the rare "sink baths." Also, after losing 50+ pounds, Smithy would have a large amount of baggy skin, which, combined with his unshaven hair/beard, wouldn't make him very physically attractive either. It could be she was attracted to his intellectual/emotional side, but he doesn't come off as having much of a personality in any of the scenes where she sees him. This combination makes Smithy seem like a very surprising choice for the women to sleep with. All of these facts that seem far-fetched made the novel less realistic for me, but still entertaining.