Review: Racing the Rain by John L. Parker, Jr.

Racing the Rain

by John L. Parker, Jr.

7 Highlighters out of 10

"It would have been difficult for an adult to appreciate their boundless sense of possibilities as they stood waiting: the vastness of the coming summer, the endless expanse of school years ahead, the insignificance of their tiny lives when measured against any grown up conception of time."

Anyone that has known me for a while knows that running is important to me. Obviously all the friends I’ve made as teammates and club members in the running community share that passion with me. If you have competed in any sport at multiple levels and kept the practice as part of your life beyond your competitive career, no matter how big or small, you know that being an athlete is a deeper, more significant part of one’s identity and experience in life than simply “playing a sport”. This has been known at least since ancient philosophers asserted that physical education should be a required aspect of one’s lifelong learning. Alternatively, if you disliked having to take P.E. in high school you can blame people like Plato.

Cross country is my favorite sport. I competed in both cross country and track as a high schooler, for my local community college team, and then briefly led the Running Club at Sacramento State as president. Although it’s always impossible to choose just one, I have often claimed Once A Runner by John L. Parker, Jr. to be my favorite book—certainly my favorite book about running. The book follows the main character Quentin Cassidy, a talented middle distance collegiate runner who specializes in the mile at Southeastern University in Florida. However, I haven’t read the book in probably six years now and I haven’t gotten around to reading the sequel Again to Carthage.

When I realized that a prequel to the 1978 classic was released in 2015 I knew what I had to do. I would frame my necessary re-reading by getting the full trilogy experience. To undergo the full Quentin Cassidy journey I would read the books in the chronological order of the protagonist’s life: Racing the Rain, Once a Runner, and finally Again to Carthage.

This prequel takes the reader to the earliest points in which Cassidy can be called a runner. The reader follows Cassidy all the way from elementary school through to the end of high school.

I have to admit that I had a cynical skepticism going into my reading of this novel. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I was afraid that the author had written this years-later prequel only in the attempt to cash in on the cult following that Once a Runner has amassed over the years. Critically, Runner’s World Magazine even calls it “The best novel ever written about running.” I was also afraid that the project may come across as a self-indulgent journey into the author’s own nostalgia since Quentin Cassidy’s exploits are admittedly (in the author’s note) loosely based on Parker’s own experiences as a runner: “Some characters and situations in this book were inspired by actual people and historical events, though I have used (and perhaps misused) them in entirely fictional ways.” What I wanted to read was another great story about the physical, emotional, and psychological depths of distance running, not an old white guy’s heavily nostalgic rehashing of the good ol’ days growing up in the U.S. south (Florida) during the 50’s and 60’s.

Despite all the potential things that could have gone wrong, I was not disappointed. Parker delivers a solid, engaging story about young Cassidy growing into a middle distance runner that leads us right to the first page of Once a Runner.

My only complaint would be that the story doesn’t have enough running. Understandably, the story could never be only about running but I was surprised to read how much Racing the Rain covered all the topics I thought it would cringingly ignore, and more. Parker didn’t ignore the historical realities and implications of the novel’s time and place. After three short chapters there is already a chapter called “Nuclear Oblivion”.

Throughout the fun and funny events that the reader follows Cassidy through the novel manages to address: the catholic church, racism, the potential consequences of international nuclear arms (i.e., extinction of the human race) in time when that was a very real possibility, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (this isn’t a spoiler—it’s been 57 years). There are even subtle critiques of post-Kennedy U.S. politicians like referring to Barry Goldwater only as “a curmudgeon from Arizona” that the Republicans elected, therefore causing politics to revert “back to the same group of old white guys”. Although JFK’s vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson, was elected over Goldwater he was not safe from Parker’s critique either. His political exploits are described in the young protagonist’s voice: “President Johnson signed a law saying you had to be nice to colored people, which apparently still didn’t include letting them into white schools, certainly not Edgewater [the novel’s high school setting]”. Given the young perspective, though, none of these topics are a deep focus in the narrative nor are they treated with much critical depth.

What’s interesting to note here is that the narrator is actually third person omniscient, not the young Quenton Cassidy speaking in first person. This could devolve into a weirdly meta analysis on what it means to be an author writing in third person “omniscient” especially considering that Parker must have done much reflection and introspection on his own life to construct a fictional version of his own childhood. I won’t spend too much time going down that path right now. The main point here is that the novel isn’t afraid to address sociopolitical issues of the time but the book as a whole—with young main characters, a youthful voice, and really short chapters—reads very much like a young adult (YA) novel. But, it doesn’t seem to be intended as or marketed as YA since it is a prequel to the college-level Once a Runner. Even more, there are probably many YA books to be found that really hone in on and explore time-and-place social/political issues. So, look elsewhere if that’s the painting of the 50’s-60’s U.S. south that you’re searching for.

Quantity-wise the narrative is just as much, if not more-so, about Cassidy and his young friends’ experiences playing basketball. Although I came prepared for a running novel, Parker is equipped to make all the basketball scenes exciting. He was a former all-state player himself. The book does showcase what made me enjoy my initial reading of Once a Runner: Parker’s talent for writing detailed description of athletic competition in prose that puts you on the edge of your bleacher-seat as a spectator, while also putting you in the athlete’s shoes mentally and emotionally. If you are a fan of athletics, of any sport in general, you will surely enjoy Parker’s prose on both basketball and running. School drama between changing coaches and players keeps the conflict going in Racing the Rain.

I was in no way disappointed by the addition of a prequel to the Once a Runner world of realistic fiction. Parker proved that he is a gifted writer, capturing many parts of life in this coming-of-age novel that will appeal to runners and non-runners alike. It really did lead beautifully up to where Once a Runner begins. I’m excited to start my re-reading and continue on to the end of the trail.