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Brendan Gisby

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The Bookie's Runner Kindle Edition

by Brendan Gisby (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Bob Dylan wrote the classic song "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and thereby unforgettably marked the passing of an otherwise insignificant character in the movie "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid".

Brendan Gisby has written this utterly beautiful novella to honour the short life of his father, a man of seemingly as little significance.

The story is narrated with haunting subtlety, rhythm and depth of feeling by his teenage son as he takes a bus ride back to school for the first day of a new term, where he will have to announce his father's sudden death and deal with the resultant reactions without bursting into tears. He also has to come to terms with the fact that, on reflection, there is a huge amount he doesn't know about his father and that all he is really left with are snippets of personal memories.

Make no mistake, THE BOOKIE'S RUNNER is a modern masterpiece. In writing it, Brendan Gisby has not only honoured his father, he has ennobled him.

Print length

114 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

January 28, 2013
File size

314 KB
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00B7H5KE6
Publisher ‏ : ‎ McStorytellers (January 28, 2013)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 28, 2013
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 314 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 114 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1482038927

Best Sellers Rank: #3,079,988 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #21,706 in Historical Biographies (Kindle Store)
- #44,820 in Memoirs (Kindle Store)
- #81,800 in Historical Biographies (Books)

Customer Reviews:
143

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Brendan Gisby

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Brendan Gisby was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, halfway through the 20th century, and was brought up just along the road in South Queensferry (the Ferry) in the shadow of the world-famous Forth Bridge. He presently lives in splendid isolation in the wilds of Strathearn in Scotland.

Retiring from a business career in 2007, Brendan has devoted himself to writing. To date, he has published four novels, four biographies and several short story collections, details of all of which can be viewed on this site.

Brendan is also the founder of McStorytellers (http://mcstorytellers.com), a website which showcases the work of Scottish-connected short story writers.

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4 out of 5

143 global ratings

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Rosemary Pooser

Gisby never disappoints

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2018

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Gisby never disappoints; that should be the title of his autobiography. What a perfect homage to his father. The prose, as always, is rich and dripping with delicious melancholy. If the author was present at the completion of this read, I would have given him a hug. Were I to compile a bucket list, one of the items would be to read everything Gisby has ever put out. Scratch that, I will read all of it and more. It would be to become as gifted an author as he is.

One person found this helpful

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clg

hard to put down

Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2013

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I enjoyed this book, I know he thought his father was too nice and easy going which he felt was his downfall, but I believe we can be the best we can be and still have a successful God fearing life. It was a touching story, I am glad I read it.

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

A gift of a read

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2012

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Brendan Gisby's novella, 'The Bookie's Runner', is a gift of a read as we're taken into the story of a man remembering the life of his father. The tenderness and affection of the writing is intensely moving and every time the narrator fights backs his tears so, too, does the reader. Gisby gives us poignant insight into the life of an ordinary Scottish family struggling with poverty and we get a vivid portrait of the father, one of those little and hugely dignified men from whom real history is made. The father-son relationship is beautifully depicted and the brevity of the work intensifies its emotional impact. Strong, powerful and evocative writing from start to end.

5 people found this helpful

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James W. Thanos

I would have liked to hear more about how it effected the writer ...

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2014

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A quick read about a son's remembrances of his father and the impact that it has on him. I thought it was enjoyable reading especially since I lived in England and could relate to the use of the colloquiums etc. I would have liked to hear more about how it effected the writer in his life today. What did he take away from his father's life that changed his life? What does he do today, does he feel good about it, does he have a family, etc? I just didn't think it wrapped it up at the end.

3 people found this helpful

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gappo

can't stop once you start

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2014

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A very personal story of a very ordinary person that was loved by his family. I enjoyed the authors style of storytelling. I sympathized with his fathers lot in life and got a clear sense of how the author felt about it.

One person found this helpful

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John Burke

Family secrets

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2019

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This book is no more than a critical condemnation of Scotland which will be difficult to read and understand fully by nationals of that geographical area of the country .While i read the book waiting for the interest to satisfy my efforts this book is no more than the illustration of deprived education and living conditions /habits of a section of the community which is no more than an insult to the nation for the readers who praise this rendering of journalism it is time to spread your interests on an international scale and move on from obtaining satisfaction from lifestyile and social conditions that are forgotten. is not a tribute to reveal the personal habits and idiosyncracies of a person and certainly not your parents why would an author use the family despondencies to attain temporary fame ?

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TaraM'liss

Emotional and heart warming!

Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2011

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WHAT A BOOK!!!

I honestly felt the emotions and frustrations that Brendan Gisby relays to us in this wonderful book! I don't think there could possibly be a person out there who didn't relate to his story in some manner. But Brendan takes us there in a magical way! I swear I could smell the scents, feel the breeze, hear the creak of the gate...I WAS THERE! My heart ached when his did and I felt the pain of a young boy who couldn't change the outcome and circumstances of life, and would have given anything if he could. I highly recommend this book!!

2 people found this helpful

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BRR

Sad. It lovely short story

Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2016

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I read Brendan Grisby's The Bookies Runner in the 3.5 hrs from Kansas City to home Thanksgiving evening. It was sad & lovely & a fantastic read. I will be visiting Mr. Grisby's website for more!

One person found this helpful

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IntensiveCareNurse

Moving, Funny & Well Written.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 1, 2012

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I think I need to start this review by creating confidence for prospective readers of this great biography...
There are many free books on Amazon, most (truly) ranging from "damn right rotten" to "just mediocre". This is completely understandable as many new authors utilise the free E-book opportunity to air their works to a new public who would not otherwise purchase their material. On that basis I have read some downright stinkers & expected very little of this biography of the author's fathers' life.
What I actually did find was a clearly skilled writer adept at painting situations and characters that can clearly be visualised. The gritty tale also depicted 1960's South Queensferry in a way that I personally found utterly authentic and compelling...
I have personally read hundreds of more "commercial" biographies (best sellers amongst them), and have found few better at the craft than this writer.
On that basis, I would ask him now to consider if he has embellished on his memory at all, in the witing of this book.
If the answer is yes, then I would suggest that he thinks hard about writing a work of fiction sometime in the future. If it was indeed a precisely accurate observation of his exact experience, I would still suggest that he writes further, as his clear ability to create accomplished character studies will surely not let him down. I for one would be happy to read a work of fiction by him based upon a microcosm of Edinburgh life (for example), as I'm sure his proven ability to document detail would produce wonderful work when coupled with his existing experience of places, people & their interactions.
My favourite part of the book? ; The author's visualisation of the (then dead) "ghost" of his father, as he had been, wading in the mud beneath the Forth road bridge looking for "lucky pennies". The author imagines his father there waving to him again, mouthing the words (or so the author thought) "have a nice life, son, have a nice life". Quite brilliant stuff, and I defy anyone to read it and not be deeply moved.
As someone who also lost his mother (after a similarly short & tragic life) as a teenager, this book perhaps meant more to me than it might to many. It is especially accomplished in that it utterly grips the reader whilst documenting ordinary yet characterful lives. Not many writers do this so well.
It is a short book (around 100 pages, which seems to suit it well), but is much more than a short story.
If I can criticise it at all, it is only in that I considered the end of the book too sudden & slightly clumsy... Where the author to conclude in another literal "souvenir" of his father (for example), then this might have sat better with me... There is also a page in which he momentarily broke the spell he had spun on me (at least) by vividly documenting his personal bitterness towards his mother. Very valid, perhaps, but it did not (for me at least) sit comfortably with the majority of material which takes a seemingly philosophical attitude towards the colourful book characters. This could be just my perspective, however and in no way detracts from the quality of the read.
But could I do better? No I certainly could not... This is one fabulous & accomplished writer & I challenge any reader to begin this biography without finishing it.
Recommended.

Update: OK, I've just noted that the author has already written other novels & short stories... I'm very pleased...

PS: Isn't it annoying (and oh so obvious) when someone presses all the "not helpful" buttons of other reviewers just to make their review rank higher?

4 people found this helpful

col2910

Heartfelt memoir of a much-loved father!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 5, 2017

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An enjoyable read with Brendan Gisby's emotional account of his father's life, drawn from his childhood memories.

Shared experiences of a man he loved but didn't have the chance to really get to know. There's the pain and love and resentment and anger that is present in all families.

The Gisby's were poor. The father worked a couple of jobs while the mother exhibited a blatant disregard for budgeting. Money was spent faster than it was earned. We join Brendan and his father searching the beach for Forth Bridge money thrown off the passing train by passengers for good luck.
Scrubbing the coins later at home and the tsk'ing of his mother, with his father proclaiming there's no shame in being poor.

Other memories......... a gardening job with his father and the humiliation Brendan felt at his treatment by the lady of the house and the innate understanding his father had for his feelings; the raging toothache and pain his father felt and the "miraculous" finding by his sister of the money to pay for treatment and the days as a bookie's runner, filling in for his dad while he lay in a hospital bed; finally the end and the passing of his father and the way he dealt with adversity.

3.5 from 5

Brendan Gisby has been read and enjoyed before - The Burrymen War was a powerful read.

Read - April, 2017
Published - 2013
Page count - 90
Source - purchased copy an Amazon FREEBIE
Format - Kindle

One person found this helpful

C. Wight

Sometimes you can trust reviews.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2012

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It's not that I doubted the reviews. People whose opinion I respect have raved about this book. It's not that I doubted Brendan's talent - in one week I've consumed his short stories and family saga and been deeply moved by both.

It's just that I couldn't begin to imagine what one could write about such an ordinary dad. Brendan admits it, more than once `he was just my dad.' Not a hero. Not unusual in any obvious way, `just my dad.' So I found it hard to imagine what could make any book on the subject as good as people have said about it. That's why I didn't read it sooner. I should have. I started reading. I was choked by paragraph 2. Lesson 2 learned. It's not just what he writes about it's how he writes. It's brave, honest, open, poignant and compelling

By Chapter Two I already knew I had to give this my full and undivided attention - and expect to cry. And I don't do crying. Especially not about fathers. Having long since had mine abandon me, I tend not to think that fathers can be heroes.

But this is Brendan's story, not mine. And a fifteen year old Brendan narrates his thoughts on the longest bus journey on earth - his first day back at High School after the death of his father. Each chapter is another story in the course of his dad's life and it works so well because the adult holds himself in the background, while offering a subtle awareness of the depths beyond the boy's immediate grief. He shares the reflexive stance of the reader and draws our empathy not only to the boy but to the man the boy became. It is man and boy telling the story.

The 15 year old feels raw emotion and unbridled hatred for a world which has treated his dad so unfairly and everyone (including himself) who has ever wronged his dad are the target of his furious grief. The tribute to the adult is that he has channelled this into a story which is a true tribute to his father.

F.Scott Fitzgerald said `write because you have something to say, not because you want to say something. Gisby wants to say something - boy and man - but he also HAS something to say. Something very important about human relationships and interaction. About truth and lies and trust and failure and love.

The boy experiences hopelessness and vows never to be as gentle and soft as his dad.

`Who can you trust?' is his dad's poignant question and Gisby learns that you can't trust anyone -except your dad. And without him, you have nothing left. I empathise with that feeling.

Structurally the work is understated but very clever. One doesn't find out the full symbolic importance of the bus journey until well into the book and it hits one as yet another sideswipe. You want to go and wring the neck of the woman who cheats them at their gardening job. You want to hunt down the Bookie who cheats them (I hope this isn't too much of a spoiler) It isn't though because the episodes themselves, well written, remembered with the rawness of real emotion, are the stepping stones towards the greatness of the story which is a picture of how `ordinary' people become what they are. The hopelessness. The fierce determination not to be cheated or lied to or tramped on are vivid and real. After finishing this I have the deepest respect for Brendan Gisby. I mourn for the boy he was and the dad he lost and I hope that he got the life he deserved. He certainly deserves the utmost respect for being able to tell this story with the power of pain and vividness of emotion and yet all of that is controlled, constructed and managed with a level of reflective awareness that is little short of incredible

One person found this helpful

PMD

Life can be tough!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2020

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If there is a follow up, it would be good to know that life can get better - an easy read.

Amazon Customer

a well written short story which evoked memories of my ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2015

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a well written short story which evoked memories of my own childhood in Queensferry, I knew the Gisby family , and ours was no different an upbringing. It made me laugh and cry at the same time.

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