What's the meaning of "run over" in this context?

Question

Here is an excerpt from the book called Help Me!

Wednesday night was coffee with a photographer who had just come back from Iraq. He sounded interesting. He thought so too. I spent two hours being run over by his voice.

Actually, this is the whole context. After this, "I" met another date, and never made any reference to this one.

So, in this context, what does the expression "being run over by" mean? (In fact, I'm not sure about "He sounded interesting" part, too. Is the author saying that his voice was funny? or what he said was impressing?)

Answer 1

There’s a slightly sardonic tone in the final two sentences of your quote. I’ll take it sentence by sentence.

Wednesday night was coffee with a photographer who had just come back from Iraq.

Setting the scene.

He sounded interesting.

The author's original opinion of the photographer and the reason he decided to meet with him. He thought the photographer sounded like an interesting person to meet. Here "sounded" is being used idiomatically, the author may have heard interesting things about the photographer but he may have also read interesting things about the photographer.

He thought so too.

The photographer liked the sound of his own voice and talked a lot.

I spent two hours being run over by his voice.

This is the humorous punchline. It’s a metaphor likening the photographer's unstopping voice to being "run over" by an unstopping vehicle. In this context, I take "run over" as to be "run over by a car". An unpleasant accident that had physically painful consequences for the person being run over. The author didn’t expect it and would have avoided it if he could.