The Dive From Clausen's Pier: A Novel
by Ann Packer
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ann PackerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-04-08
ISBN: 0375727132
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of The Dive From Clausen's Pier: A Novel
Book Review: PART ONE!
Summary: 5 Stars
Annotation: "The Dive from Clausen's Pier" is about a woman by the
name of Carrie Bell, who is faced with a decision of whether or not
she should leave her fiancé. She and her fiancé were high school
sweethearts. They were inseparable throughout high school and Carrie
practically lived with his family. Her fiancé, Mike Meyer, cared for
Carrie very much. On Memorial Day, Carrie and Mike go to Clausen's
Pier as usual and Mike takes a dive from the Pier and doesn't realize
that the depth of the river was four feet shorter than usual. Mike
gets hurt and is taken to the hospital. Carrie is informed later at
the hospital that Mike is paralyzed from the neck down and he is in a
coma.
Author Bio: Ann Packer is a past recipient of a James Michener award
and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Her work has
appeared in The New Yorker, Ploughshares, and other magazines, as well
as in Prize Stories 1992: The O. Henry Awards. The author of Mendocino
and Other Stories, she lives in northern California with her husband
and two children.
Evaluation: "The Dive from Clausen's Pier" is about a young woman,
Carrie that is faced with a critical decision on whether or not she
should leave her fiancé after finding out that he is paralyzed and is
in a coma. Carrie is pressured by Mike's friends and family and also
by her mother to stay with Mike but Carrie is not sure on what she
should do. When Carrie is not at the hospital with Mike she is usually
at home sewing or at work. Mike's mother expects Carrie to be at the
hospital with Mike everyday but Carries doesn't have the strength to
see him struggling. Carrie starts packing her bags and takes the
highway to New York to meet with an old classmate, Simon Rhodes, from
her high school days.
This was by far my favorite book that I have read by Ann Packer. I
thought the book was very interesting because I like reading romance
novels. This book was very hard to put down because I always wanted to
know what was going to happen next. I felt like this book is the same
as a soap opera. I felt like I was one of the characters in the novel.
This novel is creative in that it gets the reader to be on the edge of
their seats to find out what happens next. I can't wait to finish
reading the second part of this story.
Summary of The Dive From Clausen's Pier: A Novel
How much do we owe the people we love? Is it a sign of strength or weakness to walk away from someone in need? These questions lie at the heart of Ann Packer?s intimate and emotionally thrilling new novel, which has won its author comparisons with Jane Hamilton and Sue Miller.At the age of twenty-three Carrie Bell has spent her entire life in Wisconsin, with the same best friend and the same dependable, easygoing, high school sweetheart. Now to her dismay she has begun to find this life suffocating and is considering leaving it?and Mike?behind. But when Mike is paralyzed in a diving accident, leaving seems unforgivable and yet more necessary than ever. The Dive from Clausen?s Pier animates this dilemma?and Carrie?s startling response to it?with the narrative assurance, exacting realism, and moral complexity we expect from the very best fiction.
Carrie Bell is the worst person in the world. Or so she would have you think. In the gripping, carefully paced debut novel of personal epiphany, The Dive from Clausen's Pier, by O. Henry Award winner Ann Packer, Carrie's very survival is dependent upon her leaving her fiancé, even after he dives into shallow water at a Memorial Day picnic and becomes paralyzed. Things hadn't been going so well for the Madison, Wisconsin, high school and college sweethearts. Carrie knew, deep down, that she wasn't going to become Mrs. Michael Mayer. But expectations and pressure from all sides--his family, her mother, her best friend Jamie, Mike's best friend Rooster--force Carrie to shut herself up in her room and sew outfits of her own design as if in a trance. Then one night she slips out of the only universe she's ever known. Many hours later she finds herself on the doorstep of a high school classmate living in Manhattan. Carrie's adventures in the city--quirky roommates and a new romance with an older, emotionally impenetrable man--confuse her in her quest both to forgive herself and to embark on a career in fashion design. Packer writes in a convincing voice and packs a lot into this novel; she infuses Carrie with enough humanity and smarts to choose her own version of "happily ever after." --Emily Russin
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