The Dive From Clausen's Pier: A Novel by Ann Packer
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Book Reviews of The Dive From Clausen's Pier: A Novel
Book Review: Life held up to a mirror
Summary: 5 Stars
The reviews I have read are so literal about this story and this is understandable because Packer's writing is like Carrie's sewing--straightforward, easy to follow and not at it's best when adorned. If, however, anyone has ever been in a relationship that was headed for a breakup, then this is the book to read so that you begin to understand that you cannot sacrifice your life to a terminal cause---and you cannot necessarily find yourself by being attracted to the polar opposite--as invigorating as the experience may be. Carrie's dilemma is painful: stay with the man she had outgrown emotionally because he is now quadriplegic and because others expect her too or break hearts and expectations and pursue what she feels is finally in her best interest. Most of us have found ourselves in this situation and saturated with remorse after the fact when we try to understand our motives. The ending is therefore perfect--you cannot escape who you are by moving and hiding somewhere new. You must first accept the consequences of your decisions,and then confront those who are angry or hurt and help them understand that no one can--or has the right--to make us feel guilty for the hurt or dashed expectations of others and finally to accept your choices of the moment because they suit you--and cannot hurt others unless they choose to be hurt. Michael does not finally feel hurt by Carrie--his mother does, because now her son is her responsibility. Is that motherly love? Her friend is upset that Carrie left town and was not their for her familial meltdown. Would that have been made any easier if Carrie been physically present? Is that selfishness or hurt? Must we assure the happiness of others at all costs to our own happiness and dignity? That is impossible. That is not love. Please, lift this novel off the page and apply it to your life. It is personal, reflective and unadorned and I find myself thinking back to it often. This book is truly a reward for the time spent reading it.Book Review: You might not like Carrie, but you'll enjoy the story
Summary: 5 Stars
The first several pages of this book had me hooked. Ann Packers writing style, poetic at times, drew me in, as well as the story itself. Even if one of the main characters, Carrie, was hard to like most of the time!Mike and Carrie are engaged and have been together 8 years when they hit rocky times. The passion seems to have fizzled out for Carrie, but not for Mike, who tries with all his might to save their relationship. In trying to do anything to win her heart again, he decides to dive off a pier, into water he doesn't realize is shallow, breaking his neck. With a long road of recovery ahead of him and learning to live with the damage done, Carrie is still in the process of deciding if she wants to be with him. It's now or never. And in a rash decision of a person cornered, she takes off to New York- for an uncertain future.
Like I said, Carrie is hard to like a lot of the time. You can relate to her some times and others, you just want to slap her and wake her up! You'll feel compassion for Mike in his struggle, which makes you like her less. But the story, of having to decide what you want to do with the rest of your life, that is compelling. Most of us have been at a point where we don't know what to do, and Carrie is there, probably stuck worse than most of us ever get. And at times, you can't help but feel badly for her, in trying to decide what she wants to do and who she is, it really is like she doesn't know who she is at all. Ann Packer did a wonderful job of making us feel and see Carries position.
I'd recommend this book for one reason- the journey. The story Packer tells is so all-encompassing, you really feel like you're "there" and that you've learned a little about human nature and maybe even yourself. While I was not satisfied with the ending, perhaps other people will be. Overall excellent reading!
Book Review: Thought provoking and compelling!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Dive from Clausen's Pier is a beautiful, well written story of 23-year-old Carrie Bell, a young woman from Madison, Wisconsin. The novel begins with Carrie spending a Memorial Day picnic with her childhood friends, including her fiance, Mike. Carrie has pretty much had it with the relationship with Mike and he suspects the same. She is also beginning to get a bit bored with her friends, including Jamie, her best friend for many years. Things suddenly change for everyone at the picnic when Mike dives off the pier, and breaks his neck, and is permanently paralyzed. Carrie, who can be a bit of an ice queen, as far as narrators go, can't really decide what to do now. She is still going through an existential crisis, and although she doesn't say it, suspects she has outgrown many of her relationships in Madison. She decides that she needs a change of scenery, but breaking away from the life as she's known it proves difficult...Her misguided choices may anger some readers, but I think most will appreciated her story and understand how she grows as a person. I found Carrie's story thought provoking and compelling. I literally could not put the book down for the last 100 pages or so because I had to see what she decides to do. As I said, as a narrator, she can be a bit chilly, even unlikable at times, which makes sense given her fear that the story she is relating may seem selfish (which I don't think it is). I marvel at this wonderful tale of a woman and the choices she finds herself making. I highly recommend this novel and believe that most readers will enjoy it.
Book Review: A Flawless Writer
Summary: 5 Stars
Packer's writing is so smoothly executed that I forgot I was reading a book. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I couldn't put the book down and found it entirely realistic throughout.
I LOVE the "thread" of the main character's sewing woven throughout the story. This felt like such a woman's book to me---who hasn't ever loved a cad irrationally, or lost herself in passion inexplicably? Who hasn't ever "made a new plan, Stan," and let her impulses take her to a new life? I think many college educated women from cosmopolitan locations, like Carrie, have.
Packer captures everything beautifully--NYC, the simplicity of a first-time h.s. love, the staggering ambivalence Carrie feels toward Mike and her high-maintenance friend, Jaime.
I don't know how Packer does it. Her writing is the literary equivalent of a photograph. Packer has a seamless connection between life, her mind and her pen. And looking at the author's photo on the back flap, I felt her to be the perfect prototype of Carrie! What a beautiful woman!
This is a wonderful book dealing with the heart wrenching realities of life that make me philosophic about my own life. The book has plenty of rich detail about the connections many women feel with men, textiles, nature, our friends, mothers and mother figures, dead beat dads and dad figures, career, ourselves.
This is a really, really good book, aptly heralded as a best seller.
Book Review: painfully addictive
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is extremely compelling, even with oveflowing, and sometimes seemingly useless, detail. While I found it heart-breaking in more ways then one, it's not only a good read, but a neccessary one. It challenges the reader to re-evaluate their lives, thinking of experiences as merely experiences. I'm sure that makes little sense, but by reading this book I've been forced to look at decisions confidently, not recognizing them as good or bad, but only experiences to learn from. The main charachter, Carrie, was suprisingly easy to relate to, considering I've never experienced trauma with anyone close to me and I've never been in love. I kept seeing her as cold and unfeeling but when I placed myself in her shoes, I can't see how my decisions would have been so different from hers. In the beginging of the book, I seperated the right decision from the decision that would make Carrie most happy, yet by the end I confronted my own way of thinking, puzzled by why the right decision couldn't be the one that would make her the most happy. With such realistic tragedy, I couldn't help feeling compelled to help the charachters, and rarely do charachters seem so real to me. I'm only 15, but by no means is this book meant for someone my age, actually I strongly reccomend it for those older than me. I really hope this book can affect someone else the same way it has affected me.