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: oh pleeeaaaasse!!!
Summary: 1 Stars
full and fair disclosure: i read this book only because there was nothing else available and i was stuck on a beach. and i knew going it was a "chick book" no matter how literary. but thats a good thing... i accept that universe and think there's a lot a guy like me can learn from it. i've liked books in this genre before... ann tyler's 'ladder of years' comes to mind. and i'm a giving, generous reader: easy going, persistent, open minded, and full of admiration for the very audacious act of writing a book, even a not very good one.
but i have to say: this book blows!!
packer's a good writer, i'll give her that. i never found her style the issue... she's a smooth neutral voice who keeps her prose free of unnecessary clutter and stylistic throat clearing. she lets her story take center stage. in this case, thats not a good thing. it was sort of compelling in a weird way, like "hold on a minute... i thought the ny times, san francisco chronicle et al said this was terrific... am i totally missing something??" i kept going back no matter how much the story irritated.
ann, you have to give me this much at least: i was ready to believe the fault was mine.
but no, in the end i had to admit (it bears repeating) this book blows!!
alright, i've never lived in madison wisconsin, so despite the fact that some "main" characters (like best friend rooster)seemed, well, sketched rather than drawn, i was willing to buy the fact that everyone was monochromatic, bland, quiet, polite and spoke in a dully uninflected manner. hey, its america's dairyland. but when she moves the setting to new york city and-- what tha'??-- everybody there is monochromatic, bland, quiet, polite and speaks in a dully uninflected manner... well, doubts creep in. when her heroine finds lodging in a BROWNSTONE in CHELSEA with a group of monochromatic, bland, quiet, polite young new yorkers chasing the dream, albeit in a dully uninflected manner, i can feel my skepticism rising along with my gorge. when the rent on the entire BROWNSTONE in CHELSEA is 500 dollars, you have to wonder, "why? thats so risible i have to think you have NO idea of setting or context"... and it goes on. in all of new york no one speaks with an accent? no one has any ethnicity? no one has a job that pays better than minimum wage yet no one has a single moment of money worry? no one ever rudely tells carrie to get over herself? ever? in new york? no one knifes anybody in order to get a crack at one of the rooms in that 500 dollar a month CHELSEA BROWNSTONE
similarly the boyfriend (kilroy? thats just so lame the joke's not worth it... yes boys and girls, its etched on carrie's heart, but the soldier of love moves on. sigh) never has a single substantive conversation with her (this lack of information is mentioned again and again), but we're supposed to believe they spend day after lovey-dovey day together? and of course, he's a secret trust fund baby. who in new york isn't? the place is crawling with 'em, all working temp jobs and drinking cheap beer. silent, stoic, but with a "secret" that you guess in the first three paragraphs... the girls all LOVE 'em!!
i could go on and on, but you get my drift... i understand that this is all about carrie's interior journey, its supposed to be about intimacy and quiet revelation. but if your plot is so ridiculous, your settings so poorly concieved, and your characters so stilted and unbelievable, i'm not going to feel that quiet revelation... you've asked me to believe so many utterly unconvincing bits throughout that you've worn out my patience and good will. in the end i'm just going to be seething that the new york times, san francisco chronicle et al lied so baldly, cause this book blows!!
save yourself the time and trouble. get something with teeth and guts and heart. or at least believability.
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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