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: 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.
Book Review: A book to help you reflect on your own innate personality
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Dive From Clausen's Pier" -- by Ann PackerA female author also wrote the second book I read in January (the first being "The Lovely Bones"). I won't hide the fact that many elements of both stories contained those foreign viewpoints that only women understand because most men are really from Mars (or is it Venus). That statement aside, I was mesmerized by this story. Ann Packer is a faultless writer, a stickler to details, a magnet for vibrant words and a connoisseur of character development. The rich dialog unfolded as if the author followed the main character through the real-life story with a tape recorder. Although the novel was based on a relatively simple premise, the transformation of the main character (Carrie Bell) was gut wrenching.
You see, all of us are one accident, one death, one tragedy or one broken relationship away from a world-shattering/soul-shifting crisis. Are we stronger when we face the tragic event head on or are we stronger when we muster up the courage to turn our back on the horrific event and start our lives over again? I've had a few occasions in my life where I was tempted to run away and start over. Ultimately, the same "you" ends up in the new setting. Things don't change. You sure as hell don't change. Problems that existed prior to the escape are still present.
Carrie Bell's story occurs in three acts. During the first act, Carrie's life is abruptly changed when her estranged boyfriend makes an ill-fated dive from Clausen's Pier. During the second act, Carrie escapes from her small Wisconsin town and starts over again in New York City. Act three contains the real shocker. Carrie has started a brand new life in New York complete with new friends, a new boyfriend and a new career direction. Would she run away from this life and go back to Wisconsin? Should she be described as despicable, selfish and unsympathetic or should she be regarded as a woman just trying to do the right thing in the best way that she knows how? Ultimately, that becomes the reader's pronouncement.
"The Dive From Clausen's Pier" gave me many things to ponder. Sometimes, I placed the book on the floor and reflected on my own innate personality. This story (finely crafted by Ann Packer) allowed me to analyze my own life-choices, my own spirit my own faith and just as importantly, my own flaws and insecurities. Could anymore be asked of a novel?
My Grade A
Book Review: Conflicted feelings about this one...
Summary: 3 Stars
THE DIVE FROM CLAUSEN'S PIER, is one of those rare books that I've read that have me truly conflicted in how I feel about it. On the one hand, I was totally engrossed in the story, unable to put the book down at times. On the other hand there are things about the story that were so implausible, it was hard to get past them.
I truly enjoyed the first section of the book. I could understand Carrie's feelings perfectly. After all, she was only 23 years old, still young enough to be somewhat selfish and to want more out of her life. The characters in this section were interesting and well defined. The next section was certainly interesting, but at the same time, quite disappointing. As some other reviewers have mentioned, there were parts of this section that were just beyond belief. Carrie being able to live in New York job AND almost rent-free really diminishes this section of the book. It was far too convenient and let's be honest, just not possible. I felt there should have been more challenges for Carrie to face here. And then there was Kilroy. I simply could not understand Carrie's attraction to him. If the author had given us at least one redeemable quality about him, then I could maybe understand it, but there's really nothing. He wasn't necessarily a bad guy, but he was, at times, quite insufferable. I mean, come on, he was a 40-year-old man who liked being called "Kilroy"! I wish he could have been portrayed as a bit more likeable. Then there was the sex. Now, I've read far more graphic sex in other books, so I certainly wasn't offended, but the sex described in this book was ridiculous, verging on comical. The author must have thought she needed to spice things up and added these scenes as an after-thought. Very poorly written.
The story picks up again in the last section when Carrie returns home to Wisconsin (after receiving a proper telling off from her friend Jaime.) I found her pining over Kilroy a little much. As far as the ending goes, it was the ending I had wanted and yet, it was still unsatisfactory. In fact, I believe if it had ended another way that would have been just as unsatisfactory. The author painted Carrie into a corner, since there was really no correct decision she could make. If I could give this book 3 1/2 stars, I would. I'll instead give it a strong 3 stars.
Book Review: Choices
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the story of one year in the life of Carrie Bell, a young midwestern woman. The writer goes deep into the lady's thoughts, actions,and feelings, her relationships with all her friends, her ambitions and the two men important in her life.
Carrue is a twenty three year old who has always lived a conservative life; she graduated from high school, obtained a college degree, dated the same boy since her early teens and had the same best friend since second grade. She was born and grew up in the city of Madison, Wisconson. Now she feels she needs to enlarge her life and choices. She has loved sewing, been fascinated with different types of fabrics and pours over books of clothing designing.
Then comes the tragic accident; Mike Meyers dives from Clausen Pier and is left a paraplegic. He spends weeks in the hospital. Carrie feels it is her fault; Mike was trying toimpress her. Carrie does not want to rush into marriage, her feelings for Mike has cooled. She wants to try other options before she settles down. And she is young and has her whole life ahead outside of Madison, Wisconsin. So she does.
Overwhelmed, and who can blame her, she hops in her car and drives all the way to New York. She has a gay man friend who has invited her to come to the Big Apple and stay and she does. Carrie meets most of his friends and finds a lover who she had metwhile Kilroy was visiting Madison. Carrie signs up for expensive clothing designing courses which she loves. But Kilroy is a strange one. He dislikes all of his family because of a reason that happened many years ago. For this he cannot forgive them. He wants nothing to do with any of them. He loves Carrie and wants to marry her. He is seven years younger than Carrie's mother.
Carrie goes back and forth in her mind, missing Mike, comparing him with Kilroy, missing her
friends in Madison, comparing them with the New York friends. When she goes back to visit Madison she misses the excitement of New York; in New York she misses the
lakes, parks and comparative quiet of Madison.
Finally Carrie makes her choice. Whether it is the right one or not is up to the reader to decide.
Book Review: Well-Written ...
Summary: 4 Stars
I almost didn't pick this book up because of its subject matter, but once I did, I really couldn't put it down. From the first sentence to the last ... Packer had me enthralled with her story that I really couldn't put it down. (Yes, I am repeating myself here.) It is a story that I would not have imagined to be as richly detailed as it was, nor did I imagine the depth of emotions Packer brings to the reader. It is a year in the life of Carrie Bell, a young 23-year-old woman who has always had the same best friend and always with Mike, her fiance, who broke his neck in a diving accident. It is a painful coming of age story.
Carrie and Mike seemed to be the ideal couple, cute, friendly and easy-going. But even before the accident, Carrie was starting to drift away from Mike and though they were together when the accident happened, Carrie feels overwhelmed with everything. It finally reached a breaking point where she runs away to New York City, and falls in love with another man.
There are some stereotypical characters, such as the best friend (Rooster, who is Mike's best friend) who was bitterly angry with Carrie for what he thought was her lack of support; then there's Carrie's best friend, who tried to be supportive but only managed to drive Carrie away; Mike's mother who loves Carrie but is angry with her also; Carrie's mother who just tries to be sympathetic and more. There is also a bit of unreasonable expectations on some of these characters' part as well ... but that is what makes the book so unqiue. No one can predict what or how they will behave if they were part of an accident scene. And living in NYC for free? That is a bit over-reaching in the imagination on the author's part, but hey, it would be nice, wouldn't it?
This is a good read. I was surprised that I did enjoy the book since the reviews were mixed on this book. The writing style is superb and it carried me right along for a year in Carrie's life as she struggles with what has been and what will be and finding her own voice in the midst of the storm. It leaves the reader with the question, just what would you do?
6/4/09