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: Fast compelling read
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the best books I've read in a long time, because it was fast, really fast, but it made me think, and I won't forget it right away. The main character Carrie Bell is at a place in her life where she wants to move on from her hometown and her highschool sweetheart Mike, who she's not really sure she wants to marry. But, Mike has a tragic accident that leaves him quadriplegic, and nothing will ever be the same for Mike or Carrie.
The character of Carrie is a little weak. I never felt like I really knew her even though I was in her head, perhaps because she kept making choices that really surprised me; they didn't seem to fit who I thought her character was. But, also because I didn't know whether she really loved her fiance Mike, her best friend Jamie, her new boyfriend Kilroy, or even her mother, which is strange.
However, the book really made me think about a lot of things. First, what it would be like for Mike to overnight go from being an athlete to a quadripede. I have a friend who has spent a lot of his life taking care of his quadriplegic son (a young man who was injured in a similar kind of accident) and the book really touched me because of that. I felt like I understood my friend a lot better after reading it.
I think Carrie's relationships in Madison were pretty realistic. Breaking away from highschool friends and significant others is a hard thing to do, especially in a town like Madison where you don't have to. You grow apart, but you're still together. I could relate to that. I also liked that Carrie sewed. I don't sew, but I found Packer's descriptions of it riveting, and it actually made me want to start. And, finally, I loved the character of Kilroy. I almost feel like I knew Kilroy, because the character was so like someone I knew long ago. He's a complex, interesting character.
So, while I thought the book was flawed, the good parts outweighed the bad. And, even though a lot of Carrie's decisions made me cringe, I am so glad I read this book. I thought it would be depressing when I read the back of it, but, by the end, it was uplifting. I highly recommend it.
Book Review: Promising, but ultimately not very interesting.
Summary: 3 Stars
In the end, I didn't really like The Dive from Clausen's Pier.
And that's a shame, because in the first half of the book I liked it a great deal more than I had expected. It's a rare author that can allow her character to be spoiled, to be indecisive in a less than likable way. I really appreciated that Packer allowed Carrie to be so conflicted and human.
The set-up of the book is simple. Carrie is 23, and in a relationship already on the rocks. We open the book with her already tired of her relationship, but somehow unable to leave. When her fiancé is paralyzed in a diving accident, the stakes for leaving get a whole lot higher. What Carrie decides and the actions that she takes while trying to realize her decision are the points at the heart of the book.
As I said, I was quite engaged in the book, and involved in Carrie's decision making until somewhere around three-quarters of the way in to the story. It hadn't been perfect until that point. (Carrie's New York experience was particularly unrealistic and had started to grate.) However, the character development had been strong enough that I had tended to forgive the imperfections. Until, basically, I didn't forgive them anymore.
The Dive From Clausen's Pier works well when it is driven by the character. But at a certain moment in the book, it is as though Packer herself does not like the direction Carrie is going. Her decisions about Wisconsin and about her life are set up so that there is nothing really at stake. Elements about both Kilroy (her new lover) and Mike (her former fiancé) make her final choices just all too easy and obvious. Whether it is lack of sexual desire, or a convenient geographic loyalty, Packer twists the characters to give Carrie an easy way out. The conclusion of the book lacks nearly all of the tension and interest of the earlier parts.
Too bad.
Packer is clearly a talented writer, and I wouldn't be adverse to reading something else that she had to say at a later time. But I hope that she is willing to take bigger risks in her plotting in a later book.
Book Review: Carrie Bell is as real as any character I've ever read
Summary: 4 Stars
I picked up The Dive from Clausen's Pier on a whim, after reading the back cover and finding it intriguing. From page one, I was hooked. While it might not be the most original story, I found that I couldn't put it down. I was impressed by how real I found Ann Packer's characters, and by the end of the novel I felt as though I knew Carrie and Mike all very well.I usually only find the desire to write a review if I have something either fantastic or horrible to say about a book. This novel definitely did not inspire such passion, but upon reading some other reviews, I felt as if I had to defend the character of Carrie Bell.
I was genuinely surprised to see how many negative reviews this book has gotten. What I found most shocking is how more than a few people have said that they have never disliked a character more than they did Carrie Bell. For me, it was the opposite.
I related immensely to Carrie. I understood why she did everything she did. I understood why she left, and why it was so hard for her to return, and how much pressure she felt. I do not think Ann Packer could have described such a situation more accurately. Perhaps I understood where Carrie was coming from because I myself am close to her age and in a similar place in my life... I don't know. Regardless, the one thing that I never thought Carrie was or could be, was cold hearted.
I don't understand why so many people have found her character so unlikable. Like I said before, I understood why she did everything she did, and I feel as though if I was in that situation, I would have done the same thing. I don't think that makes me cold hearted. I think it makes me human.
I highly recommend this novel. While it may not be the most intriguing and suspensful story, I fell in love with the characters and all the issues it brought up. How much do we owe the ones we love? It addressed it perfectly and realistically.
It's definitely not the greatest book I've ever read, but it struck a chord in me. I think it's a remarkable debut novel, and I look forward to see what else Ann Packer has in store.
Book Review: What would you do if you were Carrie?
Summary: 5 Stars
My mother reccomended this book to me and while I was a little hesitant since her selections are a little different than mine, once I started reading it, I was hooked. The story gets right into the mind of Carrie and her doubts of her relationship with her high school sweetheart Mike. As their traditional memorial day trip to the lake ended in a total tragity leaving Mike paralized after trying to impress the girl he loved so much who was slowly slipping away, the author takes you on an emotional rollercoaster with Carrie and all the thoughts and obsticals she had to overcome. There were a few times when I wanted to cry, times when I was so upset I had to put the book down, and times when I was holding on to the small glimmer of hope that was left for Carrie and Mike. Once the fact that he was never going to walk again sunk into Carrie's mind, it scared her even more. Since the relationship was already on the outs, and everyone around them could see it, Carrie makes a break, otherwise known as running away, to New York to try and discover herself once again. (Even though that really frustrated me, I kept reading.) While trying to rid herself of her Madison memories and what life was like in the "dull" town, Carrie finally realizes that her heart, family, and everything she knows is back in Madison. You're taken on a ride with her emotions, how indecisive she becomes when faced to choose between love and lust. Should she stay in NY or go back to Madison, WI? I never wanted to put the book down. Always cheering for Carrie to come to her senses, I often asked myself what I would do if someone I loved became paralized. The author provokes the reader to really think about what they would do in Carrie's situation, yet having Carrie choose the selfish answer we read about the emotional consiquences she suffers. I definitely would not let one's review persuade you one way or the other. The best way to find out if you like this book is to read it yourself. So, Bravo to the author's excellent first novel, and bravo to Carrie for being selfish yet selfless.Book Review: Starts strong but peters out
Summary: 3 Stars
Ann Packer is a wonderful writer in many ways--fine, well-tuned dialogue, thought-provoking descriptions of people's motives, and so on--but plot isn't her big talent. As interesting as the idea for "The Dive from Clausen's Pier" is--woman leaves her fiance after he breaks his neck and becomes a quadriplegic--Packer can't quite pull it off.
Carrie Bell has been having major second thoughts about her engagement to Mike Mayer, but has been lazily trying to anticipate what will happen rather than actively discussing her fears and worries with Mike. She makes no move to communicate or take action, so when he suddenly becomes an invalid, she feels trapped. She flees from their hometown of Madison, Wisconsin to New York where--conveniently--she rooms for free with a high school acquaintance, seems to exist on absolutely zero money (laughable for anyone who's ever even visited NYC, much less lived there), and spends a lot of time a) moping, b) sewing, and c) having sex with a new love interest. The new love interest is less open and available than Mike ever was (and has the improbable and annoying name of Kilroy), so of course he's very interesting to Carrie. Too bad he's not interesting to the reader--he's just annoying and pretentious.
Packer makes sure Kilroy has some mysterious past that he won't share with Carrie, but when he finally spills the beans, his big secret seems both inorganic and forced. When Carrie finally returns to Madison and tries to begin a new life in which Mike is just her friend, the story becomes believable again, even though Mike seems too tidily accepting of his terrible fate a mere year after the accident.
Packer really is a skilled writer in so many ways--see above--but the plot seemed to me to be simultaneously overly busy and really draggy. I felt like she would have benefited from some surgical editing--the book would have moved more briskly and been less flabby had her editor seen fit to cut 50 to 100 pages from its 400+ pages.