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: NO SPOILERS in this review - others have spoilers!!!!!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
The Dive from Clausen's Pier - Ann Packer
A discontented young woman seems to have her whole life in the palm of her hand. Born and raised in Wisconsin, she's had the same best friend her whole life, had a wonderful boyfriend (now fiancé) since she was only fourteen, her future is secure and certain, but leaves her feeling cold and not so certain. Previously happy and at home in her life, she's now beginning to yearn for something just out of reach, an awakening, a difference.
This difference comes to her in a sudden and catastrophic way during the first few pages of the book when her fiancé's dive from a local pier during low water results in a horrible injury and leaves him in a precarious balance between life and death.
No, this book is not quite what you think, no matter WHAT you think. There is no way you can second guess what will happen as Carrie Bell, our protagonist, moves from day to day, not because the book tries to be unpredictable, but because it is so reflective of real life and real people.
To say more of what the plot holds would detract from the journey that Ann Packer has skillfully crafted for her readers. Brought to life in scenes so authentic they cause the reader to analyze motives, make assumptions about childhood traumas and wonder about future pursuits, these characters brim with an everyday realism that makes one forget we aren't reading a letter from a friend or living this experience ourselves.
The book does not have any easy answers and certainly cannot tie everything up neatly with a bow, but it does reflect the ambiguities of life and the fact that life, for each of us is a series of choices and that as we chose, we lose, even as we gain. The time you may lose reading this book is definitely worth the gain of the thought provoking experiences and characters you will encounter!
Book Review: Strongly written, dragging story at times
Summary: 4 Stars
The Dive from Clausen's Pier starts off with a bang. From the first line, readers are drawn into Carrie Bell's life, which at the ripe age of 23 has become a bit too hum-drum for her. She's had the same best friend her whole life, the same boyfriend for the past nine years, she works at a thankless job in her hometown in Wisconsin where she's lived her whole life. She's already finding her life lackluster when her boyfriend Mike dives from a pier, causing him to become a quadripeligic.
Ann Packer portrays the dilemna Carrie faces brilliantly in the first half of the book. Should she stay in Wisconsin and be with Mike even though she knew it wasn't working for some time now? Carrie's reaction to the tragedy and how her interactions with those around her (her mom, Mike's family, her best friend Jamie, her co-workers and Mike's best friend, Rooster) change is honest and real. None of Packer's characters are contrived; everyone strikes me as someone I could meet in my daily life.
Then Carrie makes a middle of the night descision - she loads up her car and drives to New York to stay with a high school friend. There the story take a bit of a dive, as she begins a torrid relationship with a much older man, essentially wastes all her money and destroys most of the relationships she has in Wisconsin. Carrie escaped to New York, and therefore most of us knew that she couldn't call it home, after all was said and done.
Towards the end, I began feeling less empathetic towards Carrie and a bit frustrated with her bad descision making. In the end (which I won't spoil for those who haven't read it yet), Packer once again steers the story back to one of incredibly realism. Overall, The Dive from Clausen's Pier is a good book - the story is an old one but Packer puts a new twist on it and illustrates it beautifully with her lyrical writing.
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: Hit Close to Home
Summary: 4 Stars
This book hit very close to home for me. I am the same age as Carrie, and I too have sometimes felt that maybe my boyfriend and I shouldn't be together anymore.The Dive From Clausen's Pier is the story of 23-year-old Carrie, who is in a long-term relationship with a man she can't imagine herself with forever. He is not a bad man, just not right for her. In the very first chapter, her boyfriend is involved in an accident that leaves him paralyzed. The question posed by the book is "How much do we owe the people we love?" This is an important question. Mike after all, is not a bad guy. Her decision would be easy if he hit her or were otherwise abusive.
All of this happens very early in the book. The remainder is Carrie's journey to discover herself and make a decision as to how to live the rest of her life. How much does she owe Mike? Some readers have called some of her actions selfish - they are right. But what 23 year old hasn't made a selfish decision? And imagine being in her position - I know for me I see many possibilities for my future and none involve taking care of a quadriplegic. Selfish? Maybe. Real? Yes.
For the time I was reading this book I became very emotionally attached to the story, perhaps because I could see so many parallels between my life and Carrie's. I had several nightmares where my boyfriend became paralyzed, and he couldn't wait for me to finish it since it was all I could talk about! Any book that draws me in like that and hits me on such a personal level is worth reading. But as with any book, I am sure not everyone will have the same reaction.
There were some flaws. As some readers have mentioned, there are a few annoying characters, and a few awkward scenes (I do not have a problem with sex in books, but these scenes seems out of place and almost silly.) But all in all, I enjoyed the experience.
Book Review: Not up to the mark
Summary: 3 Stars
It was hard to relate to Carrie. She did not seem to know what she wanted, just floating around and behaving irrationally with scant care about hurting people who loved her. Whenever she felt guilty and confused, all she could muttered was "I'm sorry." I got so fed up with her apologies, which were the only line the author could thought of at every critical juncture and offered nothing else. It also means that the readers became no wiser of what was ticking Carrie, except writing her off as a confused and unreliable drifter in life. I was especially irritated when Carrie put off going back to Madison, and later New York, with the excuse that she was not ready. It was as if the rest of the people who cared about her did not matter a bit while she was procrastinating, as if the the world stood still while she was making up her mind. Her offhanded treatment of her relationships was almost curt and cruel. Habitually, she just let things drifted, until someone couldn't stand it anymore and make an ultimatum or simply cut off relationship with her. Either that, or she made a 180 degree turn to reverse her decision at the last minute. The author should try harder to provide a more palatable plot twists.Kilroy had the potential to be an interesting character, a source to enlighten and sort out the confusion of Carrie's choices and how to live. He had some thought-provoking ideas about life. But the author seemed to restrain his character artificially by keeping him a mystery.
The idea offered a lot of potential to explore about choices in life but the author barely scratched the surface, leaving the readers disappointed. The effort appeared to have started with something big in mind but lack the imagination and depth to deliver, ended up looking pretentious and incoherent.