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Title: The Dive From Clausen's Pier : A Novel by Ann Packer ISBN: 0-375-72713-2 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 08 April, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.36 (287 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: An incredible first novel
Comment: Ann Packer has done a great job in her first novel. "The Dive From Clausen's Pier" tells the story of Carrie Bell, who, as the novel begins, has just had an emotional jolt as her fiance breaks his back on a dive off the pier of the title. The novel basically follows Carrie on a journey of the self as she tries to come to terms with what's happened to Mike (her fiance), and to her friends, family, and most of all to herself as a result of that fateful dive.
Packer's Carrie is a fully realized character who I empathized with and believed in for the entire novel. She paints her people with broad strokes of the brush but nevertheless succeeds in bringing them to fully realized life. Very few novels I've read in recent months have done that.
The most impressive character in this story to my mind is Kilroy. Immediately upon meeting him I had a strong impression of what he should look, think, and feel like. He is, in my view, a character tailor-made for George Carlin to play if they ever turn this book into a movie. His philosophy and Carlin's outlook on life seem to fit together like a hand into a glove.
If this first novel is any indication Packer has a glorious career ahead of her.
Rating: 4
Summary: Deceptive Simplicity - But Did Guys Like This Book?
Comment: Generally, if all the ladies poolside are reading a novel, I can predict that I will hate it. After the Good Morning America "tease", I believed that this might be the exceptional novel-of-the-season that I would enjoy...and I was right. My 50-year-old sister had a stroke, and her boyfriend bolted; so Carrie's dilemma was not new to me.
I adore the nuances of the English language; and Ms. Packer's similes satisfied. I found her characters to be interesting and believable. Probably every female over the age of twelve has had a friendship like Carrie and Jamie's; and probably every guy who has belonged to a fraternity has had a friendship like Mike and Rooster's. Was Kilroy the consummate emotionally unavailable man, or what? I even related to Carrie's relationship with her beloved sewing machine. Accurate details - Bernina, NYC, rehab - only added to the story.
No guy that I know (I'm married, and have 21- and 17-year-old sons) would read this novel. Carrie's soul searching is so deep and painful, and Mike's injury is so cataclysmic that my guys would be exhausted by page 50. The sewing details would put them to sleep.
I probably won't read it again, but I would tell a friend to give it a try.
Rating: 4
Summary: The frailty of human emotion
Comment: This book surprised me. I didn't know what to expect coming in, as I had only seen it in bookstores, I had never really stopped to read the inside flap or anything. The book came into my posession by accident and when I started reading it, I was amazed at the wealth of emotion and human-ness was in it. The main character, Carrie Bell will amaze you with how human she is; she is fascinated by sewing and all things color and design, she is not quite so in love with her high school sweetheart-turned fiance, and she longs to be out of her cramped small town in Wisconsin. Her fiance becomes quadriplegic during the first 30 pages of the book, turning everything around. Now she questions her love from him; the way it faded so slowly that eventually she didn't want to be with him. I won't go much farther than that for plot summary, since I don't want to spoil it. But it still asounds me, even after just finished reading it.
I will say that this was an easy book to read. The pages go quickly and the writing style is very fluid and vibrant with description, but never bordering on boring or dull. It made me a bit depressed, as the subject matter was never one of happiness but instead of sorrow and regret, but I'm glad I read it. It made me appreicate what I have now, the people and relationships I hold with them. You may not come out changed from this book, but it is worth reading if you have some time.
My bottomline for this book is that its moral is: "know thyself". It gets complicated after that. But read it and find out for yourself.
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Title: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ISBN: 0142001740 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 28 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Three Junes by Julia Glass, Julia Glass ISBN: 0385721420 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 22 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Life of Pi by Yann Martel ISBN: 0156027321 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Atonement : A Novel by Ian McEwan ISBN: 038572179X Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 25 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Bel Canto: A Novel by Ann Patchett ISBN: 0060934417 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 16 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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