- Paperback: 432 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (April 8 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0375727132
- ISBN-13: 978-0375727139
- Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 2.4 x 20.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (313 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #260,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
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
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Packer's engrossing debut novel begins without ostentation. On Memorial Day, Carrie Bell and her fiance, Mike Mayer, drive out to Clausen's Pier for their annual ritual, a picnic with their friends, a trip they make the way a middle-aged couple might, in grudging silence. Before their resentments can be aired, Mike dives into too shallow water, suffering injuries that change their lives. If Mike survives, he will survive as a quadriplegic, and Carrie faces unexpected responsibilities. Ultimately, Carrie does what is both understandable and unthinkable. She leaves her hometown of Madison, Wis., and shows up on the doorstep of a friend in New York City. There she discovers a different world, different friends and a different self. The hovering question--what will Carrie do? Abandon Mike or return to him?--generates genuine suspense. Packer portrays her characters--both New Yorkers and Madisonites--deftly, and her scenes unfold with uncommon clarity. But if Packer has a keen eye, she has an even keener ear. The dialogue is usually witty; more important, it is always surprising, as if the characters were actually thinking--one of the reasons they become as familiar to the reader as childhood friends. The recipient of several awards, Packer is also the author of Mendocino and Other Stories. Clearly, she has honed her skills writing short fiction. What is unexpected is the assurance she brings to a larger canvas. In quiet but beautiful prose, Packer tells a complex and subtly constructed story of friendship, love and the hold the past has on the present. This is the sort of book one reads dying to know what happens to the characters, but loves for its wisdom: it sees the world with more clarity than you do.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
MIKE ALWAYS TEASED me about my memory, about how I could go back years and years to what people were wearing on a given occasion, right down to their jewelry or shoes. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
MIKE ALWAYS TEASED me about my memory, about how I could go back years and years to what people were wearing on a given occasion, right down to their jewelry or shoes. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Unrealistic!!,
By
This review is from: The Dive From Clausen's Pier: A Novel (Paperback)
True that this book was a good read, a quick read is probably better but it was very unrealistic. Her main character, a 20 something, self involved, midwestern girl was not very likeable. I agree, everyone needs to find themselves but the way Packer has her heroine do it is disjointed at best. How convenient that she takes off for New York and happens to find a place to live without rent, that she happens to find Kilroy, she has no worries about walking about the city, her safety, or money. She is ALLOWED to find herself at her leisure. She comes and goes out of people's lives at will, seemingly ruining them, and is, for the most part, forgiven by them. That is not real life, not for anyone. Her emotions are banal and the dialogue is fragmented and nonsubstantive. The library did not have the books I wanted to read so I picked this one up and recommend that if you like some meat to your books, this won't do the trick. If, however, you need to be mildly amused this is the book for you.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dive right in . . .,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Dive From Clausen's Pier: A Novel (Paperback)
This is by far one of the best books I have read. The only other two that I recently came across which were as good were "The Bark of the Dogwood" and "The Lovely Bones." As someone who has little time for pleasure reading, I found this book to be nowhere near a waste of time and definitely not boring. The characters are complicated and dramatic enough to be novel material, yet realistic enough to relate to.Carrie Bell was faced with a choice - she can stay with the quadrapalegic fiancee that she had been thinking about breaking up with before his accident, or she can leave. She chooses to leave and for that she has to face the consequences of emotional guilt from her friends and from herself. I liked this book because it made me think about Carrie's situation and what I would have done. Also recommended: The Bark of the Dogwood.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Flawless book,
By Ms Ennui (Philadelphia, PA, United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Dive From Clausen's Pier: A Novel (Paperback)
I just finished this book today. I have nothing bad to say about it. This book is so interesting and tackles such an interesting subject, Packer writes beautifully, and I absolutely could not put it down until I was finished. I think that the reader who said it was so boring they couldn't keep reading... lacks literary maturity...perhaps that reader was too young to appreciate it. I rarely recommend books to my friends but I will definitely recommend this. I think a good book (or a good movie) is one that you will think back to one day, long after you have read it, and I am sure I will think back to this one. Another criteria I have is that a bad book, I could put down in the middle and forget about it and not even care what happens at the end. But with this book, I was genuinely interested in what was going to happen to all the characters. The book made me think. I am also eagerly awaiting the author's next book. I can't believe this is her FIRST novel! It was impressive in every sense- plot, dialogue, everything. A++++++++
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