The Dive From Clausen's Pier: A Novel
by Ann Packer
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Read in July, 2003
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Read in March, 2007
Carrie Bell feels the pull of a new life awaiting her outside her Wisconsin hometown. Her relationship with her fiance Mike is boring her, and she wants to see the world and learn who she is. She goes out with Mike on Memorial Day, and he dives headfirst into a shallow lake and is immediately paralyzed. Can Carrie stay? No. But with pressure from all sides, her mother, Mike's parents, their friends in Madison, Carrie feels terrible about deciding to leave and not return home. Still, she moves to...more
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Read in August, 2008
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I hated this book with a passion.
From the Publisher
A riveting novel about loyalty and self-knowledge, and the conflict between who we want to be to others and who we must be for ourselves.
Carrie Bell has lived in Wisconsin all her life. She’s had the same best friend, the same good relationship with her mother, the same boyfriend, Mike, now her fiancé, for as long as anyone can remember. It’s with real surprise she finds that, at age twenty-three, her life has begun to feel suff...more
From the Publisher
A riveting novel about loyalty and self-knowledge, and the conflict between who we want to be to others and who we must be for ourselves.
Carrie Bell has lived in Wisconsin all her life. She’s had the same best friend, the same good relationship with her mother, the same boyfriend, Mike, now her fiancé, for as long as anyone can remember. It’s with real surprise she finds that, at age twenty-three, her life has begun to feel suff...more
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Read in June, 2008
This was one of those books that had been on my to-read list for so long that I forgot what it was supposed to be about. And then I began reading. Talk about kind of a downer. There were moments when I wanted to curl up under a chair and just cry. Carrie's engaged to Mike, her bf of 8 years. But she doesn't want to be engaged anymore and Mike can tell she is drifting away. Then Mike is in an accident that leaves him a quadriplegic and his relationship with Carrie is strained even more until he f...more
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This book sucks. It had potential - the plot centers around the question of what we owe those we love. The main character is a girl engaged to a man who becomes a paraplegic just after their relationship goes sour. Potential for a good read, right? The problem is that this becomes a novel about a girl trying to become a fashion designer in NY and the paraplegic boyfriend is left in the dust after all of 90 pages. Then it's all about fashion, and BAD fashion at that. The author lost me when...more
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Read in January, 2008
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recommends it for:
nobody
**SPOILERS**
This book sucks. It came highly recommended to me by a friend so I gave it a shot. The Midwest setting appealed to me; I live and grew up in Northeast Wisconsin. The appeal ends there. Sure, I felt bad that the boyfriend became paralyzed. I could only imagine what a position that would put the girlfriend in, how one would become wracked with guilt for wanting to move on and make a better life for herself. To me, her moving to NYC was justifiable and not cold in the least. Sh...more
This book sucks. It came highly recommended to me by a friend so I gave it a shot. The Midwest setting appealed to me; I live and grew up in Northeast Wisconsin. The appeal ends there. Sure, I felt bad that the boyfriend became paralyzed. I could only imagine what a position that would put the girlfriend in, how one would become wracked with guilt for wanting to move on and make a better life for herself. To me, her moving to NYC was justifiable and not cold in the least. Sh...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
all women
I don't think that I would have stumbled upon this book had my friend not recommended it to me. It is a rich and utterly human story of loss, coming of age and self-discovery. Carrie, the protagonist, is a 23-year old girl who hasn't yet been allowed to spread her wings. When she is considering making a life change, destiny makes it for her. Her boyfriend (now fiance) of 8 years takes a plunge from Clausen's Pier, breaks his neck and becomes a quadriplegic. He cannot move his hands, has no sexua...more
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Read in July, 2007
Way back in the day, I used to read these terrible teen dramas by Lurlene McDaniel. Someone in the book either had cancer, was dying, or was just killed and I sobbed from the beginning of the book to the end. So I stopped reading those books.
The Dive From Clausen's Pier was a grown-up Lurlene McDaniel' novelette. Well written? Yes. Engaging characters? Yes. An enjoyable read? Not quite. I could decide if I sympathized with the main character or hated her. The pivotal event happens so ...more
The Dive From Clausen's Pier was a grown-up Lurlene McDaniel' novelette. Well written? Yes. Engaging characters? Yes. An enjoyable read? Not quite. I could decide if I sympathized with the main character or hated her. The pivotal event happens so ...more
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recommended to Nanda by:
My sister, who majored in womans studies and English, I do belie
recommends it for: Teens, 20 somethings who hate their friends or are pregnant
recommends it for: Teens, 20 somethings who hate their friends or are pregnant
My sister has thought I was 14 from the time I was 15 until I was 23 when I found out I was going to have a child out of wedlock, at which point I became 16 in her mind and she showed a healthy amount of concern for my teen pregnancy. That year she sent me a baby book along with this paperback for Christmas. I don't know if she knew I'd made a random move to NY for a boy a few years previous or not, but honestly, I like to pretend she did because it touched me so much that she would.
And ye...more
And ye...more
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Read in July, 2008
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Read in July, 2008
recommended to Katherine by:
Jennrecommends it for: women
Finishing Ann Packer's The Dive From Clausen's Pier is at once an immense relief and an immense loss. The character Kilroy talks about "hard" art (Picasso) and "soft" art (Matisse) and certainly Packer's is the former. The entire book is one long exercise in feeling and memory, in love and in loss.
Packer such a wonderful writer, she actually makes you feel what Carrie, her main character, feels, even after the book has been closed. Of course, that's what the best of books...more
Packer such a wonderful writer, she actually makes you feel what Carrie, her main character, feels, even after the book has been closed. Of course, that's what the best of books...more
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I think I might be the only person in my circle of friends who actually liked this book - let alone LOVED it. Why is that? I don't know. But I did love it.
I just tried - and failed - to write a coherent paragraph about what I liked about the book, but either I haven't had enough caffeine today or it's simply been too long since I read it (or - gasp! - I'm just not good enough of a book-review-writer - but let's not go there). So, this isn't going to come out right, but I think what app...more
I just tried - and failed - to write a coherent paragraph about what I liked about the book, but either I haven't had enough caffeine today or it's simply been too long since I read it (or - gasp! - I'm just not good enough of a book-review-writer - but let's not go there). So, this isn't going to come out right, but I think what app...more
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Read in September, 2007
This was the first book I read after coming back to Madison after a 3 month trip to Washington. I knew nothing about the book, and it was a pleasant bit of synchronicity to discover that the book takes place mostly in Madison, with numerous neighborhoods described in detail. I did find myself grumbling over the author's minor errors (eg. No one calls the UW "the U" and I have lived in Madison for 10 years and have never heard anyone refer to the capitol square as "the plaza"...more
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Read in December, 2006
I liked this book because it explored something I think we have all thought about at one time or another: How much do I really love the person I'm with? Enough to stay with them through anything? Really? And am I am a terrible person if I just can't handle whatever the anything is?
The main character is already having second thoughts about her years-long relationship when her fiance is injured and will likely never walk again. She spends some time trying to face up to her "responsibiliti...more
The main character is already having second thoughts about her years-long relationship when her fiance is injured and will likely never walk again. She spends some time trying to face up to her "responsibiliti...more
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Read in July, 2008
This really was a good book. I enjoyed it and I feel that it's a very strong novel. I even recommend it. I just couldn't quite give it four stars because I, personally, did not really like it - close, but not quite. Having said that, I think it would even stand up to a second or third read, which is saying something. I wouldn't have picked it on my own, but Erica & Dana gave it to me for my birthday and it turned out to be an unexpected treat.
My favorite thing about this novel w...more
My favorite thing about this novel w...more
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Read in July, 2007
i wanted to like this. i started out liking it but by the time i was wrapped up in it, i realized how trite it was. i grew up near madison and kept trying to find connection to the characters and places. i just kept thinking "why would people like her?" and "who the fuck would be friends with these people?" - everyone was a cliche, or not very detailed. no one talks or acts like these people, especially 23-year-olds. i really like the premise of the book - your fiance is...more
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Read in January, 2005
I'm still haunted by this story. It's about a young couple in their early 20s living in the midwest-- Wisconsin (I think). They've been dating since high school. She's about to break up with him, then he has a horrible diving accident while they're picnicing with friends. He becomes a quadraplegic. Up until this point, everyone including both of their parents have assumed they were going to be married because they've dated for so long. She wanted to break it off with him before the acciden...more
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Read in June, 2008
I was looking forward to reading The Dive from Clausen's Pier. I had enjoyed Mendocino and Other Stories and hoped to have the same positive experience with this novel. Although I enjoyed bits and pieces of it, the over all experience was rather dull.
Carrie Bell, the narrator and protagonist of the novel recounts the way her life changes when her fiancé is paralyzed after diving off Clausen's pier into shallower than normal water. Carrie's emotional response didn't strike me as genuine and...more
Carrie Bell, the narrator and protagonist of the novel recounts the way her life changes when her fiancé is paralyzed after diving off Clausen's pier into shallower than normal water. Carrie's emotional response didn't strike me as genuine and...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.40 (3959 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.39 (3757 ratings) number of reviews: 515popular shelves
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