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The Dive From Clausen's Pier

3.37 of 5 stars 3.37 · rating details · 13,724 ratings · 1,353 reviews

How much do we owe the people we love? Is it a sign of strength or weakness to walk away from someone in need? These questions lie at the heart of Ann Packer’s intimate and emotionally thrilling new novel, which has won its author comparisons with Jane Hamilton and Sue Miller.

At the age of twenty-three Carrie Bell has spent her entire life in Wisconsin, with the same best...more

Paperback, 432 pages

Published April 8th 2003 by Vintage (first published 2002)

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Community Reviews

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Aug 23, 2007 Beth rated it 1 of 5 stars

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 she d...more

20 likes · like · see review

Sep 14, 2007 Kelly rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: nobody

Shelves: chicklit

**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. She had wan...more

13 likes · like · see review

Feb 12, 2007 Feather Stolzenbach rated it 1 of 5 stars

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 suffocating. She lo...more

5 likes · like · see review

Nov 28, 2011 Perrine rated it 4 of 5 stars 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

4 likes · like · see review

Jul 25, 2007 Amanda rated it 2 of 5 stars

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 early in th...more

8 likes · like · see review

Jun 15, 2010 Eliza rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 13, 2007 Catherine rated it 2 of 5 stars

UG! I can't put into words my utter disappointment with the main character Carrie. I actually wanted her to come to life so I could bitch slap her. I don't want to divulge too much for I might ruin the ending for those who want to read it (please don't). The story had merit, the writing was good, but the ending was utterly incomprehensible to me. I actually felt trapped as if the main character were making life decisions for me. I felt doomed to a life without personal growth. rrrgg.

9 likes · like · see review

Aug 12, 2011 Lisa rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Housewives and Oprah watchers.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

4 likes · like · see review

Jan 01, 2008 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit-women-s-lit, books-i-own, the-100-in-2007, women-s-issues, fiction

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

7 likes · like · see review

Aug 23, 2007 Kristine rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 in an accident and now a...more

5 likes · like · see review

Apr 02, 2009 Kathy rated it 3 of 5 stars

While this isn't classic literature, I was touched by the book.

Carrie Bell is a 23 year old woman who is questioning whether Mike, her high school boyfriend turned fiancee, is really the man and the life she wants to commit to. Her decision becomes more complicated and conflict laden after Mike is paralyzed in a diving accident. Would she loyally proceed with the plan to eventually marry Mike and become his cook, nurse, helper, chauffeur, attendant and somehow his wife? Or would she be the kind...more

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Apr 08, 2010 Zeek rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, literary

I picked this one up at a yard sale for 50 cents and I'm glad I didn't pay more. Thoroughly depressing, I wanted to quit many times. The problem? The premise and first chapter contained a good enough hook to make me wonder how in the heck Carrie, the main character, was going to handle the situation the author threw at her.

Carrie and Mike had been dating since high school. Now, 5 or so years later, she's realized that her life in small town Wisconsin is suffocating her and is ready to make a bre...more I picked this one up at a yard sale for 50 cents and I'm glad I didn't pay more. Thoroughly depressing, I wanted to quit many times. The problem? The premise and first chapter contained a good enough hook to make me wonder how in the heck Carrie, the main character, was going to handle the situation the author threw at her.

Carrie and Mike had been dating since high school. Now, 5 or so years later, she's realized that her life in small town Wisconsin is suffocating her and is ready to make a break. One problem, on a holiday with friends, Mike takes a dive off a pier into shallow water- and ends up paralyzed.

Should our desires and needs be sacrificed out of obligation to what others think we should do? Is pity a good enough reason when the love isn't there anymore? These are the questions none of us ever hope to have to ponder- but ones Carrie does from the onset of the story.

Through most of the book, part of me was as disgusted with Carrie as her friends were when she took off into the night choosing her wants over her old love's needs. Another part of me wanted her to do it.

But that wasn't what bugged me about the book- in fact the exploration of "What Would You Do in a Similar Situation" is what kept me reading.

My annoyance was in the fact that Packer rambled on and on allowing Carrie to wallow in self-pity so much so you wanted to shake her. She drew Carrie's life in NYC out so long I wanted to throw the book against the wall, because I knew damn well Carrie had to go back and confront the mess she left behind. And even THAT would have been okay with me- if it weren't for the fact Carrie wasn't making any self discoveries while separated from the situation.

True, the author gave Carrie new relationships in NYC, but she didn't really develop them enough to make the book more interesting. Oh Carrie started dating again while there- and the man she chose had so many secrets you wanted to scream- but the author never really gave me the answers as to why to satisfy me either. (I felt like the proverbial donkey being led along by a carrot that will never be attained.)

Carrie's entire time in NYC was just needless filler as far as I'm concerned- filler that could have added so much more to the story if we had gotten inside Carrie's head instead of watching her walk around seemingly ignoring what was really going on.

Carrie eventually does go back to Wisconsin and we do read the ending which could not have ended any other way, however, after being led down so many meandering paths for so long, I didn't really care. I threw the book against the wall anyway.(less)

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Dec 21, 2008 Jessica rated it 2 of 5 stars

The book was entertaining in an easy-read kind of way. I definitely wanted to know what Carrie, a 23-year-old girl from Madison, Wisconsin, was going to do when faced with a fiancee who broke his neck and became a quadriplegic. Her guilt is exacerbated by the fact that she had been gradually falling out of love with him in the months prior.

The story felt hackneyed in many parts: the "I couldn't help but wonder" moments; the vague "it wasn't that, nor did I know what it was." Carrie is an annoyi...more The book was entertaining in an easy-read kind of way. I definitely wanted to know what Carrie, a 23-year-old girl from Madison, Wisconsin, was going to do when faced with a fiancee who broke his neck and became a quadriplegic. Her guilt is exacerbated by the fact that she had been gradually falling out of love with him in the months prior.

The story felt hackneyed in many parts: the "I couldn't help but wonder" moments; the vague "it wasn't that, nor did I know what it was." Carrie is an annoying character, but if everyone could read their own internal dialogue on paper, I'm sure it'd be annoying as well. Regardless, it's hard not to sympathize with her given the circumstances she's having to face. I did, however, feel vindicated whenever another character tried to get her out of her selfishness. She deserved a serious reality check.

Her New York boyfriend Kilroy pissed the shit out of me for sure. He's an elitist, self-absorbed trust-fund baby who is supposed to be heroic because he's denied the wealthy part of his life. He wears a denim shirt and I just picture a Midwesterner lost in Manhattan. He's evasive and cryptic, and I'm surprised he actually expressed such distraught over Carrie's decision to stay in Wisconsin. He begs her to return to New York, doesn't understand why she has to patch things up with her best friend -- "why not write her a long letter?" -- or her ex. Then he seems to have a change of heart:

"At this point," I said, "I don't know why I'm even still here."
"I do."
"Why?"
"Because you're you...Isn't it obvious? You can't leave because you're the person you are, and I can't want you to because that would be wanting you to be someone else when I want you to be you."

That is, until 17 pages later, the next time Kilroy is mentioned, where he goes from "somewhat unhappy state of understanding" to "a more irritable state of wanting to know why I had to resolve everything at once." So he CLEARLY wants her to be her.

This book was written in 2002 and it's hard for me to remember what technology was like back then. I'm pretty sure I was on AIM until the very late hours of the morning in 2002. These characters are 23, and had just graduated from college (U of WI) where I'm sure they were not sheltered from email. Still, they were sending telegrams, writing letters, and leaving notes. It felt so archaic.

Another thing that bothered me? Mike has a mustache. (less)

3 likes · like · see review

Dec 11, 2008 Becky added it

This book surprised me. I initially wrote it off, expecting that it would fall into the Lifetime movie category of contemporary fiction. Ironically, a Google search did inform me that it has had a second life as an honest-to-goodness Lifetime movie (or maybe it was Oxygen; I wasn't paying that close of attention).

For emotion-centric, literary fiction, it was jarringly suspenseful. I almost wanted to hide it under my desk at work, on my lap, to finish it. I felt desperate to figure out how Carrie...more

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Aug 05, 2008 Katherine rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: women

Recommended to Katherine by: Jenn

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 do. Any yet, somehow i...more

9 likes · like · see review

Aug 14, 2008 Sydney rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: made-into-movies

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. ****This review contains SPOILERS****

This is the story of Carrie Bell, a recent college graduate who's life seems to be at a stand-still. She's got a fiance Mike, who she's been with since they were 14, a mediocre job at the University Library, a group of friends she's had since high school who are equally at a stand-still. But she begins to question her life. Just as she's about to ask, "Is this it? Is this the life I'm destined to lead?," tragedy strikes. Her fiance dives into shallow water an...more

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Jun 20, 2007 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

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 accident, now...more

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Dec 28, 2008 Kelli rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A story that strikes home because the main character does not do what seems to be the right thing. She is confused, sometimes self-centered, yet struggles to keep her integrity in an overwhelming turn of events. Packer perfectly captures her alienation. This one made me think, and made me feel like I had just heard the story of someone I knew.

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 30, 2007 Monday rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

Shelves: miscellaneous

This book was recommended to me by a friend. She loved it. I hated it.

The plot of this book - and yes, i'll be spoiling it - is that there is this girl who hates her bf, wants to break up with him. He gets hurt showing off for her because he knows she's going to ditch him. She runs away and meets another guy. New guy is somewhat screwed up, but this is where this book divides into a love it or hate it book. She eventually succeeds, while with new guy, but then goes back to home where poor paraly...more

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Oct 04, 2008 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Michelle by: May

Shelves: fiction

Meghan from my Book Lust class kept talking about how thought-provoking this book was, so when I saw it on the school library shelf, I picked up it during my lunch break. I am compelled to read on!

*later*

Wow, I finally finished this last night, and feel satisfied at the ending. I was afraid for awhile that I was going to be disappointed, but it seemed realistic to me and there was even a little surprise.

The story posed a moral quandary, described a believable relationship (actually a variety of...more

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Dec 31, 2008 bookczuk rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: bookcrossing, rabun-county-and-thereabouts

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from this book. I tend to be a little cautious of books that get rave popular reviews. This turns out to be a story about facing tragedy and growing up (or not growing up as perhaps is the case with Killroy). So many of the characters have faced some huge hurdle or a major tragedy in their life, but work their way through to the other side of it. Carrie not only had to grow up, but she had to experience life on her own first, not as someone joined at the hip...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 13, 2008 Nanci rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 25, 2008 Kirsten rated it 5 of 5 stars

Definitely the best book I read on my weekend vacation. A young woman (just out of college) is already feeling uncomfortable in her relationship with her high school sweetheart - and then he suffers a serious accident. She's left to decide whether to stay with him or leave. About love and friendship, and about the ties we have to people we grew up with, and breaking out of familiar routines to find something new. The only problem is that several parts left me on the verge of tears, which was awk...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 13, 2009 Becca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: personal_library, literary_fiction, read_2007

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer Why is it so much easier for me to write about what I dislike about a book/movie/tv show than what I like? Actually, it's not even that it's more difficult to write about it, it's just more difficult to identify exactly what I like or why I like it. I really liked The Dive From Clausen's Pier (for a description, check out Amazon's listing), but it's hard to put my finger on why. Watch me try, though.

This story just seems so authentic to me. Strange that...more The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer Why is it so much easier for me to write about what I dislike about a book/movie/tv show than what I like? Actually, it's not even that it's more difficult to write about it, it's just more difficult to identify exactly what I like or why I like it. I really liked The Dive From Clausen's Pier (for a description, check out Amazon's listing), but it's hard to put my finger on why. Watch me try, though.

This story just seems so authentic to me. Strange that I found a book about unhappy marriages to be so false, but one about a woman’s fiancé being paralyzed in a diving accident to ring so true. I’m sure the odds are actually in favor of the unhappy marriage occurring in real life. Perhaps because, aside from her fiancé becoming a paraplegic and her subsequent running away to New York, Carrie Bell’s life, and the way it is related through this novel, is so ordinary. Carrie goes shopping, she hangs out with her roommates in the kitchen, she cooks dinner, she sews…it’s all so…normal. And yet, that sounds boring. Somehow, Ann Packer kept me interested in reading about Carrie’s day-to-day life. Something about living that “normal” life in the wake of something so clearly tragic and out-of-the-ordinary…

I also like that this book challenged me a little. Here’s the thing: I really like happy endings. Or at least mostly happy endings. Take, for example, The Time Traveler’s Wife. Yes, I cried and cried and cried at the end. But, Clare and Henry are happy for as long as they can be, and there is some closure at the end. It isn’t like Henry leaves Clare for another woman or something. They never stop being in love. I like that. With The Dive From Clausen’s Pier, there is no “perfect” ending. Carrie has to make a choice (digression: I just caught myself writing about this book in the past tense, something I assume I’ve probably done on this blog before, now that I think about it, and the English major in me cried a little) and neither option is totally ideal nor totally depressing. So, my comfort zone was stretched a little. It’s good for me to expand that zone now and again.

The characters in The Dive From Clausen’s Pier are also very sympathetic. I felt like I could be one of them, almost. I can easily understand why Carrie, after living her whole life in Madison, WI, and dating the same guy throughout high school and their four years at “the U,” feels like she needs to get out of there. Sometimes, I can’t even spend a weekend in Auburn, ME, without wanting to high-tail it out of there, and I haven’t lived there full-time in seven and a half years. And yet, how can you not also be mad at her like Rooster and Jamie? How does someone leave their fiancé after he’s paralyzed in a diving accident (even if the relationship was already on the rocks)? How can Carrie be so caught up in her own drama that she doesn’t do anything about Lynn’s dangerous behavior? The whole story is told from Carrie’s point of view, so I understand how suffocated she feels in Madison, but I also can understand that to everyone else she looks selfish and self-absorbed. And she kind of is. But, I can relate. Personally, I probably would’ve felt too obligated to stay and would never have actually run. But, I would’ve wanted to. And, I would’ve felt guilty for wanting to.(less)

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Dec 19, 2008 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: novel

My enjoyment of this books surprised it is a book involving deep introspection of a 23 year old woman. By confession, I would have expected to be bored with all the detail and analysis. Nevertheless, this book did more than hold my attention.

The protagonist is a young woman torn between the world she grew up in (Madison, WI) and the world she runs to (New York City). She is torn between two men, each disabled, but in completely different ways.

Along the way, she discovers quite a bit about hers...more

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Nov 24, 2008 Judith rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 24, 2007 Eveline Chao rated it 1 of 5 stars

Reading this I was really impressed at what an undeniably good writer Ann Packer is, but then I really disliked the book itself. It was just sort of dumb. The protagonist kept having all these realizations and experiences and stuff that all just seemed really obvious and banal to me. It was kind of like reading a book about dogs who had no idea what dogs were & had only just discovered them & was going on and one about how amazing dogs were, & has no idea that everyone knows what a d...more

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May 04, 2013 Chana rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: american, wisconsin, not-for-kids, fiction-family-drama, released-through-bookcrossing

A depressing story of a young man who loses near everything short of his life. On a day when his long time girl-friend is in a bad mood of no longer being attracted to him and wanting to move on, on this day the young man Mike dives off a pier into a lake where the water level is unexpectedly low. He breaks his neck and ends up quadriplegic. To me, this is about one of the worst things I can imagine for someone young, strong athletic and longing to marry his long time sweetheart.
Said girl-frien...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Abby rated it 1 of 5 stars

Wow, this was a really bad book. I picked this up because someone recommended it, saying it was a really interesting look at how life can change and how you just might not be able to be the person you feel you should be. And it maybe could have been, but that's not what this book ended up being.

First off, a note to the author- it generally helps to make your protagonist likeable. They don't have to be perfect, and they can make mistakes, but give the reader some reason to like them. Carrie Bell...more Wow, this was a really bad book. I picked this up because someone recommended it, saying it was a really interesting look at how life can change and how you just might not be able to be the person you feel you should be. And it maybe could have been, but that's not what this book ended up being.

First off, a note to the author- it generally helps to make your protagonist likeable. They don't have to be perfect, and they can make mistakes, but give the reader some reason to like them. Carrie Bell was beyond obnoxious. She spends the first half of the book looking down her nose at her longtime friends who are not as clearly cosmopolitan as she is because they don't mind where they live and what they do. And yet, when her friends attempt to learn new things and broaden their horizons, then Carrie mocks them for being pretentious and insufferable. Basically, if they are not Carrie Bell, they are losers. Secondly, she is selfish and irresponsible and lazy. Third, whenever she's called out for being selfish or irresponsible, she cries, and then makes whoever accused her apoloogize. She is surrounded by people who love her deeply, yet I can't think of one positive character trait she possesses.

Another flaw in this book is the author really doesn't seem to have a firm grasp on what she's talking about. A. Madison, WI is not exactly Mayberry, B. You can't rent a room in NY for $125 a month, and C. Someone who enjoys sewing isn't necessarily a fashion designer in the making, as evidenced by Carrie's extremely dated fashion choices. I mean, this book was written in 2002, and Carrie sounds like she never left the early 90s. Which would have been okay if the author set the book in an earlier time, but I think it's supposed to be current as of the publishing date.

Also, this book is so slowly paced. I found myself having to skim pages just to get through the book.

I wanted a book that truly delved into making the choice between staying with a paraplegic partner or moving on alone, even if it meant you were ostracized and had to live with the guilt. I didn't hate Carrie because she left her boyfriend- I hated Carrie because she a bland character at best who sat around internally mocking her longtime best friend and others for not being as "cool" as Carrie was(less)

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Mar 16, 2013 Paola (A Novel Idea) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Originally posted at A Novel Idea Reviews

Rating: 2.5/5

Everything was planned, the entire future was written in permanent ink, for Carrie Bell. She was engaged to the man who had been her best friend since time immemorial, she loved his family and they loved her in return, and it seemed that nothing could ever break through the safety and comfort that had become her every day existence. But the stirrings of discontent had already been waking in Carrie’s heart when her fiancee took a nearly fatal...more Originally posted at A Novel Idea Reviews

Rating: 2.5/5

Everything was planned, the entire future was written in permanent ink, for Carrie Bell. She was engaged to the man who had been her best friend since time immemorial, she loved his family and they loved her in return, and it seemed that nothing could ever break through the safety and comfort that had become her every day existence. But the stirrings of discontent had already been waking in Carrie’s heart when her fiancee took a nearly fatal dive from Clausen’s Pier on a bright summer day, emerging from the accident paralyzed from the waist down— a man who would never walk again. Can love survive something so cataclysmic? And was this the life Carrie wanted?

I had some serious issues with this book, but it wasn’t because it was badly written, or because of anything in the story itself, really. I think my main problems came from how much I fundamentally disagreed with Carrie’s decisions and, I guess, with Carrie herself. I have been through stages in my life when what I truly needed was to break away from everything, re-arrange what I knew about myself and life itself. However, I definitely don’t think I could up and leave like that. I think I either just have extremely high ideals when it comes to love, or I’m just a drastically different person than Carrie. I would write more about this, but I don’t want to give the plot away, hahaha. Ann Packer writes very well, and the book itself is very good. It really goes into all the consequences and all the different things that can change based on one person’s decision. It also very deeply explores the nature of love, and whether or not love is really love. I would have rated it higher if it didn’t actually KEEP ME UP ALL NIGHT because I was so upset at some of the things Carrie decided to do. I am pretty sure if she was someone I knew in real life, I may have followed her and decked her one. Or several. That, however, is just me. You may think differently, haha.(less)

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About Ann Packer

Ann Packer is an American novelist and short story writer, perhaps best known for her critically acclaimed first novel The Dive From Clausen's Pier. She is the recipient of a James Michener Award and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Packer is the daughter of Stanford University law professor Herbert L. Packer and Nancy Packer, a writer and former professor of English and creative writ...more

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