Search - The Dive From Clausen's Pier (Alex Awards (Awards))

Used Book ~ The Dive From Clausen's Pier (Alex Awards (Awards)) by author Ann Packer
The Dive From Clausen's Pier (Alex Awards (Awards))
Author: Ann Packer
Book Information
Publisher: Knopf
Book Type: Hardcover
Rating: 54

ISBN-13: 9780375412820 - ISBN-10: 0375412824
Publication Date: 4/9/2002
Pages: 384

Book Description:
"The Dive from Clausen's Pier is one of those small miracles that reinforce our faith in fiction. It does what the best novels so often do, making the largest things visible by its perfect rendering of life on the smaller scale. It is witty, tragic and touching, and beguiling from the first page." --Scott Turow

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 longs for a change, an upheaval, for a chance to begin again.

That chance is granted to her, terribly, when Mike is injured in an accident. Now Carrie has to question everything she thought she knew about herself and the meaning of home. She must ask: How much do we owe the people we love? Is it a sign of strength or of weakness to walk away from someone in need?

The Dive from Clausen’s Pier reminds us how precarious our lives are and how quickly they can be divided into before and after, whether by random accident or by the force of our own desires. It begins with a disaster that could happen, out of the blue, in anybody’s life, and it forces us to ask how we would bear up in the face of tragedy and what we know, or think we know, about our deepest allegiances. Elegantly written and ferociously paced, emotionally nuanced and morally complex, The Dive from Clausen’s Pier marks the emergence of a prodigiously gifted new novelist.

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Genres:
Other Versions of this Book: Paperback, Audio Cassette (Abridged), Paperback


Top Member Reviews

Debra R. (MediumDebbi) from MINNEAPOLIS, MN wrote on 8/29/2007...

1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Carrie and Mike have been a couple since high school and just as Carrie is having second thoughts about thier relationship, Mike has a diving accident and is paralyzed from the neck down. This book chronicles Carrie's thought and feeling process through the whole ordeal. This is a pretty good story, I would give it 4 stars because of the way it involves the reader in the characters ambivalence without making snap judgements and its recogntion and appreciation of human foibles and difficulties.

Kellie S. (acountkel) from CHARLOTTE, NC wrote on 2/4/2007...

1 member(s) found this review helpful.

I read this when it first came out in 2002. The book is all right. I just disliked the main character. She was weak. This is a story about a guy and a girl. The girl is thinking of breaking up with the guy. They are out with their friends swimming in a creek and the boy breaks his neck diving from the pier. The rest of the story is about how she dealt with their relationship and her life after the accident.

Marta J. (booksnob) from AUSTIN, TX wrote on 10/23/2006...

1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Loved this--different kind of love story. Do we honor our heart or obligation?

Holly B. (queenholly) from HOLLAND, MI wrote on 6/13/2006...

1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Carrie feels like she is suffocating and decides to breakup with her high school sweetheart and start over. Before she can do it, he breaks his neck in a diving accident. Will Carrie give up her dreams to take care of Mike or will she go on with her plans for the future?

Erin T. from OAKLAND, CA wrote on 5/21/2006...

1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Loved this book. Read it in 2 days (it's just shy of 400 pages). Very moving yet self-contained & quiet, in a way. One of the more honest books I've read in a long time. Admirable in that she doesn't try to pretty up an impossible & ugly situation. Highly recommended.


Rate These Member Reviews

DONNA P. from GRIFFITH, IN wrote on 1/7/2008...


This book is something unexpected to read. When I got it as a gift, I really didn't think it would be worth my time, but I was wrong. I think you'd enjoy it if you gave it a chance. It held my interest and I read through it very quickly.

Brandie V. (idesign) wrote on 10/29/2007...


I loved this book so much that I even wrote a sociology paper on it in college. A great thought provoking story!

Nicole B. (NicoleBev) from CARMEL, NY wrote on 7/5/2007...


This book kept me turing the pages until the very end.

Mary B. (eagles) from COLUMBIA, SC wrote on 6/28/2007...


I loved this book. Could not put it down. Definitely makes you think and put relationships in a different perspective.

Kirsten C. from SAN FRANCISCO, CA wrote on 5/10/2007...


I loved this book. Please see my review on my blog http://www.speakunique.blogspot.com

Holly B. (queenholly) from HOLLAND, MI wrote on 6/13/2006...


Carrie feels like she is suffocating and decides to breakup with her high school sweetheart and start over. Before she can do it, he breaks his neck in a diving accident. Will Carrie give up her dreams to take care of Mike or will she go on with her plans for the future?

Megan D. from MESA, AZ wrote on 5/25/2006...


GREAT BOOK

Buffy G. (bufomander) from DENVER, CO wrote on 4/14/2006...


i love this book -- i almost can't bring myself to get rid of it. my inept summary: Carrie is already thinking of breaking up with her high school sweetheart (soon after college graduation) when there is an accident and he is seriously injured -- now what?

Martha M. from JACKSONVILLE, FL wrote on 9/20/2005...


very interesting, thought provoking