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Carry the One
Carry the One
Author: Carol Anshaw
Carry the One begins in the hours following Carmen?s wedding reception, when a car filled with stoned, drunk, and sleepy guests accidentally hits and kills a girl on a dark country road. For the next twenty-five years, those involved, including Carmen and her brother and sister, craft their lives in response to this single tragic moment. As one ...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780241963968
ISBN-10: 0241963966
Publication Date: 11/1/2012
Rating:
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
 4

2.5 stars, based on 4 ratings
Publisher: Penguin Books
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 1
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Carry the One on + 32 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
Weird book. Not what I expected even from reading the back of it. Was not happy with the odd ending either. I did continue reading it because I kept looking for the point...looking for what this book was "about". I mean, why the publisher liked it...would not recommend it.
njmom3 avatar reviewed Carry the One on + 1361 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2012/03/carry-one.html

Carry The One follows a set of siblings and friends over a course of twenty five years. The book begins with a wedding, and in the aftermath of the wedding, friends traveling together hit and accidentally kill a young girl. The book is meant to look at how one tragic moment impacts these individuals throughout their lives.

Unfortunately I did not enjoy the book at all. The book starts off with a wedding. The characters introduced sadly are not very likable ones. The description of the wedding includes descriptions of casual drug use, casual relationships, and the fact that even the wedding itself is precipitated by an unplanned pregnancy. Following this is the fact that these individuals in an alcohol and drug haze get in a car and drive. All that in the first few pages of the books. Not a positive start.

Given these circumstances, it is unclear that what transpires in the characters' lives is due to one tragic moment or a series of unfortunate choices. The premise of the book does not follow through because even in the first few pages, the accident is not a surprise and is a result of decisions made. To then turn around and present that accident as the cause in all that follows lacks conviction and makes for poor reading.
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reviewed Carry the One on + 1438 more book reviews
Does the death of a child haunt those involved? In this case, when the characters of the novel leave a wedding, stoned and inebriated, the car in which they are riding, hits and kills a young girl walking along the road. The driver is indicted and spends a few years in prison but the young girl's death affects the lives of all who were in the car in different ways. The reader follows these individuals through their lives until, in one way or another, their memories of the accident begin to fade or cease. It's sad story and similar to one I read earlier this year which was not fiction. I enjoyed that one much more.