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4.0 out of 5 stars
A book club favorite.,
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This review is from: The Dive From Clausen's Pier (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (School & Library Binding)
The world of Carrie Bell, a 23-year-old Wisconsin native, changes forever when she witnesses Mike Mayer's dive from Clausen's Pier, a dive which results in his broken neck, quadriplegia, and long rehab. Mike has been her love for eight years, and though the intensity of her early relationship has palled, she has been unable to decide how, or even whether, to call off her engagement. Lovingly remaining at Mike's side during the crucial early months of his recuperation, Carrie wonders, "How much do we owe the people we love?" as she tries to distinguish between love and friendship and the limitations and obligations of each.
Packer's naturalistic style puts the minutiae of the daily lives of Carrie, Mike, their friends, and families under a microscope. We learn, for example, even the smallest details of Carrie's compulsive sewing (how to make a spaghetti strap, why she uses a Bernina sewing machine and Butterick pattern), the exacting therapy a spinal cord injury patient undergoes, some of the cherished traditions of Madison (Paddle and Portage Day at the lakes), and even some of Carrie's memories of friend Jamie from third grade. Packer is equally precise about what the characters are thinking, feeling, wondering, and concluding so that the reader need never search beneath the surface for hidden meanings or subtleties. ("We were alone together, and also alone within ourselves." "[Carrie went] from guilt to remorse to relief to exhilaration [as she drove to New York]." "You do what you do. Not without consequences for other people.") The subject of spinal cord injuries arouses powerful feelings in the reader and makes us confront our personal moralities as we consider how we ourselves might behave in similar circumstances, and Packer is remarkable in her ability to illuminate these issues. Some readers may feel shortchanged by the conclusion of this book and question how much control Carrie ultimately exercises over her life--does she decide her future or merely let it happen? But Packer's presentation of her character reinforces the belief that little is to be gained by second-guessing someone else's choices. Ultimately, we can never know for sure what we ourselves would do. Mary Whipple
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