Carrie and Mike met at 14, were voted cutest couple at their Madison, Wis., high school, went to the same local university, finished one another's thoughts, hooked up their families for holiday dinners. But Carrie is itchy, tired of thinking of ''the list of things I loved about him, in case I forgot.''
Packer does a fine job describing the claustrophobic atmosphere that can cloak a hometown. The familiar collegiate strip of Madison, with its ''boys in gigantic jeans cut off below the knee; girls in...tops and dresses that revealed the shoulder straps of black or light blue lingerie.'' The friends who, five years later, still speak endlessly of high school. The limited Friday-night options, and the boredom that leads to beer consumption.
It's to Packer's credit that her portrait, while on target, isn't a sneering one. And Mike, while dealt the blow of paralysis, is treated with similar respect. Unashamed of his small-town fantasies, he remains the moral center of the book. Mature and brave, his character never careens into an emasculated touchy-feely triumph zone.
When Carrie and his family tiptoe around his broken body, murmuring words of encouragement and assistance, Mike, angry and irritated, yells, ''Stop! Asking me! What! I! Want!...Why do people keep asking me what I want? I want to walk out of here.''
Mike is already a grown-up, so ''The Dive From Clausen's Pier'' is really Carrie's coming-of-age story. ''Sometimes sitting there with him I felt like I was watching myself sitting there with him. Like: Look at her, she's doing the right thing. I felt so distant.'' Sure, the poor girl needs a slap every now and then to knock her out of that self-absorbed shell, but she remains a sympathetic character throughout those early strained hospital visits and her escape to a more anonymous life in New York City.
If only Packer had more confidence in her reader, whom she hand-holds through too many of her novel's metaphors. When guilt gets the best of Carrie, she turns to her sewing machine and the lure of design. ''What was it about fashion?? It was less about beauty than about transformation. Who would I be in a turquoise paisley slip dress and beaded sandals?'' On the significance of names: ''Carrie as in carry...except I guess it's not a canoe you'll be carrying.'' Her boyfriend in New York, cynical and withdrawn (and, despite the hot sex scenes, one of the more irritating characters in recent fiction), is named Kilroy. When the big Big Apple section grows wearisome, and it will, rest assured that a visit back home to Madison is in order.
In thinking about our discussions and of course the book, I asked all book club members the same questions. Ten members responded.
Did you marry your high school sweetheart? Four of us married our high school sweethearts. Several responded they were certainly glad they didn't!!
Were you ever engaged to someone you didn't end up marrying? Who broke it off? One of us was engaged to someone else and she broke it off. One person's husband was engaged to someone else, but she broke it off.
Have you every had to be the caretaker of someone who was handicapped or very ill? Three people have been caretakers for someone very ill. Several have had short times of care-taking for someone who recovered.
Did you ever leave your husband/parents/school without telling anyone where you were going? Several of us responded that we have done this, but only for short times. One person was sad that no one came after her!!
I think from the answers we can be certain that this book touched a familiar part of each person in some way----even if it was in a "Bodice Busting" way!!
Nancy's home was our meeting place this month. The
table was set with flowers, nuts, and candy and a springy green tablecloth!
She was a very gracious hostess, but she DIDN'T share her alcohol with us!!
The food was delish as usual!
Many of us use our hands (click here for a great art show of hands) to talk, especially when we're very involved in our topic
and book club is no exception!
Jan and Kathy are listening attentively to Jackie and Phyllis!
Karen makes sure she has her facts straight before speaking.
As usual we had a great discussion! What a wonderful way to relieve stress.
Before leaving we chose our next TWO books--A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a
Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah and American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld.
Stay tuned !
