Rating: 
Summary: Stick with it
Review: When I first started reading this book, I wanted to put it down after about 50 pages. I did not think the writing was very original, and thought the dialogue was poor. More importantly, I could not imagine how she was going to get four hundred pages out of this seemingly simple story.I ended up really loving this book. Carrie's journey and decision making process are emotional and complex, and I really found myself pulling for her. At times she made me so angry I wanted to yell out loud at her and tell her what to do! This is one of those rare books that leaves you missing the characters when it's over. I finished it today, and I wish there was more to read. I'll remeber Carrie for a long time.
Rating: 
Summary: There are better beach reads......
Review: This is one of those books that you have to convince yourself to continue reading, and in some cases, particularly in section 2, bribe yourself to finish. The only character of any interest is Mike, and at times, Carrie's mother. Why anyone in New York was begging Carrie to return is beyond me. On a good note, I thought the author did a nice job with the ending, not everything needs to be wrapped in a bow and resolved. There are better beach books this summer, I am on to "The Lovely Bones".
Rating: 
Summary: Wanted to Like It More
Review: After reading an engaging review of this book I felt like I should have liked it more than I did. Having spent 7 years in Madison, WI, the people and places were all there and the author even assumed we knew Madison by telling us what streets Carrie would take home. But almost from the get-go I couldn't empathize because I just hated the characters. Their dialogue was insipid and predictable.
Points to Ms. Packer for addressing the point of "What do we owe the people that we love?" Do we owe them our very lives? She could have gone deeper into Carrie's feelings, but then again, Carrie didn't have any. She goes to New York and lives on the cheap. Finds an older lover, Kilroy, who is jaded and bookish and is actually the most believable character.
I just expected more from the buzz surrounding this author's first novel. Probably going to be on Oprah's Book Club within the year.
Rating:
Summary: Approval from a New Yorker/Madisonian
Review: I could not put this book down. When I wasn't reading it these past few days, I was thinking about it, wondering about what would happen next. I am a student at UW and I am originally from the outskirts of New York City so the richness of Packer's descriptions of the scenery were fun for me to read. I truly applaud Packer's ability to paint these towns so vividly. As far as the presentation of Madison as a stagnant and dull city goes, I was initially offended and quick to oppose any such notions but as I read on, I saw that if one lives somewhere for their whole lives, it's easy to reach these conclusions about it.
While I indeed sympathized with Carrie Bell, I can't say that I really like her but rather than claiming this as a flaw of the book, I reguarded it as a challenge of sorts. My not liking her made me question what others saw in her that I didn't.I don't believe that Carrie really could've stumbled upon another intense relationship so easily and especially with someone as emotionally unavailable as Kilroy. Nonetheless, I really wanted to see how things between the two of them could have been.
I enjoyed the recurring image of picnic point and the scenes of Carrie sewing really drew me in. However, what was with the green dress and nightgown? The nightgown seemed like it was going to be a big deal later. Maybe what Packer wanted us to see in the nightgown was hope for life after the novel.
I would highly recommend this book. It was intense, a quick read, and extremely thought-provoking.
Rating:
Summary: A dull read...........
Review: I was anxious to read this book after hearing it reviewed on Good Morning America. They made it sound like the best book of the summer! I felt it started off well but never did much after the first few chapters. I did not like the main character, Carrie. Just could not relate to the choices she made and found her very self-involved. Also did not care for Kilroy who was very self-important.
I made myself read the whole book in the hopes that it would get better. Carrie just seemed to float through life with no plans, no ambition and not much thought for her so-called friends! The end was also a disapointment.
Rating: 
Summary: How BORING!
Review: For the life of me, I can't understand how anyone could give this book above two stars. The big accomplishment was that I did manage to finish it, only by skipping pages at a time, because I had to believe that SOMEHOW the main character would have at least one redeeming quality. To say I was wrong is an understatement. Why would an author deliberately create such a selfish, immature, and thoroughly uninteresting character? Her whining and self-pity was too much for me by the third chapter. And it only got worse as the book went on. NOTHING happened in this book - there was no "journey" of self-discovery. Carrie discovered nothing about herself, and the reader discovered that she was a BORING character! The plot is as follow: She's discontent and annoying in Wisconsin, she's discontent and annoying in NY, and then she's discontent and annoying, once again, in Wisconsin. And NOTHING ABOUT HER CHANGED. UUgghhhh, what a horrible book. (Try The Lovely Bones instead, if you want an interesting read.) It is beyond me how this could get rave reviews. Do not waste your time. I ended up feeling annoyed with MYSELF that I spent a few hours trying to get through this piece of slop!
Rating:
Summary: Worst dialog I've read in a long time
Review: This book is so horribly written at times I want to heave it across the room. My dog keeps looking up at me as I read with confused, questioning eyes as I groan over and over, unbelieving how bad the dialog can be. It is completely juvenile and contrived. And the character Carrie is unlikable and whiney. This book was so highly promoted and recommended that I bought a hardback copy, excited to read it. The premise is interesting and seemingly thought-provoking; the end product is sappy and boring. It's the 'Bridges of Madison County' of 2002. Need I say more?
Rating:
Summary: "You can't or don't go home again"
Review: I read this book because of the glowing review that I heard on the radio. I greatly admire the writing style, the restraint and attention to detail, particularly as I know something about sewing and fabrics. The description of a Midwestern university city was right on. These strengths were enough to keep me reading but then mentally rewriting the plot after I finished. The story is told by Carrie Bell who is reluctantly engaged to Mike, her high school sweetheart. In a stunt to impress and break through to her, he makes a dive which leaves him quadriplegic. The emotional fallout from that event drives the story. What does Carrie owe to Mike, his parents and their circle of friends? In creating Carrie, the author has put an old head on young shoulders. Her detachment and sexual confidence would seem more believable in an older character. Worse are the motivations for how the characters are and what they do. The following things do not ring true for me... Carrie has drifted along into her early twenties with all her high school friends paddling around her. No one has moved out of Madison or made any connections through their college years.....Carrie seems to have little relationship with her mother who is a psychologist, for heaven's sake. The absence of the father doesn't seem to have made Mom angry enough to have created such a chill in their relationship and be enough reason for Carrie to be so rudderless....I buy the drive to NewYork and could see it coming but after that decision, why does she start drifting again? Particularly when, in terms of the established story she has a skill to market....Okay, about Kilroy, who is one of the more engaging love interests to show up in fiction. This is where motivation really falls apart. He was in his early 20's when the so-called tragedy which made him what he is befell him. It is not believable. It was not bad enough and he was not young enough for it to have had this bizarre effect. His parents are presented as perfectly nice people when we meet them, not the shallow materialistic couple that he has described....And finally, a 24 year-old who is living in the exciting New York City described, enjoying a satifying relationship with potentially wealthy man who says he loves her, is not going back to Madison to start up again with high school friends and a quadriplegic semi-fiance. In general, you can't and you don't want to go home again.
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing & Emotional
Review: I bought this book on a whim this past weekend, and had it finished by Tuesday night. Packer does an admirable job of trudging through the deep emotions of a woman who's life is on the verge...of something. And it was the search for that "something" that kept me entranced. I was absorbed in Carrie's love for Mike (stale or not), and then I was swept up by the urgency in her packing up and leaving home. After a few chapters, I even opened up to embrace the idea of not Mike, but Kilroy. Despite the hard choices Carrie had to make, it seemed very believable & realistic to me, the reader - a woman of 23, who once "ran away" from "home" herself. My one complaint/let down, would have to be the ending - which I felt was flat, in comparison to the complexity of the bulk of pages preceeding it. I felt as though it couldn't have been more than the conclusion of a chapter (and not a strong conclusion in that context either) - but not the conclusion to this saga of Carrie's life. Perhaps time ran short, perhaps ideas ran dry - or maybe there were too many, and a new novel is on it's way. Whatever the case - this was a wonderfully written novel - emotionally engrossing, but disappointing at the conclusion.
Rating:
Summary: Deceptive Simplicity - But Did Guys Like This Book?
Review: Generally, if all the ladies poolside are reading a novel, I can predict that I will hate it. After the Good Morning America "tease", I believed that this might be the exceptional novel-of-the-season that I would enjoy...and I was right. My 50-year-old sister had a stroke, and her boyfriend bolted; so Carrie's dilemma was not new to me.
I adore the nuances of the English language; and Ms. Packer's similes satisfied. I found her characters to be interesting and believable. Probably every female over the age of twelve has had a friendship like Carrie and Jamie's; and probably every guy who has belonged to a fraternity has had a friendship like Mike and Rooster's. Was Kilroy the consummate emotionally unavailable man, or what? I even related to Carrie's relationship with her beloved sewing machine. Accurate details - Bernina, NYC, rehab - only added to the story.
No guy that I know (I'm married, and have 21- and 17-year-old sons) would read this novel. Carrie's soul searching is so deep and painful, and Mike's injury is so cataclysmic that my guys would be exhausted by page 50. The sewing details would put them to sleep.
I probably won't read it again, but I would tell a friend to give it a try.
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