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Ann Packer

 When Ann Packer was very young, her father had a massive stroke; a few years later, he killed himself. This is the sort of event that makes an artist. If Packer's early years had been untroubled, I'm not sure she would have started writing.


"The Dive From Clausen's Pier" begins with a young man throwing himself into a pond. He has misjudged the pond; he makes contact with the Earth. The crash is of the sort that makes you permanently paralyzed. Like Ann Packer's father, this young man (Mike) is subsequently drawn to suicide. He pleads for the right to die. 

Mike is not the central character in this novel. That title goes to Carrie, who (I think) is the Ann Packer stand-in. Carrie was ambivalently dating Mike when the big accident occurred. Now--at the hospital--does she have to stay with him?

As Carrie wrestles with her problem, she behaves in recognizable and sometimes monstrous ways. The setup seems sensational, but actually this is a very quiet novel. A climactic event could be a tense conversation at a museum or a confusing chat about a wedding invitation.

Carrie's main foil is an enigmatic tycoon, Kilroy, who lives in Manhattan. Kilroy has suffered in his past--he won't talk about his mysterious tragedy. Carrie likes Kilroy for his sexual talents and for the freedom he seems to represent. But it's possible that she is not thinking clearly.

Like many other readers, I find this book somewhat frustrating because it is fully missing a sense of humor. Events do not need to be light or farcical to generate humor. Anything can be funny; Chekhov understood this. I sense that Packer--at least at this early stage in her career--just could not or did not see what is wonderfully absurd in life. I suspect, if Packer had tried the same story in her fifties or sixties, it would feel a bit less lugubrious. That said, it's smart that Packer did not try to *force* the humor.

A mixed bag--an early calling card for Packer, who published a better novel just a few months ago.
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