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September 19, 2005

The Power of a Good Read

Last night I finished my book club book, and for the first time in AGES, I teared up at a BOOK.

We read The Dive From Clausen's Pier, by Ann Packer. It's about a girl who's been with her HS sweetheart all through college, they're engaged, but she's started to have doubts. Before she can bring herself to bring them up, he dives in shallow water and is paralyzed from the lower mid section down. And drama ensues. But I guess that's the thing about it I liked so much. While the whole thing is clearly very dramatic, the calm, deliberate and poetic way in which Packer writes makes the whole thing very real - realistic - connectable (<-- is that a word?).

I identified not so much with the character and how sehe reacted, but with what she felt and faced, which the author so effectively translated. I identified with the pressure, the guilt, the completely normal and everyday of love. Passion that defies the very essense of the word be being just so there, so calm, made up of seemingly un-passionate things.

Good stuff. Now on to the non-fiction book about the fact that individualism was at the core of the founding of our country.

Posted by nikl at September 19, 2005 11:02 AM

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