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berthe33's review
1.0
I am not liking this book. Do not find the characters engaging...ANY of them. The most interesting is the least involved, from the author's perspective, Olivia. I am getting, only peripherily, how the death of the young girl is being "carried". May not finish this one.
andrew61's review against another edition
2.0
I don't like giving bad reviews but this was utter pants . Totally uninterested in these self obsessed obnoxious characters !
sjklass's review
4.0
Reading this novel of a mere 253 pages, I felt as though I'd completed a 600 page Jonathan Franzen tome. I can only attribute that reaction to author Carol Anshaw's sublime writing.
Driving away from Carmen's wedding reception in the wee hours of the morning, Carmen's brother Nick and sister Alice and 3 other guests are all drunk or high. Their lives are irreversibly changed when the car they're in hits and kills a young girl. Alternating chapters follow the damaged, flawed, characters through 25 years of life's milestones.
The three siblings push each others buttons and lean on each other for support. Carmen is a political activist who puts herself in harms way. She is a wife and mother, then single mother. Alice is the talented, insecure artist who paints the dead girl into her landscapes and has a series of affairs with women who can control her. Nick is the brilliant astrophysicist who uses drugs to assuage his guilt and falls down the rabbit hole of addiction. Olivia, the driver, atones by doing time in jail but re-enters society with a new moral-code and ambition. Forever connected by 'the girl', some self-destruct, some stumble their way into their 40's.
A lot to convey in less than 300 pages, but the author manages it, making it look easy. Taking place between 1983 and 2008, I am roughly the same age as the characters. Cultural/historical references throughout had me recollecting - where was I when....? This novel is one that will stay with me for some time and has me looking forward to what Carol Anshaw has in store for us next.
Driving away from Carmen's wedding reception in the wee hours of the morning, Carmen's brother Nick and sister Alice and 3 other guests are all drunk or high. Their lives are irreversibly changed when the car they're in hits and kills a young girl. Alternating chapters follow the damaged, flawed, characters through 25 years of life's milestones.
The three siblings push each others buttons and lean on each other for support. Carmen is a political activist who puts herself in harms way. She is a wife and mother, then single mother. Alice is the talented, insecure artist who paints the dead girl into her landscapes and has a series of affairs with women who can control her. Nick is the brilliant astrophysicist who uses drugs to assuage his guilt and falls down the rabbit hole of addiction. Olivia, the driver, atones by doing time in jail but re-enters society with a new moral-code and ambition. Forever connected by 'the girl', some self-destruct, some stumble their way into their 40's.
A lot to convey in less than 300 pages, but the author manages it, making it look easy. Taking place between 1983 and 2008, I am roughly the same age as the characters. Cultural/historical references throughout had me recollecting - where was I when....? This novel is one that will stay with me for some time and has me looking forward to what Carol Anshaw has in store for us next.
406knits's review
3.0
Carry the One starts with the action right away. The aftermath of the accident is extremely realistic and shakes the lives of the 20-somethings involved. In spite of following the characters for 25 years following the accident, I never really felt drawn by them. The relationship just hadn't been formed between myself and any of the characters, so I found myself going along for the ride, not living the experience as though I was there, too. All characters have their downfalls and shortcomings, but I feel Anshaw highlighted those more with these characters and didn't highlight their "good side" enough, if at all for some of them. The storyline itself was fantastically original and exciting, but Anshaw definitely fell short in character development.
I recommend this novel for anyone who does not need to feel an extreme bond with characters in a novel, but is looking for a pretty decent storyline.
For a more complete review, please read my blog post here
I recommend this novel for anyone who does not need to feel an extreme bond with characters in a novel, but is looking for a pretty decent storyline.
For a more complete review, please read my blog post here
jeanettesonya's review against another edition
4.0
This book is the unfurling of interconnected lives. It's all about watching the way one traumatic event can affect a group of very different people in very different ways. It was a great read, the type that might stick with me for a while in the same way that the accident sticks with the characters in the book.
maureenmcc's review
2.0
I felt that though the characters of the two sisters were well-developed, the other characters never quite gelled for me. There were some interesting passages with insightful reflections but overall it seemed overly spelled out and predictable.
aeagle73's review
2.0
I was excited about the premise of this book, but I don't feel satisfaction having finished it. I could never get into the book that much, because I didn't really like any of the main characters. Hard to finish a book when you don't really care how it ends. And it's even worse when the ending sucks.
minvanwin's review
2.0
I started caring about the characters in the last 20 pages. Some poignant scenes, but overall this book left me feeling cold.
robinsbooks's review
4.0
Good character development and despite not really caring for any of the characters, I found it to be an engrossing read.
kikiramone's review against another edition
1.0
I could not even finish this book. I found the writing so clunky and the characterization so archetypical and obvious that I found myself not caring at all about plot. I was disappointed in this book, after reading and enjoying Anshaw's "Aquamarine."