Songs Without Words | 
 enlarge | Author: Ann Packer
Creator: Cassandra Campbell
Publisher: Random House Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
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Rating:  55 reviews
Sales Rank: 1027976
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 11
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 5.9 x 5.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 073935468X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780739354681
ASIN: 073935468X
Publication Date: September 4, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Ann Packer’s debut novel, The Dive from Clausen’s Pier, was a nationwide bestseller that established her as one of our most gifted chroniclers of the interior lives of women. Now, in her long-awaited second novel, she takes us on a journey into a lifelong friendship pushed to the breaking point.
Liz and Sarabeth were childhood neighbors in the suburbs of northern California, brought as close as sisters by the suicide of Sarabeth’s mother when the girls were just sixteen. In the decades that followed–through Liz’s marriage and the birth of her children, through Sarabeth’s attempts to make a happy life for herself despite the shadow cast by her mother’s act–their relationship remained a source of continuity and strength. But when Liz’s adolescent daughter enters dangerous waters that threaten to engulf the family, the fault lines in the women’s friendship are revealed, and both Liz and Sarabeth are forced to reexamine their most deeply held beliefs about their connection. Songs Without Words is about the sometimes confining roles we take on in our closest relationships, about the familial myths that shape us both as children and as parents, and about the limits–and the power–of the friendships we create when we are young.
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 Couldn't Put it Down December 30, 2008
I read The Dive from Clausen's Pier and didn't love it. This book was amazing... the characters richly detailed and entirely believable, the subject matter dealt with gently but realistically. It really resonated with me, and I didn't want it to end, which I can say only about one other book I read this year (The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay).
 Wish I hadn't bothered to buy it. December 29, 2008
I agree with so many other reviewers here: this was not a very good book. The idea of the story intrigued me but the two women were uninteresting and even a little annoying. But more than the women or the plot, what bothered me the most was the poor writing. The author writes paragraphs of excessive detail that don't do anything at all for the story, don't tell me about a character, don't move the story forward, nothing. More annoying than that are sentences like this: "Esther was an elderly woman Sarabeth had sort of adopted." Huh? Who is saying this? This is like some kind of authorial intrusion to explain things to the reader, because she couldn't do it within dialogue. Also the entire first paragraph of chapter three which explains the company Brody works for - I kept wanting to shout, "Show, don't tell!" - one of the very first lessons in any creative writing class.
Perhaps this book was rushed into print. Perhaps, as someone else suggested, she needed more help from an editor. I've heard that the Claussen Pier book is good and I might borrow it from the library to find out. But this one? Naw. Not a good book.
 A Major Disappointment December 28, 2008
I devoured Ann Packer's earlier novel, "The Dive From Clausen's Pier," in a matter of days. "Songs Without Words," however, proved to be a major letdown. Packer's eye for detail makes her writing compelling, to be sure, but "Songs" is mired deeply in exhaustive detail that quickly grows tedious. The first hundred pages describe nothing but characters going about their everyday lives, with bits of backstory thrown in for good measure. The book has very little plot, and what plot it does have moves at a sluggish pace, dragged down by excessive and unnecessary details. I grew frustrated with reading it and eventually gave up. (I skipped to the end, though, to make sure nothing exciting happened -- and sure enough, nothing did.)
 I was not bored August 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I enjoyed this book and was never bored. I came to care about the characters and wanted to know how their stories turn out. In a time when non-fiction memoirs seem ridiculous, it's nice to read an honest portrayal of life in a work of fiction.
Not as Good June 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved Clausen's Pier. This one started out intriguing with rich characters but they then went NOWHERE.
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