Customer Reviews: Read 50 more reviews...
 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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