Carry the One, Carol Anshaw
Carry the One, Carol Anshaw
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Carry the One
A Novel

Author: Carol Anshaw

Narrator: Renée Raudman

Unabridged: 9 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/06/2012

Categories: Fiction, Family Life


Synopsis

Carry the One begins in the hours following Carmen's
wedding reception, when a car filled with stoned, drunk, and sleepy
guests accidently hits and kills a girl on a dark, country road. For the
next twenty-five years, those involved, including Carmen and her
brother and sister, connect and disconnect and reconnect with each other
and their victim. As one character says, "When you add us up, you
always have to carry the one."

Through friendships and love
affairs; marriage and divorce; parenthood, holidays, and the modest
tragedies and joys of ordinary days, Carry the One shows how one
life affects another and how those who thrive and those who
self-destruct are closer to each other than we'd expect. Deceptively
short and simple in its premise, this novel derives its power and appeal
from the author's beautifully precise use of language; her sympathy for
her very recognizable, flawed characters; and her persuasive belief in
the transforming forces of time and love.

About Carol Anshaw

Carol Anshaw is the author of Aquamarine, Seven Moves, and Lucky in the Corner. She has received the Ferro-Grumley Award, the Carl Sandburg Literary Arts Award for Fiction, and a National Book Critics Circle Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. Carol lives in Chicago.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Carol on April 06, 2012

I really enjoyed this novel. The writing is excellent and the story rang true for me. Each of the siblings is flawed, often in very destructive ways but their love for each other was close to unconditional. Unlike many of the reviewers here, I liked Alice, Carmen and Nick. I also liked the way the a......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on June 26, 2012

Either Goodreads is going to have to add more star-giving-capabilities, or I will have to go and undo many 5 star ratings I have given, reconsidered in comparison with this book. There is a casual conversation in the book describing how before the big bang, the entire universe was the size of a dime......more

Goodreads review by Karen on July 26, 2023

I am not sure how I want to feel about this book. I know the reviews are mixed. Let me just write. The book starts with the Wisconsin wedding of Carmen Kenney to Matt Sloan in the summer of 1983. It is amiable. Slightly bohemian. An outdoor occasion. It is attended by Carmen’s (straight) brother, Nic......more

Goodreads review by Elaine Mullane on May 11, 2020

I really, really liked this book. In essence, it is about the messiness of family life but its focus on humanness and the ties that bind is particularly precise. "When you add us up, you always have to carry the one." This novel is an engrossing tale of a family affected by tragedy. It opens in 1983......more

Goodreads review by Carolyn on July 01, 2012

Great premise. Not so great execution. The premise of the book is the after-effects on the five people in the car that hits and kills Casey Redman. However, the book focuses on the three siblings: one who gets married for really stupid reasons and is a do-gooder (Carmen); one who is a lesbian and pa......more