Carol Anshaw
Fiction
I’ll be honest: I do not get the title of this book. I don’t recall coming across the phrase at any point while I was reading and I suppose I could apply it to most of the characters in an abstract way—Oh, okay, nope. Never mind. Just got it. Looked more closely at the cover and now I get it.
Carry the One begins on Carmen and Matt’s wedding day. Also at their wedding is her sister, Alice, and her brother, Nick. Then there’s Matt’s sister Maude. Plus Nick’s girlfriend, Olivia. After the wedding, everyone except the bride and groom piles into a car and they drive off, a stoned Olivia at the wheel. Suddenly a young girl appears out of nowhere and Olivia hits her, instantly killing her. Everyone is devastated and they carry the burden of this girl’s death with them for years to come.
I actually almost put this down at several points but decided to keep going because Carol Anshaw is an awesome writer. She breathes such life and vitality into each of her characters. As far as plot goes, I could never see what was coming which is both good and bad. Each chapter almost felt like a short story because sometimes years would pass between POV changes, which took a little bit of getting used to and made me confused every so often. I wish the end had been more definitive, but I suppose a vague wrap-up was the only way to go.
Carol Anshaw is a great writer, so I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mainstream fiction.
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