Swim Back to Me

Written by Ann Packer

From Ann Packer, author of the New York Times best-selling novels The Dive from Clausen’s Pier and Songs Without Words, a collection of burnished, emotionally searing stories, framed by two unforgettable linked narratives that express the transformation of a single family over the course of a lifetime.

A wife struggles to make sense of her husband’s sudden disappearance. A mother mourns her teenage son through the music collection he left behind. A woman shepherds her estranged parents through her brother’s wedding and reflects on the year her family collapsed. A young man comes to grips with the joy—and vulnerability—of fatherhood. And, in the masterly opening novella, two teenagers from very different families forge a sustaining friendship, only to discover the disruptive and unsettling power of sex.

Ann Packer is one of our most talented archivists of family life, with its hidden crevasses and unforeseeable perils, and in these stories she explores the moral predicaments that define our social and emotional lives, the frailty of ordinary grace, and the ways in which we are shattered and remade by loss. With Swim Back to Me, she delivers shimmering psychological precision, unfailing intelligence, and page-turning drama: her most enticing work yet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Apr 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307877932

Ann Packer

Ann Packer is the author of five previous works of fiction, including the bestselling novels The Children’s Crusade and The Dive from Clausen’s Pier, which received the Kate Chopin Literary Award, among many other prizes and honors. Her short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and in the O. Henry Prize Stories anthologies, and her novels have been published around the world. She divides her time among New York, the Bay Area, and Maine.

Reviews for Swim Back to Me

[nancyjak · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nice collection of short stories.

[raven9167 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

About the best I can say for most of this collection is "meh." The experience was similar to watching your typical summer comedy in a movie theater: you enjoy the show, it made you happy for a few moments, and your forget about it a couple hours later. I really liked parts of "Walk for Mankind" as I think Ms. Packer really nailed the adolescent boy chasing a girl he wants but doesn't know to get sort of trope, but I also didn't quite get the characters' motivations at times. Sure, Sasha rebelling against her parents made sense (and it was wholly unnecessary to point that desire out in the last story in the collection) but why in the world did Richard fixate on the gentlemen from the walk as someone to reach out to? I was left rather befuddled by that and other actions of Richard's, which left me feeling somewhat hollow by the end as I really enjoyed about 85% of the story, but that last 15% of confused motivations rather ruined it.

I did enjoy "Jump" and "Dwell Time" as I felt both of those stories were realistic and built upon interesting premises (man keeping his background a secret, husband disappears suddenly) with characters I cared about. But other stories, namely "Molten", "Her Firstborn", and "Things Said or Done" were rather forgettable for me personally. I know I was supposed to care about the mother in "Molten" and I could feel her grief, but it just did not resonate with me. While I liked the idea in "Things Said or Done" of connecting back to the first story, I did not feel as if I gained additional insight into the characters and thus it felt a bit like a wasted effort.

At the end of the day, I thought this was decent, but it did not move me in the way that other short story collections have in the past. Frankly, I was just disappointed that Ms. Packer could not complete "Walk for Mankind" in a way that felt satisfying, and much though I liked "Jump" and "Dwell Time", I don't think they'd be enough to make me want to revisit this.

[olevia-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Oh, for an editor on "Walk for Mankind". Oh, for someone to suggest the "Molten" had been written before - and better. (And yes, unlike others here, I am an avid short-story reader. Wish more people were.)

[3goldens_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Although I'm not usually a fan of collections of short stories, this one spoke to me. The story about the mother mourning the death of her teen son cuts right to the bone. Her choice at the end is one of the most honest things I've read. Every story in this collection made me pause and marvel at Packer's insights into human motivations and the ties that connect us all...and the costs associated with those connections. A beautiful book.

[nancylay · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Short stories that I found to be rather strange.

[bobbieharv · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I missed that this was short stories (doesn't seem to be on the cover?), and I wouldn't have read it had I known. I kept waiting for the characters to connect, which of course they didn't till the last chapter. She's a great writer and I loved her Clausen's Pier book, but short stories just don't do it for me.

[nivramkoorb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Having read her other 2 novels and spoken to her at a book reading, I am a big fan. I thought that she did a great job and making you feel the characters. I did like the way she tied up the opening novella with the final story. The short stories in between touch on very sensitive subjects but did it in a way that really conveyed the feelings of the characters. She does a great job and letting you feel the hopes and fears of parents. I did have trouble with the response of the character who was treated by the doctor for her HTI. Didn't seem believable but other than that it was good reading. I definitely recommend Ann Packer to all.

[tac1948 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

not what I had hoped for all nemishes