January 17, 2005
YA13: Chinese Handcuffs
Chinese Handcuffs
by Chris Crutcher
New York : Greenwillow Books, c1989.
ISBN: 0688083455
202 p.
My library system only had one copy down in Morgan Hill (where I'm working this Wednesday) but I found a used copy at the bookstore in Pentaluma and snatched it up while I had the chance since its one of the required readings for class. It has a lot of similarities to Crutcher's Whale Talk (also starring a super athlete who won't do the "patriotic" thing and play school sports, mostly to annoy the crazy coaches/principal) and is another really gripping, intense read. But boy, its heavy. First, most of the book is in the form of letters that Dillon Hemingway, age 16, is writing to his brother -- who committed suicide in front of him. And then there's "Jennifer Lawless, a star high school basketball player with a secret too monstrous to tell and too enormous to keep" -- which we're seeing all too much of in these teen books. Dillon's a great character -- too good to be true in many ways (and a load of trouble to those in authority) but you want to like him and want him to fix all the tremendously awful stuff going on. Ugh - I certainly understand why I didn't read these books as a teenager though.
There's an excerpt here if you want a taste.
PW called it "a weighty, introspective novel." In a less than flattering review, School Library Journal wrote, "There are enough plots here to fuel a soap opera for a year" and "There's a place in fiction for teenage problems, but surely not all in one novel."
ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
Ages 12+, Gr 9-12