Chinese Handcuffs

Author: Chris Crutcher
Publisher:Greenwillow Books
Year Published:1989
Cost:$12.99 (Hardcover)
Other Bibliographic Information:
ISBN:0688083455
ISBN13: 978-0688083458
Reading Level:5.2
Interest Level:9+


Plot summary:
A young adult novel by Chris Crutcher. This is about Dillon Hemingway and Jen Lawless, both are amazing athletes and are well-known by their fellow classmates. However, both have haunting family lives. They both find comfort in each other. Dillon runs to lose himself, to forget about his family falling apart; to sort out his feelings for Stacy, Preston’s girlfriend; and to stop thinking about the secret that his friend Jennifer has just entrusted to him - a secret about herself and her step-father, T.B. Dillon can’t keep running from these problems and he knows it. With the help of Jennifer’s basketball coach and his father, Dillon learns to accept his problems and take responsibility for the only thing he can control - himself.

Issues for Being Challenge:

The issues in the book that are likely to be challenged are: Issues of Rape, Incest,unplanned pregnancy, teen suicide, gangs, drugs, and child molestation are covered in this book.


Evaluation:
I believe that this novel would be an excellent novel to teach to a group of struggling readers. Though the problems that the characters face are extremely complex and many students would not have “life” experience in them, I feel that all the student would be able to relate to the confusion that the characters feels. This would help to increase their social confidences as well as text confidence. Relationships change and people put an end to the grief they have suffered. I guarantee that this book will keep you reading until the very end when you see how all the problems are resolved.


Reader’s annotation:

The characters have suffered through many hardships, which become revealed in this book. So if you want to find out what happens to Jennifer, Dillon, or Stacy, you’ll have to read this book.

Review Excerpts:

"Crutcher, author of the well-received The Crazy Horse Electric Game , Running Loose and Stotan! , has written a weighty, introspective novel. Because of the book's complex structure, and because the issues are so gritty and realistic, parts of the resolution become melodramatic in contrast."
~ Publishers Weekly

"...an emotional look at the helplessness of isolation and the redemption that comes from reaching out. Crutcher offers no easy answers --- no happily ever afters. But he does offer hope. He celebrates heroics, one brave step at a time...a riveting read --- for teens, and adults who love them."
~Teenreads.com

"There are enough plots here to fuel a soap opera for a year... Characters keep asking, 'can we talk' and then prattle on... Dillon is too much in control of himself and the other characters to be believable. The ending...is contrived. There's a place in fiction for teenage problems, but surely not all in one novel." Robert E. Unsworth, Scarsdale Junior High School, N.Y.
~School Library Journal

"Dillon Hemingway faces a lot of problems. . . . Given this plethora of woe...it's surprising that the story is as effective as it is. While all the problems don't really add up to a plot, the characterization is sound and consistent, and Crutcher's writing has both insight and fluency.
~Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Awards/Honors Recieved:
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
1991 South Dakota YARP Best Books List


Author's Website:
http://www.chriscrutcher.com/content/blogcategory/68/57/