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Review
'What makes this worth reading is Craig Clevenger's extraordinary prose: the pleasure of text is everything.' Guardian
‘What makes the book so unique, so compulsively readable, is Clevenger’s ability to make complex images seem so unforced.’ Independent on Sunday
‘A brilliant satire.’ Sainsbury’s Magazine
'It's dizzying stuff…no wonder Chuck Palahniuk is singing his praises on the back cover.' Metro
Praise for ‘The Contortionist’s Handbook’:
'A dazzling and highly original debut novel which instantly establishes its author as one of the most interesting writers to emerge in years. This book deserves to be massive and I think it will be.' Irvine Welsh
‘Craig Clevenger has crafted an unforgettable antihero in John Dolan Vincent. This is an extraordinary debut.’ Richard Kelly, director of ‘Donnie Darko’
‘What sticks out about this remarkable debut are its pitch-perfect shock ending and John Vincent himself – his complex, conflicting mind, original voice and unnervingly self-defeating existence.’ Time Out
Sainsbury’s Magazine
'A brilliant satire.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
One of my favourite books. Beautifully written, engaging characters. Leaves a lot of interpretation to the reader, so can be read again and again. More complex than the Contortionist's handbook- be prepared to invest in this book to get something out of it.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The writing in this LA crime novel of drug abuse and memory loss is certainly arresting. Clevenger's protaganist begins the story having had his brains fried after what appears to have been a seriously bad trip, and his body fried in a house-fire into the bargain. As if that weren't enough, the LA police suspect him of being the king-pin in a major narcotics gang, which is spreading its tentacles up and down the West Coast.
With all his normal points of reference erased, the protaganist sees most of the world around him as a series of bizarre hallucinations (or misapprehensions, would be more accurate). He sets out to re-discover who he is and what happened, and in the process uncovers various dark dealings and double-crosses.
The problem with the book is that it is too self-consciously hip for its own good. The story is thin, and bundles up too quickly at the end. The flights of descriptive fancy are too many, holding up the story as well as being frequently incomprehensible. And, the hints at profundity are just like the profundity one discovers when high as a kite: i.e. the kind that doesn't stand up to much scrutiny in the cold light of day.
If you enjoy weird and imaginitive prose, this book will delight. But if style over substance irritates you, then it is probably best avoided.
With all his normal points of reference erased, the protaganist sees most of the world around him as a series of bizarre hallucinations (or misapprehensions, would be more accurate). He sets out to re-discover who he is and what happened, and in the process uncovers various dark dealings and double-crosses.
The problem with the book is that it is too self-consciously hip for its own good. The story is thin, and bundles up too quickly at the end. The flights of descriptive fancy are too many, holding up the story as well as being frequently incomprehensible. And, the hints at profundity are just like the profundity one discovers when high as a kite: i.e. the kind that doesn't stand up to much scrutiny in the cold light of day.
If you enjoy weird and imaginitive prose, this book will delight. But if style over substance irritates you, then it is probably best avoided.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read "A Contortionist's Handbook" (a very fine book indeed) I was looking forward to this.
To start with the setup seems similar - first person narration from someone operating 'outside the law' - A flawed 'hero' trying to get their act together. Perhaps love will save them?
But this book then veers away from Clevenger's last, in that the narrator has a very shaky grasp of reality, as opposed to the obsessively detailed and exact 'Contortionist'. This happens to the extent that, for the first half of the book, the narrator's brain is clearly mush. Unfortunately for the reader Clevenger writes about this quite accurately, in that it does smack of having a circular discussion with an acid casualty, in that you can understand what they say but without that emotional experience it is difficult to empathise, thus it gets a bit dull. For the second half (as his thinking begins to get more focused) the reader is left to reflect how the new information colours that given in the first half (symbolism, etc.) while a plot starts to develop. Then, just when our main-man is nearing lucidity, it is all over.
In all it is a frustrating book as it takes so long to get to know enough to form any attachment to the narrator, that by the time you (and he) work out what the story is, it ends. I imagine that this is a very deliberate device but I was not fond of it.
Having said this I would have been far more forgiving had Clevenger's first book not been so great. I will still certainly read his next.
To start with the setup seems similar - first person narration from someone operating 'outside the law' - A flawed 'hero' trying to get their act together. Perhaps love will save them?
But this book then veers away from Clevenger's last, in that the narrator has a very shaky grasp of reality, as opposed to the obsessively detailed and exact 'Contortionist'. This happens to the extent that, for the first half of the book, the narrator's brain is clearly mush. Unfortunately for the reader Clevenger writes about this quite accurately, in that it does smack of having a circular discussion with an acid casualty, in that you can understand what they say but without that emotional experience it is difficult to empathise, thus it gets a bit dull. For the second half (as his thinking begins to get more focused) the reader is left to reflect how the new information colours that given in the first half (symbolism, etc.) while a plot starts to develop. Then, just when our main-man is nearing lucidity, it is all over.
In all it is a frustrating book as it takes so long to get to know enough to form any attachment to the narrator, that by the time you (and he) work out what the story is, it ends. I imagine that this is a very deliberate device but I was not fond of it.
Having said this I would have been far more forgiving had Clevenger's first book not been so great. I will still certainly read his next.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Definitely an experience.. Def a recommendation
What so intrigued me going into this novel is the difference in the protag in regard to the Handbook's Vincent. Currently, Eric Ashworth is not so bright. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2007 by Kabol, Johnathan N.
don't buy this
I agree with Charlie. This book is terrible. I enjoyed the Contortionists Handbook and was looking forward to reading Clevenger's next book. Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2007 by Nothing Yellow
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