Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher

Dillon’s senior year is not going to his plan. His brother has committed suicide, he doesn’t understand his own heart, and his friend Jen may be hiding a dangerous secret. 

Title: Chinese Handcuffs
Author: Chris Crutcher
ISBN: 0060598395 (ISBN13: 9780060598396)

Genre: Contemporary, Sports
Series: No
Reading Level/Interest Level: 9th grade +

Publisher:  Greenwillow Books
First Publication Date: 1989
Available Formats on Amazon: e-book, paperback, hardback, library binding, mass market paperback

Synopsis:

Dillon’s goal in life is to win the Ironman Triathlon. He already competes in triathlons near him and does pretty well. He trains, helps as a trainer for the girl’s basketball team, and gets good grades in school, but nothing he does can erase the fact that his brother committed suicide. Dillon deals with this, by writing letters to his dead brother, hoping to make sense out of his life now.

Jen, the star of the girl’s basketball team, is hiding a terrible secret. No one can know or bad things will happy to her mother and sister. She must protect them, but the lack of control at home and the way she is living her life are starting to get to be too much. She can’t go to the police, she can’t tell anyone, and she can’t leave for fear of the consequences. She potential options are looking grim.

Dillon and Jen, start as friends and turn into confidantes. They will help each other face their darkest memories and help each other with their problems, but there are only so many options, when their problems won’t stop on their own.

Evaluation: 

This book is very issue-driven, yet at the same time is not because the author does mention how doing the right thing is not always possible. So, calling this book an issue-book may not be correct. Either way, this is not one I would recommend to adults, or even often to teens, but there may be some teens out there who will find comfort from this text.

This is a character-driven book. Dillon is the one this book mainly revolves around, even though Jen is the one currently in crisis. Dillon and Jen are both characters that have needed to grow up fast, Jen more so than Dillon, and try to run their own lives, but their emotions and answers to problems are still very teen. It was a good blend. We are told, in detail, about the characters, especially Dillon in his long letters to his dead brother, Preston. There is no confusing the main characters, nor the significant side-characters. They are written well.

Because this book is character focused, there is not quite a plot here, unless is it Dillon fixing a problem, being the hero, and in turn fixing his own problem. All in all, I thought it was quite dry. This book is over 20 years old though, so at the time, this may have been a good book, but now with many other books on the subject and on teen life written out, it has lost its appeal.

Author Information from their website:

Chris Crutcher was raised in Cascade, Idaho, a lumber and cattle ranch town located in the central Idaho Rockies, a two hour drive over treacherous two-lane from the nearest movie theater and a good forty minutes from the nearest bowling alley.  In high school he played football, basketball and ran track, not because he was a stellar athlete, but because in a place so isolated, every able bodied male was heavily recruited.  “If you didn’t show up on the first day of football practice your freshman year,” he says, “they just came to your house and got you.  And your parents let them in.”

The American Library Association has named eight of his young adult books, to date, “Best Books for Young Adults,” and four of his books appeared on Booklist’s Best 100 Books of the 20th Century, compiled in 2000 – more than any other single author on the list.  Crutcher received the ALAN Award in 1993, the NCTE SLATE Intellectual Freedom Award in 1998, the Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 and Writer Magazine’s Writers Who Make a Difference Award in 2004.

Curriculum Ties:

• Sex ed/Health

Booktalking Ideas:

• For this book, it would have to be focused on the characters, Dillon and Jen, and their problems.
• I would mention the problems haunting them and how it is affecting their lives. Then, I might read the part where Jen confides in Dillon, and explain that this is where their lives change.
• I might also read some of or a few quotes about Dillon and Stacy, how he doesn’t know what to do with her and how even she is affected by Preston’s death.

Challenge Issues: 

• Violence
• Encouragement of “Damaging” Lifestyles (alcohol use, thoughts of murder)
• Unsuitable for age range
• Sexual situations

Challenge Defense!

• Active listening
• Library Selection Policy
  • Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
  • Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
• Awards
  • ALA Best Books for Young Adults (1990)    
• National Council of Teachers of English “Right to Read”
• Positive and negative reviews: Novelist (expert reviews), Goodreads, Amazon
• ALA Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials
• ALA Bill of Rights on Intellectual Freedom

Why this book: 

I picked this Chris Crutcher book because I was curious as to how the title would reflect the plot from what I read of the summary. For the collection, it deals with some heavy issues that teens do deal with and having this book may be helpful.

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