Status
Available
Call number
Call number
F Cru
Genres
Collection
Publication
Greenwillow 1989, First Edition (1989), Edition: 1st, 208 pages
Description
Still troubled by his older brother's violent suicide, eighteen-year-old Dillon becomes deeply involved in the terrible secret of his friend Jennifer, who feels she can tell no one what her stepfather is doing to her.
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User reviews
LibraryThing member annekiwi
Good book, lots of suspense and drama. I liked that Dillion's father in this book was supportive and understanding and wanted a relationship with his children. I have to hand it to Crutcher, for every bad dad, there's that many good parents in his books. And for all the bad administrators in the
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high school, there's usually an understanding coach or two to balance things out. The tale was told in an interesting fashion. Somethings were revealed through letters from Dillion to his dead brother Preston. Other things were told in flashback or regular story narrative. Despite the grim subject matter ... brother's suicide, brother's girlfriend pregnant, sexual abuse of "girlfriend", parent's divorce, pets killed cruelly, etc..... it was a good book. Not "enjoyable" in the sense that it was a good-time, happy romp, but in that it was a good story, well told. Show Less
LibraryThing member mjspear
Dillon Hemingway channels his athletic gifts into triathalons -- not school sports -- as he deals with lots of issues: his attraction to two girls: Jennifer, a friend, but more? Stacey, a definite heartthrob who belongs to his his brother. Worst, his brother, Preston, has killed himself and left
Jennifer Lawless is also a gifted athlete -- basketball is her game and on the court is where she feels most alive. She has lots of issues, too -- including the loss of beloved grandfather.
Lots of 'sturm und drang' in this YA novel keep the plot bubbling. Adult characters are paper-thin but teen readers will relate to the protagonists, esp. Dillon, as he copes with his brother's death and his disaffection from all things high schoolish.
Due to sensitive nature of the problems (suicide, drugs, abuse) book is most suitable for mature teens.
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Dillon to pick up the emotional pieces.Jennifer Lawless is also a gifted athlete -- basketball is her game and on the court is where she feels most alive. She has lots of issues, too -- including the loss of beloved grandfather.
Lots of 'sturm und drang' in this YA novel keep the plot bubbling. Adult characters are paper-thin but teen readers will relate to the protagonists, esp. Dillon, as he copes with his brother's death and his disaffection from all things high schoolish.
Due to sensitive nature of the problems (suicide, drugs, abuse) book is most suitable for mature teens.
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LibraryThing member DragonFreak
Dillon Hemingway’s life is turned upside down the day he watched his brother Preston commit suicide. It killed him, his family, and all his loved ones inside-out emotionally. But that’s only the beginning of Dillon’s trouble. As he trains for a triathlon that will put him in a coveted race
Stacy has always treated Dillon as a friend. Sure she always plays tricks on him and gets him in trouble, especially when he was young, but he was the one closest to Preston, and knows why he may of did his terrible act.
But Jennifer has an even darker secret. When Jennifer was little, her father used to touch her inappropriately. Her mom and dad divorced naturally, but now her new step-father, a big hotshot lawyer, does the same thing…only much, much worse. He threatens her that if she tells, both her mom and sister will get it. And when she did called Child Protection Service, he killed Jennifer’s dog, and managed to convince CPS that Jennifer is only trying to kick him out. And the only one who has any hope to save her is Dillon.
With these new set of complications, Dillon has tough choices to make that will make more than one life fate sealed. If he’s to succeed, he’s going have to go by the lesson of Chinese handcuffs: if you want to do it right, you have to do the opposite of what you normally do.
This is by far the best Crutcher book I have ever read. It’s intense, it’s scary, it’s full of twists, and the sympathy you feel towards the characters is astronomical. I highly recommend this to any person who not overly sensitive.
Rating: Five Stars *****
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called the Ironman in Hawaii, he has to deal with two girls, one his brother’s long-time girlfriend, Stacy, the other, his want-to-be girlfriend named Jennifer.Stacy has always treated Dillon as a friend. Sure she always plays tricks on him and gets him in trouble, especially when he was young, but he was the one closest to Preston, and knows why he may of did his terrible act.
But Jennifer has an even darker secret. When Jennifer was little, her father used to touch her inappropriately. Her mom and dad divorced naturally, but now her new step-father, a big hotshot lawyer, does the same thing…only much, much worse. He threatens her that if she tells, both her mom and sister will get it. And when she did called Child Protection Service, he killed Jennifer’s dog, and managed to convince CPS that Jennifer is only trying to kick him out. And the only one who has any hope to save her is Dillon.
With these new set of complications, Dillon has tough choices to make that will make more than one life fate sealed. If he’s to succeed, he’s going have to go by the lesson of Chinese handcuffs: if you want to do it right, you have to do the opposite of what you normally do.
This is by far the best Crutcher book I have ever read. It’s intense, it’s scary, it’s full of twists, and the sympathy you feel towards the characters is astronomical. I highly recommend this to any person who not overly sensitive.
Rating: Five Stars *****
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LibraryThing member lcherylc
Dillion Hemingway is a teenage triathlon runner who is still coming to grips with his brother’s suicide. Stacy and Jennifer, his friends from High School, confide in Dillion about their secrets.
LibraryThing member hansenm2
I felt 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
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the characters feels. This would help to increase their social confidences as well as text confidence. Kylene Beers point’s out in her book When Children Can’t Read that by increasing these confidences a struggling reader will then increase their overall reading confidence and become better readers. Of course this book may come under criticism because it does talk about such things as drugs, rape, and suicide, but some of the students may have experience with these things and as Sonia Nieto discusses in Affirming Diversity part of multicultural education is using what students already know to assist them in learning. Chinese Handcuffs accomplishes this because if any of the readers were experiencing/had knowledge of any of these things they would be more likely to relate the story to themselves and push themselves to learn more about the finer points of reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member ViaLys
This young adult novel gripped my teen readers, showing up in the hands of non-readers sitting on the school hallway floor in front of lockers. These were cool high school boys who, for the first time in my long teaching experience, ignored the scorn of their peers to read. A magic story that
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drives through every environment in the adolescent landscape, from unplanned pregnancy to teen suicide, by way of gangs, drugs, child molesting, sportsmania, and parents still suffering from the last war. My juniors wrote with more conviction and passion in response to this book than any other in my teaching experience. Show Less
LibraryThing member 4sarad
This is a good book and it deals with a lot of complicated subjects, but I am beginning to see that all of Crutcher's books are very similar. There's a boy who is great at sports and runs when he needs to think things out and does triathlons when he can. He's a pain in the butt at school to
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teachers who he finds fault with and there's always a wise coach there to give advice when needed. Crutcher is a good author, but can't he mix it up a little? Show Less
LibraryThing member tiamatq
Dillon is in training - one day he hopes to run, swim, bike, and win the Ironman triathlon. But before he can do that, he must deal with his brother Preston’s recent suicide and the role he played in it. Dillon runs to lose himself, to forget about his family falling apart; to sort out his
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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. Show Less
LibraryThing member nagihann
This piece of work by Chris Crutcher is somewhat of a tough read. It is told from a teenage boy's point of view whose older brother recently commited suicide. It not only chronicles his fight to not blame himself for his brothers death, but also to stop the taking of life from one of his close
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friends. This female friend has been and is being continually raped by her step-father. She has not told anyone about it because he has threatened her life and the lives of her mother and younger sister. I will not give the ending away or the climax, but it is a great book to read despite it's difficult issues. Give it a try... Show Less
LibraryThing member Moniica
A young adult novel about Dillon Hemingway and Jen Lawless, both who are amazing athletes and are well-known, yet both have haunting family lives. They both find solace in each other.
I almost stopped reading this book halfway through - at the start it is over-dramatic and has a sense that the
However, about halfway through the plot thickens and gets a lot more interesting - so much until you can't help but keep reading until the end.
I almost stopped reading this book halfway through - at the start it is over-dramatic and has a sense that the
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characters in this book are feeling sorry for themselves and that you should, too. However, about halfway through the plot thickens and gets a lot more interesting - so much until you can't help but keep reading until the end.
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LibraryThing member madhamster
Dillon saw his brother, Preston, commit suicide and now struggles to keep going. He writes letters to Preston as he is the only one who understands what Dillon is going through. Dillon can't talk to his father, and his mother and little sister have moved away. Preston's girlfriend is dealing with
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her own problems, as is Dillon's best friend, Jen. Throughout this period Dillon comes to a sense of peace and moves on from his brother, although he still wishes Preston had the strength to stay. Show Less
LibraryThing member phyllis.shepherd
Senior Dillon Hemingway is still recovering from the suicide of his older brother. He is an excellent athlete, but prefers to compete in triathlons rather than school sports, which continually aggravates the school principal. He loves two girls, one of whom is his dead brother's girlfriend, and the
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other seems completely platonic. Meanwhile, his friend Jenny is struggling with her own problem -- a sexually abusive step-father. The interaction between Dillon and Jenny finally reaches a crisis point, and some healing begins. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dawn.Zimmerer
Chris Crutcher's Chinese Handcuffs is written in both narrative and letters written to Dillon's dead brother Preston.
Dillon's brother Preston was a troubled teen (well, it never states his age that I recall but he is 2 years older than Dillon). After a motorcycle accident left him paralyzed, Dillon
Preston's death left behind feelings of anger, depression, sadness and one other thing, a baby. Dillon has had a crush on Stacy for years. Stacy only had eyes for Preston though. After Preston's death, Stacy goes away to North Dakota to "heal". The story when she comes back is that a cousin of hers had a baby out of wedlock and was going to put it up for adoption. Stacy convinced her parents to adopt the baby. You find out (although it is no real surprise) that the baby is really Stacy's and Preston's.
Then there is Jennifer. Dillon's friend and major basketball superstar at the high school, Jennifer is battling her own demons. Jennifer has been sexually abused by her biological father and is now being sexually abused by her step-father.
Dillon works through his grief over Preston, anger over Jennifer's abuse and love of Preston and Stacy's baby throughout the course of the year. Jennifer tries to work through her fear on the basketball court and Stacy comes clean over the intercom at school about the parentage of the baby.
While there is no pat "happy ending" there is some resolution. Dillon finally puts to rest his anger with his brother; helps Jennifer; loves Stacy's baby; and gets his dad to talk to him about life.
Dillon's brother Preston was a troubled teen (well, it never states his age that I recall but he is 2 years older than Dillon). After a motorcycle accident left him paralyzed, Dillon
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turned more to drugs and a motorcycle gang. Unable to fight his demons, he killed himself in front of Dillon. The book deals with Dillon trying to figure out his life. Everything has changed for him. His mother left and took his younger sister Christy. It is now just Dillon and his dad.Preston's death left behind feelings of anger, depression, sadness and one other thing, a baby. Dillon has had a crush on Stacy for years. Stacy only had eyes for Preston though. After Preston's death, Stacy goes away to North Dakota to "heal". The story when she comes back is that a cousin of hers had a baby out of wedlock and was going to put it up for adoption. Stacy convinced her parents to adopt the baby. You find out (although it is no real surprise) that the baby is really Stacy's and Preston's.
Then there is Jennifer. Dillon's friend and major basketball superstar at the high school, Jennifer is battling her own demons. Jennifer has been sexually abused by her biological father and is now being sexually abused by her step-father.
Dillon works through his grief over Preston, anger over Jennifer's abuse and love of Preston and Stacy's baby throughout the course of the year. Jennifer tries to work through her fear on the basketball court and Stacy comes clean over the intercom at school about the parentage of the baby.
While there is no pat "happy ending" there is some resolution. Dillon finally puts to rest his anger with his brother; helps Jennifer; loves Stacy's baby; and gets his dad to talk to him about life.
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Pages
208