Leni Zumas's writing crackles. Her books are sharp, bleak, funny, and possibly dangerous. When her collection of short stories, Farewell Navigator,...
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Dillon, who has witnessed his brother’s suicide, is a high school student in the book Chinese Handcuffs. The book starts out with Dillon training for a triathlon. He is very athletic, but doesn’t play sports at his high school. Throughout the book it switches back and forth between Dillon’s life and Jen’s life; Jen is one of Dillon’s crushes, and she has also had a semi-bad life. When she was about eight, her father would come in her room and touch her in inappropriate places. Her mom didn’t believe her, but eventually her father left and her mom got a new boyfriend who did the same thing! In the middle of the book it goes into detail how Preston, Dillon’s brother, killed himself; it was very depressing. After that Dillon started writing letters to Preston about how life is. Then Jen fell during her basketball game and had to be rushed to the hospital. She started remembering her past while tuning in and out of reality. Dillon got over his brother’s death and everything was better; Dillon and Jen remained best friends. This book taught me that it is better to let go of the people you love even though it is hard. Chris Crutcher did a phenomenal job with Chinese Handcuffs.
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Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher
cheesedoggy#1, November 14, 2007
Dillon, who has witnessed his brother’s suicide, is a high school student in the book Chinese Handcuffs. The book starts out with Dillon training for a triathlon. He is very athletic, but doesn’t play sports at his high school. Throughout the book it switches back and forth between Dillon’s life and Jen’s life; Jen is one of Dillon’s crushes, and she has also had a semi-bad life. When she was about eight, her father would come in her room and touch her in inappropriate places. Her mom didn’t believe her, but eventually her father left and her mom got a new boyfriend who did the same thing! In the middle of the book it goes into detail how Preston, Dillon’s brother, killed himself; it was very depressing. After that Dillon started writing letters to Preston about how life is. Then Jen fell during her basketball game and had to be rushed to the hospital. She started remembering her past while tuning in and out of reality. Dillon got over his brother’s death and everything was better; Dillon and Jen remained best friends. This book taught me that it is better to let go of the people you love even though it is hard. Chris Crutcher did a phenomenal job with Chinese Handcuffs.