The Contortionist's Handbook [Paperback]

Craig Clevenger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2003

A stunningly intense debut novel about a talented young forger who continually reinvents himself to escape the authorities. 'I swear to God this is the best book I have read in easily five years. Easily. Maybe ten years.' Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club Following a near fatal overdose of painkillers, Daniel Fletcher is resuscitated in a Los Angeles emergency room and detained for psychiatric evaluation. Through a series of questions and tests, the psychiatrist must ascertain whether the patient intended to kill himself, or whether he can walk free. What the psychiatrist doesn't know is that 'Daniel Fletcher' is actually John - Johnny - Dolan Vincent, a brilliant young forger who continually changes his identity to save himself from a lifetime of incarceration. Johnny has done such assessments before - many, many times. As he creates an elaborate bluff for the evaluator, Johnny reveals the true story of his traumatic past - a broken family, descent into the sinister world of forgers and criminals, and his one chance of salvation in the beautiful and elusive Molly. But time is running out; as his underworld clients lose patience and the psychiatrist's net closes around him, Johnny has to negotiate the escape act of his life. Evoking the boulevards and strip bars of 1980s LA with cinematic intensity, The Contortionist's Handbook is a darkly hypnotic and stunningly original debut.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Clevenger's debut novel is a well-crafted but underplotted character study of a brilliant, damaged man who struggles with mental illness and substance abuse as he bounces in and out of prison and a series of hospitals around Los Angeles. Most of the novel takes place in the latter setting; some tense early scenes pit protagonist John Dolan Vincent against a psychiatrist known as "The Evaluator," who probes Vincent's psyche to see if his recent overdose of muscle relaxants was really a botched attempt to cure his migraine, as Vincent claims, or a suicide attempt. The twist is that Vincent has checked into the hospital under an assumed name; after each of his previous overdoses he has changed his identity to avoid being placed in a mental hospital. The psychiatric interview provides a decent vehicle for telling the story of Vincent's difficult family life and his decision to use his mathematical talent to assist a murky criminal network. The trouble is that Clevenger has little to offer to push his story forward besides Vincent's efforts to protect Keadra, the woman he falls in love with during a hospital stint, from the thugs who are trying to track him down. Clevenger is a solid writer who does some good work when it comes to creating a noirish atmosphere and smart, compelling characters, but the pace is uneven at best. The quality of the writing warrants a follow-up effort; hopefully, Clevenger will know what to do with his characters the next time around.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

John Vincent was born with an extra ring finger on one hand. To his constantly broke, jail-bound father, this was just something John had to live with. After years of ridicule by other children, his father gave him a magic book through which he learned some slight-of-hand tricks that helped him conceal his disfigurement from others. That, together with a sharp mind and a knack for replicating signatures and official documents, started John on a path of petty crime. Then he started getting inexplicable and untreatable migraines, which led to a history of drug abuse. As John started going in and out of hospitals for drug overdoses, he deftly learned how to change identities. This life of identity theft, drugs, and crime continues in a downward spiral, until he falls in love and meets his match. He starts to question his own identity, after rejecting it for so long, which eventually leads to some redemption. Clevenger cleverly creates a modern-day Mr. Ripley. Michael Spinella
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: MacAdam/Cage Publishing (September 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931561486
• ISBN-13: 978-1931561488
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Texas and grew up in Southern California. After years of dead-end jobs and publishers' rejections, I stumbled into the pre-dot.com tech world where I spent the next decade paying my rent on time, eating regularly and not putting pen to paper for anything creative. In 2000, I pulled the plug on my techno-rat race to resume writing. Currently living in San Francisco, at work on a third novel.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Clevenger Twists a Winner - but not for grandma September 12, 2002

By Marty in Southern California

Format:Hardcover

The title and cover art grabbed my attention over the numerous new releases on the front table. Picked it up, read only half of the first page before I closed the book - and walked to counter to slap down the cash (...).

Hooked via our main man and leading character "Johnny"- a brilliant bit of work by the author, I sprinted through this one in two sittings. That's fast for me and my A.D.D. Granted, the plot deserved a bit more attention but The Contortionist is really about the maneuverings of character. And the ways in which Johnny twists, and manipulates and suffers in his longing for love and connection will not be forgotten.

Buy it or borrow it, but definitely read it.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars What's in a Name? May 24, 2004

By Gary C. Marfin

Format:Paperback

The polydactyl protagonist of this exceptional novel is working hard to evade everyone, not least himself. He is a masterful teacher, and this book will take you into the art of false identification (at least I take the book as a valid description) from passports, to birth and death certificates, and all the myriad of data points that converge to define an individual in the modern world. One of the published reviews on this web site claimed that it suffered from a lack of plot, but I think the review somewhat misses the driving force in this novel -- it is not trying to save his girlfriend, Keara, nor is it trying to trick the "evaluator,"; rather, he's trying to evade himself. We are in the world of "head games" here, so it's a bit wide of the mark to compare this to a Tarrantino action/plot drive. In this handbook, it is the self on contorted display.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Clevenger's genius rivals that of his main character January 3, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

It has been a long time since I've gotten so excited about a book. While I was just pages into this novel, I knew that I had discovered something rare and wonderful - a gem among books - which now ranks in my top three favorite novels of all time.

It was a short excerpt that originally inspired me to buy this book. Clevenger's style is crisp and clever, while still managing to remain sincere. It's hip without being cold. There's a highly appealing rhythmic quality to his prose and he manages a series of technical descriptions without ever making the reader feel bogged down.

The Publisher's Weekly comment about this book being "underplotted" is one of the most ludicrous judgments I've seen in print, surely written by an aging woman with a fondness for Emily Dickenson and The Bronte sisters, a writer who obviously did not "get" Clevenger. In fact, his prose is so full of tension that reading a single paragraph is like racing downward on a roller coaster ride.

Kudos to Clevenger! I only wish I had written this book.