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Craig Clevenger

The Contortionist's Handbook Hardcover – September 1, 2002

by Craig Clevenger (Author)

4.4 353 ratings

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The Contortionist's Handbook is the story of John Dolan Vincent, an abnromally gifted child with a prclivity for mathematics beyond his years. However, he also bears a rare deformitypolydactylismand his genius is counterbalanced by a near absence of social skills and episodes of severe migraines.

As an adult his migraines occur with alarming regularity, and his repeated attempts at self-medication send him over and over to the emergency room. He knows that to visit twice is to risk being institutionalized as a suicide risk. So, following each trip to the hospital, he draws upon his skill as a petty forger, and reinvents a new identity for himself.

The Contortionist's Handbook is about the lengths people will go to in order to protect themselves from others and ultimately from themselves.

Print length

199 pages
Language

English
Publisher

MacAdam/Cage
Publication date

September 1, 2002
Dimensions

6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

193156115X
ISBN-13

978-1931561150
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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.

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

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ MacAdam/Cage; First Edition (September 1, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 199 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 193156115X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1931561150
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,672,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10,834 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
- #18,507 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #79,863 in American Literature (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 353 ratings

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About the author

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Craig Clevenger

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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.

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4.4 out of 5

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Brandon

I give it six out of five fingers!!

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2010

Verified Purchase

Clevenger almost wound up as one of those guys I'd wish people would stop prattling on and on about.

"So brilliant."
"Such a genius."

And I was so incredibly sick of hearing it.

"Dermaphoria" was what I ended up cutting me teeth on regarding his work, and I must admit, I found myself struggling through it and wondering what all the fuss was about.

That didn't stop me from picking up TCH when I finally found a copy for under $40, or more specifically, when MacAdam/Cage finally pulled their heads out of their a$$es and decided to give the book another print run. A movie deal and high demand can do that.

Nonetheless, my expectations were considerably low, and so the following read pertaining to an identity-shifting expert with an extra finger was that much more of a pleasant surprise. Palahniuk said, "...the best book I've read in five years. Easily. Maybe even ten years," and I'm inclined to agree.

Clevenger spins a web of lies and identity crisis so complex, it's a wonder that the reader doesn't get lost in the details of how to fake a birth certificate or SR-22, but the author never shakes you...not unless he wants to. In TCH, we see John Dolan Vincent pitted up against "The Evaluator" for his freedom after an overdose, the story alternating between this battle of wits, tells, and intellect, and the seedy past of this protagonist of how he came use a deformity to his advantage. It reads similar to Palahniuk: minimalist with loads of factual information regarding the trade of forgery (we've seen this before with Jack and explosives in "Fight Club"), but unlike the one and two-star reviews on Amazon where Clevenger is ostracized for being a rip-off, it's obvious to me that the author has made this style his own within the neo-noir genre.

Simply put, I see the influence, but nothing that would make me believe Craig wrote this thinking, "What would Chuck do?" And perhaps this is why his second novel turned out so different from his first...to distance himself from the name, the legacy, the style.

I wish he would return to it.

TCH is one of those books that when I put it down, I knew I'd read it again at least eight more times. I can't recommend it enough.

5 people found this helpful

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Karin S. Chenowith

almost perfect

Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2004

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this book definitely hooked me in right away. one of those books you wish you could read straight through ignoring the rest of your life for awhile. i found it very very well-written. there were weaknesses: i agree with another reviewer that the love story part was a bit sappy as well as the crime-mob dialogue. but i found the character himself really intriguing. that line "sometimes i can be so smart and sometimes i can be so stupid" sums him up. i really did feel like i was privy to the thoughts of this incredibly intelligent man who is missing some really really obvious stuff. he's devised the most complicated solution possible to his problem but he WORKS that solution so well, is so focused on that solution that its never occurred to him to try a different angle. and really his adopted solution makes perfect sense with respect to his background. i was a bit disappointed that he actually did break out of his one-track view at the end. i think it would have been a more interesting ending if he had stayed on his complex little hampster-wheel...
anyway.. definitely a promising writer. i'm looking forward to reading more of his work.

4 people found this helpful

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A. Brunelle

4 out of 5, Neat Book, very detailed

Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2011

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This book was very interesting. It is about a young man who constantly changes identity after each overdose due to a headache he gets every year or so, which causes him to be placed under psychiatric evaluation. What made me buy this book is that Cuck Palahniuk said it was the best book he's read in at least 5 years, and I figured I would like it as well. It was an interesting read, a very quick read as well. It gave great insight into the main character, and it had a lot of twists and turns. While it wouldn't pass for one of Chuck's better novels, it still kept my attention long enough and was better than the books I had read recently. A great debut for an up and coming author, and I would recommend it to people who want to read something new and different. He is a master forger, and it creates all sorts of opportunities and problems for him. Good read.

One person found this helpful

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AmazonCustomer

Clevenger is destined for greatness...

Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2005

Verified Purchase

This is an amazing debut novel. Craig Clevenger has written a book that appeals to the buried desire within us all to live life as someone who is not you. And he has done it with some of the most meticulous prose to appear in modern fiction in a long time. A master with detail, Clevenger also keeps the reader guessing as to how the protagonist will outwit the experts through superb "mind games" masked as physician-patient conversations. No matter how erudite the doctor, John Dolan Vincent has the upper hand -- he knows his stuff because he HAS to know it. If he fails to convince the medical staff that he is not insane or suicidal, he will be locked up in the Earthbound equivalent of hell, the Mental Institution.

Clevenger is part of a new wave of modern noir, or blank fiction, or perhaps there is no term that captures this emerging literary movement. Along with Will Christopher Baer, Stephen Graham Jones, Chuck Palahniuk, Joey Goebel and others, Craig makes NOW a great time for lovers of fiction of a different flavor. Jump in early, there's a lot more coming from this talented author.

5 people found this helpful

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L. V. Sage, Author

Unique story, very well executed

Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2012

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I had wanted to read this book for some time and so finally bought it and settled in. As with any book that is not completely clear about what exactly is going on, it is important to not set this one down for too long as to keep your own memory of the characters and events from becoming jumbled. As you do this, you realize that you are doing precisely what the main character in the novel is and it puts a closeness between the two of you. Clevenger's writing style is concise and descriptive, often giving up a sentence that surprises with its beauty and/or perfect imagery. I would like to have heard more about Keara/Molly's story, but in the end, it isn't important to the overall impression that you are left with. In fact, her story (or lack thereof) only adds to the main character's. I very much enjoyed this book and now look forward to reading Clevenger's second novel!

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Partick Potter

Great writing but not a great read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2023

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I was impressed with the cleverness and elegance of much of the writing in this book, but didn’t enjoy reading the book as the plot and characterisation were all over the place.

vi

A hell of his own making.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 24, 2011

Verified Purchase

With recommendations from both Chuck Palahniuk and Irvine Welsh, I had high hopes for this book and thankfully I wasn't disappointed. My only regret is that I didn't read this book sooner because it is class.
When we meet the protagonist he has taken an overdose...and it's not the first time he's done it. The main plot mainly revolves around the protagonist being interviewed by a psychiatrist to see whether or not the overdose was attempted suicide or merely a miscalculation of prescription drug taking and with that we are thrown head-first into this man's life as the tale flashes backwards to reveal a character that learns to deceive and fool people almost before he can walk and talk. At an early age he is classed as being mentally slow, where the truth is that this man is a genius in an highly unconventional way, he's a personality chameleon, a lightning-quick thinker and talented forger. We see through his eyes as he reads someones body language and knows exactly what they are thinking whilst all the time forcing his own body language in a blatant act to deceive which makes for some witty albeit twisted wit and wicked observational humour. The story makes you an accomplice to his crimes (and there are many) and you'll be a willing one at that.The wonderfully detailed prose sucks you into the world, his world, the good times and the bad and there is something anarchic about this guy and as a reader, you want to see how far he'll go. But, there is also deep melancholy here too because for all this lying and swindling, the constant changing of personality, his chances of happiness are fleeting and few.
I don't believe this book is in any way an indictment of psychiatry in it's many forms or a degradation of people suffering with mental illness. In fact, the irony I found with this book was that the people who need psychiatrists the most are often the people who have the ways to avoid psychiatric detection. On the most basic level this book is merely a work of fiction, but one that makes you reconsider the happy-to-diagnose-anything, medication dependent culture we live in. For anybody who enjoys Palahniuk,Easton Ellis or Irvine Welsh, you'll probably thoroughly enjoy this. For anyone else, this is simply an instant unforgettable classic so don't miss it. Invisible Monsters Less Than Zero (Picador Books) Thank you.

One person found this helpful

David Brookes

A lesson for how to, and how not to, write

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 27, 2018

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The first half is great. The way the character is established, and the way his story is told, is fantastic. As a lesson in first person character development, and how to "hide the I", I strongly recommend it for writers. We are made to care about a character who is amoral, mainly because he's so good at what he does, which is conning people.

Sadly, once most of the back story is established, we're left with a pretty tedious 'battle of minds' between the protagonist and the person who is mentally assessing him. Only the other guy doesn't seem that interested and Prot doesn't seem that bothered about it. The stakes are fairly low, since Prot is a bit of a bum anyway. If he goes to prison, so what? Why should I care about how this boring present-day storyline unfolds, when all it does is get in the way of the slightly more interesting back story (intercut) and then fizzle out towards an ending that was literally unmemorable to me? It's interesting as a glimpse into the world of a conman and how he might pull of his tricks. Take that away and the story is as dull as my faded brown suede shoes.

Tip! Give us a reason to care about the protagonist's freedom. Give him a secret child he needs to provide for, or a heartfelt promise he needs to keep, or a burger joint he always wanted to try. Otherwise I'm bored and will then write this review.

6.5/10

David 'Now I know how to forge a certificate' Brookes
Author of 'Cycles of Udaipur'

Suzi Smith

I liked it, but...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 12, 2016

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This was a book that landed in my lap after a slew of recommendations. The high praise from Chuck Palahniuk and Irvine Welsh of all people was intriguing enough, but when there was unanimous pressure from most of my literary pals to not so much read it as force it into my eyes RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND, I picked up a copy, sat in the bath and breezed through it in an hour.

A very peculiar, very dissatisfying hour.

See, when I think about the book as a whole, I like it. The prose is razor sharp and machine-gun relentless, "Molly" and John are beautifully realised, and on the whole the plot is a masterclass in "show, not tell" storytelling.

But.

There was something which stopped me from enjoying it as much as I feel like I should have. That ending. That ramshackle, ambiguous, sputtering ending. After the book so skilfully raising the bar (and my blood pressure), for it to end in such a muddle was a dreadful disappointment. After I turned the last page, I climbed out the bath and sulked for ten minutes, feeling high, dry and like the book was all dressed up with nowhere to go.

I would still recommend it, mind you, but it's not perfect. But it could have been, and I think that's what annoys me the most about it.

JJ

That can't be the ending... it can't be!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is a fantastic read, it creeps in to the back of your mind and just niggles away until you finish it.

It's essentially a story about a man who gets headaches and falls in love but it's so much more than that. There is so much unsaid and hinted at that the darkest corners of your mind rushes to fill in the blanks. It's a work of art

One star deducted for the ending but that's more out of frustration than a genuine complaint as Tammy I know it couldn't have ended any other way

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The Contortionist's Handbook Hardcover – September 1, 2002

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