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Summary: a book-sale find!
Review: I stumbled across this book by accident at our local library book sale and what a find! Paid $1 and got a treasure! As you start to read, don't fret about the application for a guggenheim - keep reading, it will all make sense in the end! The writer totally brings you into the main character's viewpoint...his lost feeling in the world, his awakening view of his own understanding. The main character, a painter, has his artistic "sight" revealed stroke by stroke to him and it is revealed to us through the words of the author. The stories (for it shows many different people's stories from the painter's viewpoint) in this book showed humanity at all it's levels. It is sad and erotic and lost and hopeful and happy at various times throughout this book. Read this book. You'll enjoy it and it will affect your emotions.
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Summary: What an intelligent and delicious read!
Review: I'd been meaning to read "The Handyman" since it came out a year or two ago, but somehow never got around to it. Then, last week, when I was down and out with the flu, I picked the thing up figuring I'd probably only skim a few pages. Au contraire: I was immediately (and happily) swept into the book's thrall. First of all, Carolyn See's fine prose is wonderfully crafted. Yet she has done her work with such a light touch that the reader is only aware of his/her enjoyment, not the writer's effort. The good-natured plot is well worth the trip, for its own sake. But the deeper themes See has laced through her pages (deft and lovely meditations on the nature of creativity, and the varying paths one trods to discover meaning in one's life) make the book's overall effect greater than the sum of its individual parts. "The Handyman," is enchanting, redemptive, smart and just plain fun to read. Thanks Carolyn. I needed that.
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Summary: THE REASON WHY THIS BOOK'S READER RATING IS FALSE
Review: The only reason this book gets a mere 3 1/2 stars rather than 4 1/2-5 stars, is because amidst nearly every other reader's positive reviews for this book, there is one petty-minded reader, who has repeatedly written one damning, nasty, vitriolic review after another on this site. Each time, he or she writes under Anonyomous, starting in April '99 in LA. (It's perhaps no coincidence that it starts in LA, as this is where Carolyn See lives. He or she obviously has some profoundly vindictive personal grudge towards Ms. See). Then every few days, the same person writes another vindictive scathing review, in suspiciously similar language, this time being Anonymous from another part of LA, until as the weeks go by, he or she (and I'm figuring it's a he), realizes he'd better change the place where he lives to some other town, so as not to arouse suspicion. Since Ms. See, a very sweet lady, teaches at UCLA, it makes me wonder whether the perpetrator of such meanness is a former student of hers to whom she gave bad marks for one of his essays. And judging by the quality of his critiques, she would seem to have been justified. Please, Mr. See-Hater, whomever you are, go foist your petty destructive words on someone genuinely worthy of such vitriol...like George W. Bush.
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Summary: Great book!--mostly
Review: I very much enjoyed this book....until the ending. I laughed, I cried and couldn't put it down....until the ending. I liked it a lot, but the ending just didn't work for me. There was something missing. If you haven't read the book and don't want to know the end, then stop reading this now. Why, if Bob was so enamored with this woman, did he sleep with her step-daughter twice (get caught) and ignore the mother for two months? It didn't seem like he gave her a second thought. All of a sudden he comes back, professes his passion for her through a mural and she's ready to run away with him? It didn't work.
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Summary: there's something more than meets the eye
Review: It took awhile for this book to make an impact, but what an impact it makes! The reader is a bit thrown off by the opening pages which contain a grant proposal to study the life of the most famous artist of the generation. Once the story is begun, it is so captivating that it's easy to forget the opening and get lost. The plot follows a young aspiring artist who can't seem to find his metier. He goes to Paris but just can't seem to fit in and instead returns to L.A. to try to make his mark. Rather than pursue art, he ends up rooming with an odd cast of characters (one of whom never bathes) and making money as a handyman. Though he's not particularly handy in terms of fixing things, he has a therapeutic effect on everyone he comes across. In short, he ends up fixing egos and lost souls rather than doing a bang up job with the laundry machine. See is such a fantastic writer that everything works -- the prose carries us from one oddball family to another. The beauty of the book is that once you reach the end, you could spend an hour re-reading the first two pages and saying "Ah HAH -- now I get it." The characters are so eccentric and interesting and the main character so compelling that it's hard not to be taken in by this thoroughly charming and well-crafted book.
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Summary: Moved To Tears
Review: A must read! Carolyn See brilliantly maps the invisible and ever-shifting boundary between hope and despair. There are unimagined depths in this novel, one need only open one's eyes and see.
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Summary: A wanna-be artist finds his real talents
Review: This was an incredibly entertaining book! The plot is of a discouraged artist, a painter, with dreams of literally changing someone's life through his art work. He realizes that the odds are against him, but he cannot deny how strongly he feels for his art and his desire to knock the socks off the art world. It would prove something to himself, and also to his family, who said he would never amount to anything with an art degree. His father walked out on him when he was young, and he was left trying to hold his agoraphobic mother together. The burden was enormous, and his loose ends became increasingly more disturbing to him when he realizes that he may indeed, not knock anyone's socks off with his art work. Bob, the artist, relocates back in LA, and to make ends meet before he goes back to art school decides to work as a handyman. He makes flyers and posts them all over the city. The phone calls start rolling in, and with them are some of the most profound, bizarre and heartbreaking clients one can imagine. His strength lies in his soul and in his art as he tries to help these people. The beauty of the novel lies in the way the story is constructed by Carolyn See. I admit I skimmed through the prelude, sure I could return to it when I had more of a grip on the purpose for it. I read it in detail at the end, and was truly rewarded with the significance. This is a remarkable, original story that is sure to delight. If you need something more deep, read War and Peace.
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Summary: I Feel Used
Review: It's a shame the characters Carolyn See so marvelously created couldn't have written the ending of the book for her. I like to think they would have been more true to themselves. I really did enjoy this book -- until the ending. Then, it seemed to switch genres. Personal Odyssey (our limitations, are they based in reality or poor guidance?) vs. romantic fantasy (anything goes -- the sky's the limit). A warning: If honesty in literature is what makes the reading experience uplifting for you, this book may bring you down.
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Summary: Magical...much more than it appears!
Review: This book would have been successful for its wonderful story and elegant prose even without its rather "trick" beginning. The prelude to the book is an ultra serious grant proposal written in the year 2027 to study an artist who worked at the beginning of the 21st Century. After reading it, you must wonder at the serious nature of this man who became The Artist. It is then that the book shifts to the year 1996 so we can see the artist as he develops during a fateful time in his life. I loved the idea that this Artist was once a regular Bob (that's his name too) kicking around Los Angeles in search of some spare change. He finds that change and much more by becoming a handyman who fixs broken lives as much as leaky faucets. As he meanders through his life, we see and understand how Bob evolves. The magic in this book is its understanding of the creative process and, at least in the paperback version, there is a terrific Q and A with the author who gives her quick recipe for writing success. That alone is worth the price of the book. I can't say enough about it (and I'm not related and do not know the author personally).
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Summary: IF YOU'RE THINKING OF A CAREER CHANGE ...
Review: I couldn't help thinking I'd like to be a handyman like this. The first 20 pages are a bit strange and I was tempted to return the book before it really started. I'm glad I did not. I guess it is a bit unreal in todays society to find a young man like the main character - but this is a work of fiction. This is a good summer book to read on the beach and then start planning on giving notice.
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