Rating: 
Summary: A VERY BORING AND POORLY WRITTEN NOVEL !!!
Review: I REALLY HATED THIS BOOK! THE CENTRAL CHARACTER WAS SO POORLY CONCEIVED AND CAME ACROSS AS PHONEY AND TOTALLY UNBELIEVABLE. THE AUTHOR DOESN'T SEEM TO HAVE THE ABILITY TO EITHER STRUCTURE AN EFFECTIVELY DRAMATIC AND ENGROSSING PLOT OR COMPOSE A NARRATIVE THAT CAPTURES THE ATTENTION AND INTEREST OF THE READER. I REALLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT ALL THE FUSE IS ABOUT. THIS IS A TEDIOUS, DULL, AND ARTIFICIALLY SHALLOW WORK WHICH WILL GREATLY DISAPPOINT ANY LITERATE READER WHO IS EXPECTING ANYTHING ABOVE THE MUNDANE AND TRITE.
Rating: 
Summary: The book is a smart and engaging exploration of art in life.
Review: See's The Handyman is a well crafted novel that explores contemporary life in Los Angeles masterfully. More importantly, she draws attention to the important (and too often neglected) relationship between life and art. The book is as insightful as it is fun. And part of the fun for me was returning to the beginning and rereading the opening fellowship application (that frames the story of the main character's journey) after finishing the entire book once. I was tempted to continue reading the rest of the novel again, too. Yes, it was that good!
Rating:
Summary: An Uplifting Story
Review: This book was truly a pleasure to read, and left me feeling cheered and hopeful by the end. Putting his dreams of becoming An Artist behind him after a brief visit to Paris, Bob decides to spend the summer as a handyman before signing up for art school in the fall. He gets all kinds of jobs, where his ability to help people get their lives into shape seems more important than the actual tasks. By the end of the summer, in helping all his 'clients', Bob finds his own future. Beautifully written; you'll want to read this again.
Rating: 
Summary: A Perfect Day At The Beach
Review: What could be better than lounging on the beach on a hot summer day, completely absorbed in a trashy novel like The Handyman? This is the one to stuff in your beach bag. Carolyn See is the queen of the tossaway tale, light and breezy, perfect for passing the time until the sun goes down and the fun starts up. Who cares if the characters are caricatures? Or if the plot never thickens, but merely curdles? Bob Hampton, the implausible cardboard cut-out protagonist of The Handyman, would surely enjoy filling his empty hours reading this book, as any self-infatuated person would. On the whole, this is as good as any Harlequin novel, but much more erudite and artsy. (Well, Bob is an Artist-In-Training, right?) Have at it, and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating, entertaining novel
Review: Anyone who knows anything about writing will certainly be able to tell that this book is well written. The characters, from major to minor, are all very well drawn. Ms. See has a terrific sense of humor which she employs to great effect as Bob Hampton, a handyman who eventually becomes an artist, touches the lives of various ordinary (and not so ordinary) folks in Los Angeles while he bumbles from one odd job to another. The research proposal at the beginning of the book is fascinating: the scholar who is interested in Hampton's art obviously has an exaggerated opinion of the handyman's humble and awkward beginnings. The proposal is full of ludicrous critical jargon, which masquerades as praise, but in effect says little about the artist himself. That's what this book is about: an unlayering of a man who comes to find inspiration through everyday, often menial, experiences, and transform them into art. A highly recommended, very enjoyable novel.
Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Day At The Beach
Review: What could be better than lounging on the beach on a hot summer day, completely absorbed in a trashy novel like The Handyman? This is the one to stuff in your beach bag. Carolyn See is the queen of the tossaway tale, light and breezy, perfect for passing the time until the sun goes down and the fun starts up. Who cares if the characters are caricatures? Or if the plot never thickens, but merely curdles? Bob Hampton, the implausible cardboard cut-out protagonist of The Handyman, would surely enjoy filling his empty hours reading this book, as any self-infatuated person would. On the whole, this is as good as any Harlequin novel, but much more erudite and artsy. (Well, Bob is an Artist-In-Training, right?) Have at it, and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Best book I've read in a long time
Review: Reading this, I felt my mind congealing into a turd. (No digestion necessary!) A TV dinner for the mind--"meat" of unnatural shape and texture (I guess it's meat; I mean, it kinda looks like meat), token vegetables, and laden with sodium-rich artifical flavorings. I literally threw this manuscript across the room, effectively ending my stint as a literary scout. It is crap on so many levels--the "plot," the amatuerish and utterly trite crypto-Christo symbology. Jesus! Imagine my surprise--nay, horror--a year or so later, to see this trash win some critical acclaim. Complete madness. Comte was onto something with his "mental hygiene" hangup. I'd have my eyes seared with hot pokers before reading something like this again. Oh. And how wonderful to see the author on the MFA/ writing workshop circuit. Behold the future!
Rating:
Summary: A Loser
Review: This is the story of an artists search for himself. Bob starts to see himself reflected through the process of helping others. This is a hip book with a westcoast eye for place. It is in this environment that Bob begins to find himself, his calling and learns the meaning of love.
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