The Contortionist's Handbook

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.6.5/10David 'Now I know how to forge a certificate' BrookesAuthor of 'Cycles of Udaipur'

Now,,, um,,, if you,,,um,,, put the essences of Billy Connelly, Groucho Marks, and Woody Allen into a 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' world you might be approaching the whacky wonders that Craig Clevenger has conjured up in this truly fantastic book. I don't know if being non-conformist yourself helps but having experienced an alternative lifestyle would definitely enhance your enjoyment of the anti-hero Daniel Fletcher's predicaments in this literary adventure. There are a shed-load of authors, film directors, etc 'bigging' this book up and it deserves all their praise. Read it before they turn it into a more censored film version. This book is a tonic for the mind and makes me laugh at all the fabulous absurdities captured therein.Eamonn

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 artOne 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

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.

This is one of those books which doesn't neatly fit into categories, is it about Psychology? Drugs? Crime? Love? All of the above? In the end it was (for me) about a man's struggle to fit in to a world which was very different to him, his coping mechanisms are the books framework.Ending was particularly good...