Chinese Handcuffs

Chinese Handcuffs is a 1989 a young adult novel by young adult writer Chris Crutcher. The story alternates between the two main characters, Dillon and Jennifer, both high school athletes dealing with personal issues. The majority of Dillon’s story is told via a journal he keeps, writing about the death of his older brother.

Plot summary

Dillon Hemingway is a training for the Ironman Triathlon while coping with the suicide of his older brother, Preston, and his mother leaving his father after Preston’s death. Jennifer Lawless is the star of the girl’s high school basketball team coping with sexual abuse at the hands of her father, trying to keep her younger sister safe from her father. The two find a confidante in the other and attempt to confront the demons of their pasts.

Characters

• Dillon Hemingway – a high school athlete dealing with the death of his brother. He is in love with Jennifer Lawless, the star of the girls’ basketball team, and Stacy Ryder, his brother’s girlfriend.
• Jennifer Lawless – high school basketball player who was sexually abused by her father, and then her step-father. Has conflicted feelings about Dillon and romantic relationships.
• Stacy Ryder – girlfriend of Preston Hemingway, mother of his son, Ryan, helps Dillon in his triathlons.
• Preston Hemingway – older brother of Dillon who kills himself after being crippled in a motorcycle crash. His suicide might have been precipitated by Stacy’s revelation of her pregnancy.
• Coach Sherman – high school girls’ basketball coach, an unmarried woman who gives advice to Dillon and Jennifer.

Awards

• ALA Best Book for Young Adults
• ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
• 1991 South Dakota YARP Best Books List

External links

• About Crutcher

References

• [1]