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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: Interesting Little Book
Review: Interesting book with an enjoyable, though at times somewhat unbelievable and sort of disturbing, plot. Brings up a lot of ideas about the randomness of life, how fate brings people together for unknown reasons, and how we effect each other in very significant ways possibly without ever even knowing it. I found the ending of the book particularly odd and unexplainable. Without giving anything away, I was stumped as to why the main character chose who he chose. (Another friend of mine had the exact same complaint actually.) I never felt I really understood Bob Hampton. Overall though, a pretty fun read.
Rating:
Summary: Love, Art and the Single Guy
Review: Part treatise on what it means to be an artist, part love story, and part comedy of Southern California manners, The Handyman is much more than the sum...through the eyes of aspiring painter (and handyman) Bob Hampton, See shares with us the almost revolutionary idea that becoming an artist is not about suffering, but about relieving the suffering of others (and that nice guys can finish first!) I found all of See's charaters, from Bob's various and sundry roommates, to the rich westside women he works for, to his wacky family, well-drawn, and somehow loveable. In fact, this book is all about Love -- how hard it is to live without it, and the human capacity for finding it, and sharing it. Carolyn See, like Bob Hampton, proves that all truly fine art comes from the heart.
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: NO, NO,NO, DON'T BUY THIS BOOK
Review: The time is summer 1996, and the place is Los Angeles. The situation is simple: a young man, Bob Hampton, is lost. Beyond his wish to be a painter, he's keenly aware that he has no direction for either life or career and some doubt that he'll ever find one. Telling himself that he's raising some cash for art school, he hires himself out as a handyman. The clients who enlist his services are people whose lives are a mess. They are even more lost than Bob. And it turns out that he's much better at bringing order and self-sufficiency to their lives than to his own. Carolyn See has a comic vision and a compassion for her characters that is hard to resist. She sends Bob careening from one dysfunctional household to another, fixing things that don't work, painting, gardening, running errands. And in the process, he has his own journey of self-discovery. Unexpectedly, Bob's jobs call for heroics and the patience of a saint. He saves a toddler from drowning, rescues an abandoned wife who can't drive a car or write a check, helps a widow discard her dead husband's belongings and discover a new life, and comes to the aid of two copeless young men, one of them in failing health. In addition to his clients, the cast of characters includes his young housemates, whose transient lives converge improbably under the same roof. There is also his forlorn mother, staring blankly from her apartment window into the street below. The novel captures the bruising heat of summer in LA and the peculiar impermanence of a city where people's attachments are temporary, and creative inspiration can materialize in visions hovering over the traffic on Santa Monica Boulevard or across the concrete surrounding a backyard swimming pool. Finally, The Handyman is a feel-good novel that encourages a kinder, gentler view of the City of Angels and the people who - even temporarily - call it home.
Rating:
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).
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.
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 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!
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