Kay's Bookshelf

The book shows its promise from the very first line, as the narrator announces he could count his overdoses on one hand, letting the reader assume that, oh well, this means he’s had at most five such problems. But then Daniel (as we later find out he’s currently called) enumerates his list and it contains six items. A first reason to wonder and a first hint at what makes Daniel special: he has six fully-formed fingers on his left hand. A first piece of the puzzle Daniel turns out to be, and in a way a symbol of what he’s become: the doctors think that the extra digit means that something may be wrong with his brain too (but that’s only a theory since his parents couldn’t afford to have him checked). There are more obvious signs attesting that too, as Daniel had a delayed development as a toddler (couldn’t talk until five) and in junior school he had to be enrolled in special children classes. There simply are some parts of life that don’t make sense to him (for example he failed the Rorschach test miserably because he couldn’t see anything but blots there), but there are also parts where he’s incredibly gifted at (mostly anything to do with numbers, geographical coordinates and, for lack of a better word, calligraphy).

And yet, despite all this and despite his somewhat dysfunctional family, our hero could have led a more or less ordinary life. He’s had a stint in jail, for forgery, when he was sixteen, and had decided to start a new life under a borrowed name, with a clean slate and all. Enter one more effect of his possible brain affliction: he has incredibly painful headaches that last for days, headaches that never appear on any doctor’s scan but that tormented him so intensely that most of the time he ended up ODing ’cause he didn’t care anymore what pills he took and how many of them. Having grown up near a psychiatric hospital and knowing the awful things that may happen to the patients in such places, Daniel focuses all his resources on escaping the possibility, reinventing a new name and character for himself after each and every encounter with the law.

On a personal note, I am not sure how I felt about the protagonist. I rooted for him and felt sorry for him when life treated him bad. But he is not only a victim to circumstances (his darn headaches), genetics (his father drank too much and it seems like our hero will follow in his footsteps) or bad luck (the time he landed into prison through virtually no fault of his own). He has no respect for the law (as in he stole lots of things when he was younger) and is a dedicate cocaine user (a habit that doesn’t help his health any). At times I did wonder why doesn’t he just clean up his act, leaving the past behind once and for all (as even the best forgery is not without risks) — however the author has done a great job creating unavoidable circumstances and I had no other chance than to understand, yet again, how a new identity change is the only way to go forward. I could have done without the drug addiction though.

A quote that explains the title:

Told a girl once that I’d wanted to be a contortionist. Saw a guy on TV when I was younger, bend, twist and crumple his body into an air tight box no bigger than a knapsack. Stayed inside for two hours, like he didn’t breathe at all. When they opened the box, he crawled out slowly like some strange hatching thing, every bone intact and breathing like normal. I can’t explain it, but that seems closer to what I do than any thing else.

And another quote whose imagery I liked:

Picture a shattering window, each piece of glass—from the biggest shard to the tiniest sliver—is a thought, a memory, an idea or an impulse, tumbling end over end in every direction at once, every minute of your life, from your first heartbeat to your last. Imagine stopping the film in a split moment, then running it back wards. Imagine the billions of jagged fragments magnetized in an instant, pulled back into an unfractured whole, crystal clear. That’s what it feels like. The perpetual whirlwind of vaporous memories and regrets goes away.

What I liked most: All the small details in Daniel/John/Eric/Steve/etc.’s mind. His very way of thinking was interesting to me. I like to think I learned a lot from what he said (mostly when it came to the way psychoanalysts categorize the people in front of them) but unfortunately I’ll probably forget every detail in a short while. I very much liked reading about that though :)

Oh, and I also thought the end was as close to a perfect one as possible. :) (in my eyes the fact that show spoiler

What I liked least: May I mention the cover? I have no idea why but I really didn’t like it — I get its point (a contortionist) but the knee bended in the opposite direction than normal was an image I didn’t care to look at.

Recommend it to? I encourage everyone to give it a try, as I have found it to be quite captivating (remembering me at times of a tamer Chuck Palahniuk) (speaking of Mr. P, he liked it too, according to the cover, so this should be an extra incentive for his fans :) ).

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