The Handyman

by Carolyn See

With this brilliant novel about the surprises of destiny and the origins of fame, the critically acclaimed author of Golden Days ("Extraordinary . . . a very, very important book"-Los Angeles Times Book Review) and Making History ("Radiant . . . exciting and imaginative"-Cleveland Plain Dealer) firmly establishes her place as one of the preeminent chroniclers of our times.
    
The Handyman is the story of Bob Hampton, an aspiring young painter who has had to face the humbling fact that he doesn't know what to paint.  And how are you supposed to be an artist in this world if you don't have a vision? Bob trades in his artist's palette for a minivan full of house paints, hammers, and nails, and sets about earning a little cash as a handyman.
    
Although he turns out to be very bad at fixing the things he's hired to fix, Bob demonstrates quite a knack for fixing the lives of the people around him. In the midst of his jerry-built repairs and inspired home improvements, Bob meets an extraordinary cast of characters--rendered in all their delightful eccentricity and human frailty as only Carolyn See can-each of whom shows Bob the true scope of his own remarkable talent. There's Angela Landry, a housewife with far too much time on her hands, a sexpot of a stepdaughter, and a son in need of  attention; Jamie Walker, whose allergy-prone and ADD-afflicted children keep a menagerie of scaly pets that far exceed Jamie's managerial skills; Valerie LeClerc, older, sadder, and certainly wiser than Bob; and Hank and Ben, who leave a narrow-minded Midwest only to find unremitting illness and isolation in the California of their dreams.
    
Replete with stunning images and all of Carolyn See's trademark humor and wisdom, The Handyman depicts the countless ways in which our lives are intertwined and the profound effects we can have on one another. It is the kind of surprising and miraculously uplifting novel we have come to expect from the woman Diane Johnson has called "one of our most important writers."

Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Adult Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novels

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Carolyn See was the author of ten books, including the memoir, Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times in America, an advice book on writing, Making a Literary Life, and the novels There Will Never Be Another You and The Handyman.

She was the Friday-morning reviewer for The Washington Post, and she has been on the boards of the National Book Critics Circle and PENWest International. She won both the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Getty Center fellowship. She lived in Pacific Palisades, California.

See also wrote books under the pen name Monica Highland, a name she shared with two others, her daughter Lisa See and her longtime companion, John Espey, who died in 2000.

See was known for writing novels set in Los Angeles and co-edited books that revolve around the city, including a book of short stories, LA Shorts, and the pictorial books Santa Monica Bay: Paradise by the Sea: A Pictorial History of Santa Monica, Venice, Marina Del Rey, Ocean Park, Pacific Palisades, Topanga & Malibu, and The California Pop-Up Book, which celebrates the city's unique architecture.

Reviews

[Elizabeth]

Recommended by Alex I.

[Juliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm making my way through Carolyn See's books (this is my fourth) and I hope I can persuade others to discover her.

The best way to read the Handyman is to read the front section first--which is a fictional grant proposal written about an artist of cultural significance in the future. Then the book switches to the first person narrative of the young man who will become the artist. He lands in Paris to study art, but then immediately packs it all in and heads back to his home in Southern California. He picks up work as a handyman for the summer while waiting to return to school. He isn't the best handyman but he is good at fixing the lives of the people and families he encounters doing his work. He also discovers his own style of art as he works through the summer.

You might be tempted to go back and read the front section again while reading the main narrative, but my advice is don't do that. Wait until you've finished the book, and THEN go back and read the grant proposal. I did that and found the prologue to be delightful.

Pick up this book if you enjoy art, reading about California, and can enjoy the ways in which See can take a trope (young Handyman encountering housewives) and can bend the theme and make it something deeper. I can almost see Carolyn See winking at her editor and agent as she proposes a book with this title.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the optimism of this book so much that I not only bought an additional copy to lend, but emailed the author to tell as much. She replied, much to my surprise. At the time I was working in film casting and production and was interested in optioning the book, which was, unfortunately, already under option (and was subsequently never produced).

It's a light, easy read, a kind of spiritual rom-com, with a happy ending. If you're a novelist, it might just make you want to write. That's what it did for me.

[Liz Kloepping · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books of all time. I've painted since I was a teenager and this book captured something I had wondered about; "how does anyone know they have talent" The answer seems to be, "they don't." I enjoyed the way Ms See captures the journey of the artist, from unknown to famous painter, while living an ordinary life.

[Hanje Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kind of loved this book. 4.5 stars. If Ann Tyler and California had a baby, they would have had The Handyman. Art, Angst, Creativity and lack thereof. I don't know how I missed reading Carolyn See before.

[Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

The glowing reviews did not match my experience. The plot is basic, repetitive, and lacking insight. The handyman arrives at a woman's house where she is not capable of taking care of her children/house/self. In most cases, the handyman "fixes" the situation by cleaning the house and the children. Perhaps because the author is sticking to what she knows, there is little fixing of things beyond cleaning. At some point the handyman sleeps with the client, a middle-aged woman in need of sex from a random, unskilled stranger. By the end of the encounter, the woman's life is much better! Perhaps because the author forgets to stick to what she knows, the handyman even has the power to "fix" the life of a survivor of partner abuse in a week (connecting her to a new partner in the process -- his sketchy roommate) and even helps her and her children manage a visit from the abusive ex -- without incident! Meanwhile the author encloses the handyman plot in a frame that establishes handyman up as a major artistic figure of his time. Spoiler alert: The handyman rides off into the Mexican sunset with the one client he didn't have sex with. It's hard to figure how that could happen, except maybe he was too busy having sex with her teen stepdaughter. I kept reading thinking I'd figure out what major reviewers saw in this book. That remained a mystery.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant story, good for a quick read at the beach or on a long flight. Some funny and mildly interesting characters.

Probably easier to follow if you live in LA, since the city and some of its neighborhoods are the setting for most of the scenes, and by placing certain characters in specific neighborhoods, the author is making a point about the type of folks who live there and how they tend to see the world. But you can enjoy the story just as well without the knowledge.

An inspirational story in the end, but the author doesn't beat you over the head with it.

That said, if you're a huge believer in something like The Secret or similar self-belief type books, you'll probably give it five stars and find a lot more meaning in this book than is really there. But do your friends a favor and don't push this book on them (or The Secret, for that matter). It's just a nice story, that's all.

[Linda Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read The Handyman over 20 years ago but couldn’t remember any of it, though had a sense that I didn’t care much for it at that time. I recently read it again for my book club. This time I enjoyed it. Maybe my tastes have changed? That could be the case, but I couldn’t say for sure.

The handyman is a charming and empathetic young artist who does house repairs one summer to earn some cash. For those who hire him, he’s a lifesaver. He doesn’t just do repairs, he sets his clients on the right course in life and helps them solve their problems. He’s too good to be true, but I think all of us could use a handyman like this at some point in our lives. As he works his “miracles,” he is inspired to create art that reflects the lives around him. I see this story as a sort of fairy tale. It’s a feel-good story.

[Pamela Pickering]

Well, I did one of my big no nos. I peaked at the last page and ended up with information that spoiled the plot for me. This is why I'm unable to give the book a star rating. But I can say this, I wasn't so enamored with the book (after 100+ pages) that it didn't matter. Although somewhat entertaining, it didn't hook me enough to finish it. I think See lost me on the initial 6 page Guggenheim application a the beginning. I thought it would've been best to put it at the end but then after peaking at the last page I understood why she didn't. Still, I almost tossed it before trudging through those first six pages. I wonder how many readers she's lost with it?

From what parts I've read, it was an easy, light read--I would qualify it as in the "beach read" category.

[Susie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never reread books, but I read this one twice. It's that good - I didn't entirely 'get' the first part of the book until I finished it. Then I reread the first chapter and it was so satisfying how the author pulled all the characters together. It also makes a comment, I think, on people's perception of art and artists and what we read into both. It's what you get in any art history class: what do you think the artist was trying to say? According to this book, sometimes they are just trying to create something nice. Loved this book!

[Justin Cascio · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was kind of dumb. The setup seemed intriguing, but it didn't play out well, and it ended hastily, as if the author had run out of grant money. The artist details seemed thrown in, the main character was not believable, and the rest of the characters ran together so that, when one of them stood up and did something different, I had to flip back to figure out which bland character had stepped out. Don't bother unless you're trapped in a waiting room w/ nothing else.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The structure of this books fascinated me. The books starts with a grant proposal to study a famous (fictional) artist. Then it gradually introduces all the people mentioned in the proposal and fills in the back story. The author uses the full names in the proposal so it is not instantly obvious who is who. I thought everything fitted together perfectly in the end.

[Jean · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book "by mistake". I was looking for a book by and author, last name See, and I chose the wrong "See".
Interesting book - handy guy adventures and how he changes the lives of the people with whom he comes in contact.
Not really special.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of cool book. Published 1999. I like the writer.

[David Lent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very mild spoiler

I’ve read a couple of her daughter Lisa See’s books, and I liked her themes and style. I was walking through “The Last Bookstore” in downtown Los Angeles when I came across her mother’s books. I picked up three at a bargain discount, put them on the shelf, and waited for the right time to dig in. Turned out a fantasy trip to Oktoberfest and Amsterdam was the right time to give her a go.

I can’t count how many times I turned back to leaf through the prologue. It’s the key to the whole book. The Handyman is deftly laid out with a peek at the future before settling in to late 1990’s Los Angeles. As one reviewer noted, this book is layered with kindness above all else. Extending kindness can unlock the unexpected, as if a tender act of empathy is all that’s needed to uncover the pain many of us hide just below the skin, and open a path toward a different future.

Our protagonist’s romantic adventures are a bit far-fetched at times, but I enjoyed the romance of people seeking something different in their lives.

I really enjoyed her portrait of late 1990s Los Angeles. I’m just familiar enough with this city that I could follow the streets in my head as characters moved about from place to place.

I felt hopeful reading this book. We don’t know where life will take us. I think we are mistaken if we believe nothing can ever change in our lives, that we reach an end and just continue with that same routine with no hope of anything different. Our Handyman changes lives with hard work, belief, love, and hope. Each relationship our Handyman makes forms around what’s broken in the other character. It’s not the fence that needs mending or the dishes that need cleaning. It’s the heart that needs human contact and love above all.

[Luna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seemed a little unbelievable, but I take the various story lines and characters as allegory, which helped a lot. A young man spends a summer having what I'd call a quarter life crisis of identity and artistic confidence. To earn money, he becomes a handyman around LA. Among the various clients are five families/homes that require what I'd frankly call a stereotypical "man" (as authority figure, provider, and savior). Most of the other male characters are either helpless, useless, or outright cruel. He sleeps with most of the female characters. If those scenes are supposed to be sexy or erotic, they certainly weren't to me.

The best aspect of the book is the handyman's generosity, good-natured and unreserved interest in the lives of the people he meets, and his ability to take charge of unraveling scenarios. If nothing else, I was glad to read the book just for that inspirational tone. Near the end of the book, a barely interesting conversation between the handyman and an established painter explains that everything worth having is achieved by walking directly into, and through, our fears. It's a nice message for a book that walks a fine line between a fluffy summer read and a sort of social and psychological commentary on the banal meaninglessness of contemporary life.

[Anne Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bob Hampton has tried his hand at becoming an artist, but the summer he leaves a prestigious placement at the Paris Fine Arts School, he returns to Los Angeles, determined to give it one more go in the Fall semester at a local art school, but first, he will take a job as a handyman.

Once the calls start coming in, a variety of characters enter Bob’s life, as he goes about fixing more than just their to do lists. As Bob creates community and found family, he starts to awaken the artist inside who was only looking for his muse.

Written in 1999, this book contains some disturbing sexual content with a minor, which was gross to my 2024 eyes. I think you should know this going into the book. Otherwise, it’s a sweet story of community, connection, and how a helping hand or kind act can change a person’s life. This is a good reminder as we head into uncharted territory in the United States post 2024 election.

[Magnus Haddon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bob is an artist. He is a successful artist, as we discover on the first page. How did he get here? Carloyn See takes us on a journey through one man's struggle from impoverished unknown to a complex adult whose life is enriched in more ways than material wealth. This novel grew on me with each page turn, thanks to the plausible, relatable nature of Bob's observations, and See's ability to convey the universal from the particular, to conjure up characters who are familiar and complex. There is something inspiring here for any of us with artistic ambitions. This novel has that rare quality of leaving you feeling just a little bit better about the world.

[Moira Mackinnon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Los Angeles is full of lonely women and mixed-up families and they all seem to need a handyman. In the process of trying to help a very odd assortment of people, artist turned handyman Robert Hampton comes to terms with his own artistic vision. Deftly sketched from Hampton's commonsense view of a sometimes crazy world, the Handyman is at once extraordinarily funny, serious and touching. Bob Hampton is a very likable guy and even if he can't fix a light bulb, he can change people's lives. And does.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to check that the author was actually a woman, as the internalized sexism was pretty thick. Apparently all women need is a hot young male artist to do their dishes, whereupon they overcome depression and existential ennui, have enthusiastic bad sex with him, and revere him as a saint forevermore.

Moreover, this act of hot dishwashing catapults his art to mythic caliber.

The female art student becomes his archivist.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I REALLY liked this book. It was what I needed to read now with all the chaos in the world. It is about a very kind artist trying to make his way in the world who helps others as a handyman. No job is beneath him. He changes peoples lives and his own also.

[Larina Warnock · Rating 2 out of 5]

As an exploration of creative voice, this book was intriguing. And yet, it doesn't stand the test of time. Poorly written sex with...well, pretty much every female in the book that the narrator isn't related to.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This hits at around 3.75 stars but I'm rounding up since I feel it's a story that will stay with me for a while. I lived in Santa Monica in the mid-90s so it really took me back, in a good way. There were some forced situations but overall an interesting read.

[Dianelw · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gem from my mother's bookshelf

[Rosemary Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book about a man who wants to be an artist but spends a summer as a handyman, learning about who he is. Various characters who he helps, none real fully developed.

[Shellie Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable book. I loved the setting and Bob's discovery of the damaged human while finding art in everything he experienced.

[Jocelyn Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

trite

[Lorrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dated since it was written about 2000. It was an interesting story, great airplane or travel book.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly read this because it was Not a Mystery, but it was a short and odd palate-cleanser.