“I want to crumple onto the floor and cry. I’m so tired of the words, the looks.” In the book Jerk California, by Jonathan Friesen; Jack Keegan, also known as Sam Carrier, is a teenage boy with Tourette’s syndrome in the small town of pierce Minnesota. Jacks life struggles is documented along with his self-discovery and his budding relationship with George, his father’s friend, and Naomi the girl he likes. Intending to find out the truth about his dad, Jack, along with Naomi go on a once in a lifetime trip to California. The authors relatable characters and clever use of writing makes this book one that was most enjoyable to read. Jack lives with his mom and his abusive stepdad Bill in a small town at the edge of Minnesota. He has been treated as an outcast all his life and been told that his dad was a deadbeat who ran away with another woman and died while drinking and driving. But all that changes when he meets and befriends George the “old Coot”, a friend of his father James who tells him the stories that he has been told all his life of his dad are untrue. But just as jack is coming into terms with this revelation and getting to know George better, George gets a heart attack and dies. And as a …show more content…
Even at that age Jack felt as if his life is over “The pediatrician smiled like he got off destroying a child’s life…like children frequently went to sleep and woke up monsters who couldn’t keep their damn bodies still” (1). Jack often blames his biological father James Keegan who he inherited his “cursed” genes from, as a person with Tourette’s “Has a 50% chance of passing that disorder to their offspring” (raredieseases.info). Tourette’s is a disorder that is for life and cannot be treated currently and so jack having felt that he will never be accepted is mistrusting of others and