Friesen, J. (2008). Jerk, California. New York: Speak. 327 pages, $9.99
Sam Carrier has lived with Tourette's Syndrom since he was six. He calls it a gift from his father, who passed away when he was a baby and according to his stepdad, Old Bill, was a real loser. Will a cross country trip help Sam discover the truth about his life and who his dad really was?
Sam Carrier was still a baby when his dad, James Keegan, passed away. Sam's mom remarried "Old Bill" and Sam has grown up hearing about how James was an alcoholic who left Sam and his mom for a younger woman. Old Bill has been the only father figure Sam has known, and even though he is verbally abusive, Sam kind of wants to feel close to him. It doesn't help the matter that Sam has to deal with his Tourette's Syndrome, a gift from his father, and Lane, a perfectly healthy baby brother. If Sam could only keep still, he is convinced that things will be OK between him and Old Bill, but things only seem to get worse as time goes on. It seems that the only good thing going for Sam is that he can get away from things for a little while when he goes on his runs and thinking about Naomi, a girl from a nearby high school that he met during a track meet. As time goes by, Sam finds that he's regularly thinking about Naomi, and at the same time, things don't get better at his house. By the time he graduates from high school, Old Bill decides that it's time for Sam to get a job and pay rent, $500 per month, much more than he could afford, but there's nothing he can do, and Lydia, his mom, doesn't try hard enough to make Old Bill realize that Sam just got a job and that he can't afford that. Then Sam meets George, the town coot, who offers Sam a place to stay as long as Sam helps him with his gardening business. At first Sam adamantly resists, completely opposed to the idea of working for the town coot, but George doesn't give up and Sam decides that being George's tenant is better than living with his mom and Old Bill. George insists on calling Sam Jack, which is the name that his mom and dad gave him. It turns out that George knew Sam/Jack's father, James, really well and will tell Sam/Jack all about him...when Sam/Jack is ready to hear about it. Sam/Jack gradually learns the gardening business as he helps George and even discovers that George works for Naomi's mom. Sam/Jack is nervous around Naomi...he has developed a crush on her. Things seem to be looking up for Sam/Jack...until George dies, leaving Sam/Jack with unanswered questions about his dad and his family before his dad died. Sam/Jack discovers that George left him his house and sends him on a road trip though the United States to Jerk, California. George left specific instructions for Sam/Jack to visit certain people at certain cities, intending for him to find out about his dad. Sam/Jack also discovers that George was also Naomi's grandfather. Heartbroken, she decides to accompany Jack on his road trip. On his road trip, Sam/Jack meets some very nice and friendly family friends who knew his father well. They all have nothing but good things to say about James (Sam/Jack's dad) and how he was such a loving husband and dad in addition to being a hard worker so that he can provide for his family. This confused Sam/Jack because all his life Old Bill had told him that his dad was a no-good deadbeat who ran off on his family with another woman. Naomi reveals a secret to Sam/Jack...she is pregnant with her track coach's baby, and her coach (Andrew) wants nothing to do with her, even wanting her to have an abortion. Naomi knows she can't have the baby because it goes against her (and her mom's) plans, but she doesn't want to have an abortion, so she decides to give it up for adoption to someone who can take care of the baby and give it a good home. Also on his trip, Sam/Jack visits some of the windmills that his father built. When he finally makes it to Jerk, California, where his grandmother (his dad's mother) lives, he visits another windmill (also build by his dad) and finds that there's a door on it, so he enters it, and he discovers a box filled with tapes...to Jack from his dad. After listening to the tapes, Sam/Jack realizes that his dad loved him and wanted the best for Jack and his mother. This is what everyone he met had been telling him all along, but it was difficult for him to believe because all his life Old Bill had told him the opposite. Jack decides that he is going to go by his birth name because it's the name his father (and his mom) game him, and he is his father's son. Naomi, who has been playing with his mind (being kind and loving one moment and suddenly getting upset the next) also makes up her mind about what she is going to do. She is going to keep her baby, and Jack is going to be there for her.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I could totally empathize with Jack, not because I know what it's like to have Tourette's Syndrome, but because it reminded me of high school and how it can be awkward enough as it is and all students want to do is fit in and how that can be difficult, but I can't even imagine what it would be like to have Tourette's Syndrome on top of all that. I found it a little frustrating that Jack wasn't ready to believe what his dad's friends told him about his dad. They always had positive things to say about him...how he was loving and caring and died getting medicine for his sick son...but I guess that was understandable because the only person who ever really told him anything about his dad was Old Bill, and he only told him negative lies, and his mom never told him otherwise. She just simply let Old Bill talk that way about Jack's dad even though she knew it wasn't true. This is something else that frustrated me even though I could kind of understand why she was hesitant to contradict Old Bill...he wasn't a very nice husband. I was really glad that Jack discovered the truth about his dad and developed the courage to stand up to Old Bill. I really think he grew as a person.
When I first saw the title of this book, I thought about someone acting like a jerk, but soon discovered that it refers to a place in California where Jack met his grandmother and realized that what everyone was saying aobut his dad was true...he wasn't the man that Jack grew up believing he was...he was a good man who had all intentions of looking after and providing for his family, but tragedy prevented that from happening.
This book won the Schneider Family Book Award in 2009. You can learn and read about Jonathan Friesen at
http://www.jonathanfriesen.com/. View a book trailer at
http://www.jonathanfriesen.com/books.html. You can also check out other books he's written, such as The Last Martin and Rush.
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