Friday, August 24, 2012

Aaaaaaaaaaand Another [Book Review]!!

Gasp. I'm back. Yes, fo' realz.
In a new post and everything. I thought it would be more fun that way.

I read another book almost in entirety on Wednesday night before I moved. I pulled it out of my box of things for packing for college and made the mistake of opening it. I then power read all but the last chapter and a half that night. Which, ftr, pissed off my mama. hahaha. Oh well. I got packed in plenty of time.

By the way, there are def spoilers involved here. Just thought I'd warn you ahead of time.

Anyway. So I power-read a book. Called Jerk, California by Jonatahn Friesen.
Jerk, California is about a boy in Minnesota with Tourrette's syndrome. And of course his stepdad loved him and all was great until he developed his "disease" and then Bill realized that Sam won't be able to take over the concrete business. And suddenly Sam becomes a monster.

Anyway, there's a lot of self-loathing in this book. I'm telling you, a lot. But there's a lot of other here, as well. Sam, whose given name is actually Jack [somethingorother but super Irish] ends up working for a guy the townspeople refer to as The Coot. Some affectionately, others not so much. You know how it goes in small towns. But he's actually a pretty cool guy. And there's, of course, a girl involved.
So after not very long at all, George (the Coot) dies of a heart attack right in front of Jack. And then Jack inherits ALL of George's stuff. Land, house, everything.
George sends Jack on a trip across the country to a location in California called Jerk with several stops along the way and directions to stay a couple of days in each place. Jack's dad built or refurbished windmills. That was kind of his thing.

I don't know. I really liked this book when I read it at the time, but like, thinking back on it, I'm kind of over it. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's really interesting, largely because of Jack's struggle with identity and self-confidence and self-loathing and this girl who is totally... bipolar. Not really, just pregnant (early in). Long story. Anyway. It WAS interesting. But... meh. I don't know. Looking back I just don't.... like... feel all that strongly about it now.  I kind of did at the time. If you read the last blog post I did about Will Grayson, Will Grayson, before I get into the novel I have this HUGE spiel about little things that change your life and whatever, and this one kind of did that at the time. But... I dunno. Maybe now that I'm here it's not such a big deal? I don't know how to explain it.
It's possible that this heat is just skewing my care-meter. In fact highly likely. It's been super hot lately and my dorm doesn't have air conditioning and my allergies are in "murderous bitch" mode so I'm super short tempered and my face hurts and I've just been in a bad mood. Relatively. I dunno.
Anyway, it's a good book, save the ending. The ending kinda... well, it kinda sucked. It doesn't really end! It just sorta stops! And not like an on-purpose thing, either. At least not as far as I can tell. Though I could definitely be wrong. I dunno.

It's not a long read, or a difficult read. I almost cried a few times. I laughed quite a bit. I hated people frequently. It's a moving book, at least. Maybe I was just particularly movable at the time. No idea. But I liked it.  I give it probs 3.5 stars? Maybe? I dunno. 3 just doesn't seem right but 4 almost seems too much. So. There you are.

Two blog posts in a day! Can you believe it? After a month hiatus! Sorry. It'll probs be awhile again. Oops.

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