Jack Review Essay, Research Paper

This book made my teenage life seem insignificant. The book is basically about Jack and the different problems he has to deal with through his teenage life. The major problem he deals with is his father s homosexuality. He struggles with the acceptance of this fact along with his friend Maggie. This is all happening while he s still struggling to deal with his parent s divorce and accepting his mother s new boyfriend. Jack is constantly looking for a father figure in the book, because he can t seem to accept his fathers sexuality preference completely, and he can t seem to accept his mother s new boyfriend.

The major issue in this book was his about Jack dealing with the normal problems a teenager has, then he finds out his father is a homosexual, which just seems to complicate things more. He has to learn to deal with this problem by himself. He comes to realize that this shouldn t be a problem he has to deal with. He can t change the way his father is, and he shouldn t try, he should accept that this is the way his father is happy. I think in the end of the book he realized this.

The possible reason that Jack had such a hard time accepting his father s new life was because he felt he had no father figure. At the end of the book, he takes a walk to the basketball courts (he has a love for basketball) and think about life in general. He seems to comes to the realization that its time for him to grow up and become independent and if his father isn t there, or his mother isn t available, he can learn how to deal with the things by himself. In his own words he states: I m not trying to say that families are for shit or anything, but stuff was changing and I knew it, and I felt good about knowing because it seemed like maybe by knowing I d be able to do something different and not have the same damned thing happen to me. In a way the problems he faced, helped him to become more independent, more intelligent about life, and able to think for himself.

He also has to deal with accepting his mother s new boyfriend and his father s boyfriend as parental figures in his life. This is hard for him, mostly because he still has a lot of anger at his mother and father for getting a divorce. He also learns by going on a vacation with his best friend, Max, that Max s mother is getting beat by her husband. And that his friend Maggie s father is also gay. I think this helps him to realize that everyone has problems to deal with. Having Maggie there to go through the embarrassing moments in school, and the teasing, really helped him get through the cruelty of other kids in their school.

I really loved this book. Jack is so incredibly honest about everything, it brings such a great view to the story. He is open with his feelings, but they are hidden under large amounts of sarcasm. It’s a story of a teenager going through the usual angst, but then another problem is dumped on him, and it’s his way of dealing with it. I especially enjoyed his best friend Max and Max’s little brother. I thought the author did a really good job of narrating the book through a teenagers point of view. She tells the story in a humorous manner but still keeps so that the story is realistic, and you end up feeling bad about the way Jack gets treated and the things he has to go through. I like how she did this through the perspective of the son, rather than the father, it s a new perspective on

the whole homosexual issue, and it made the book interesting and worthwhile to read. The only complaint I had was that I didn t walk away from this book with something that will improve my life, or something I ll always remember.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a read an interesting story, and something just fun to read, but not very inspirational or moving. It was interesting reading about how Jack handled growing up. This book would good for anyone who is having or had a hard time growing up. I think Jack would be ideal for the people that don t understand homosexuality, and can t accept it into our culture.