Staying out of the burn book, smoking in the bathroom, doing homework over breakfast – some elements of high school were the same for almost everyone. Most people don’t recall those fraught four years as being a particularly hilarious time of life – usually quite to the contrary. Jacked Up by Erica Sage shows us that we’ve been looking back from a self-centered perspective. We’re only remembering the confused attempts at losing our virginity, sports try outs gone awry, the occasional acne crisis, and parents who just didn’t understand. It’s hard for the positive memories to shine through.
When you flip the script and observe someone else’s teenage troubles, those years become much, much funnier. Exsqueeze the schadenfreude. In life, as in this novel, observing events from the outside can be as much of an education as a catharsis. People often see what they want to see in the same way as they remember only what their brain allows them to recall. This novel is but one example of the different lenses we use to view other people, and the how consequences of our actions are often very different than what we imagined.
Nick is a typical teenager until his sister’s suicide turns his life upside down. Rather than send him to counseling, his a-religious parents send him to Jesus camp at Eden Springs. This is their misguided attempt to make their son face his grief. To make matters worse, he’s hallucinating the usually tipsy Jack Kerouac, who insistently offers life advice from the perspective of a beatnik, usually something drawn from On the Road. Nick acquiesces to his parent’s wishes and attends camp, where the kids infantilize each other, wear perma-smiles, dress like disciples and ride donkeys, and even sing hit songs with the lyrics swapped out for Bible verses. Nick is the only one to find this odd.
An outsider from the outset of camp, Nick finds himself subject to a tidal wave of saccharine attitudes and earnest Christians, who seemed to smile a little too much, like they don’t see all the problems in the world. Unlike Nick, who sees a problem with everyone’s grammar and all the problems in the world. At camp, he meets a handful of other people who share his lack of religiosity, but finds they still participate in activities. Going along to get along seemed to be their strategy. Not wanting to stand out as the camp wet blanket, Nick reluctantly joins in camp activities – including writing down his darkest secret and placing it into the PC Box. (PC stands for prayers and confessions.)
But our protagonist’s confession is a secret several shades darker than his fellow campers – he assumes his secret will never see the light of day. That no one would know what he did. Then, shortly after he fesses up on paper, someone steals the PC Box. Anyone could have it. Soon, some of the confessions are found taped up around the camp. Nick is desperate to get the box back before anyone discovers his secret, while everyone else thinks he stole it. Trying to fit in while figuring out a different brand of people was hard enough, but when they all turn against him – even the adult counselors – Nick is forced to look inside himself for answers to some serious questions. Fortunately, he has a Beat author to help light his path. Kerouac has a way of showing up at the most inopportune moments for Nick. He gives advice that could only come from a member of the Beat Generation. Advice that really isn’t that bad, that might even be relevant to people today.
Jacked Up is a pleasure to read, even if it does make you contemplate your awkward years. The protagonist is completely relatable in that he’s neither one of the popular kids nor one of the rejects. And, having attended a religious camp as a teen myself, I can tell you that the descriptions of the Jesus-ized activities are spot on. The author included some of the creative punishments for lack of participation – like when the counselors encourage the campers to collectively shun someone. The camp counselors did force Nick to walk past the entire camp carrying a heavy cross a la the passion of the Christ. But no one seemed troubled by the scene of what he considered was abuse. Despite Nick’s aversion to religion, the biggest take-away from Jacked Up is moral. How different are the mad Christians from the mad people Jack Kerouac meets in On the Road? Why can’t they all experience kumbaya at camp for the week? Why did everyone need to agree on everything?
If you’re looking for a quick, pleasurable read that stretches your definition of inclusion to the limit, Jacked Up gives you all that and more. I was happily surprised to find this book sticking with me for weeks after I read it. Not simply because it was well-written, but because it brought back memories of the high school years. I even found myself questioning my own behavior at various Jesus-related events over the years. Jacked Up lets the reader ride shotgun with Beat Generation author, Jack Kerouac, for the story – giving guidance the way a Beat author might. But religiosity isn’t the point of Jacked Up, it’s the lowest common denominator between campers. Except for Nick, of course. The story is as comedic as it is redemptive. Check out Jacked Up and you won’t be disappointed.
[Four out of five stars]
