Raising Jake
BUY NOW: Raising Jake
By Charlie Carillo
Grade: 72 out of 100%
Raising Jake is a must read for all single dads. Sammy Sullivan works a job he hates, for a boss whose diapers he used to change; he lives alone, has a girlfriend whom he doesn’t like, and barely knows his son. His son, Jake, is enrolled in a stuffy upper-class boarding school that, despite his great grades, he knows he doesn’t belong in. He has all the potential in the world, but he’s unhappy; he doesn’t know his father and knows virtually nothing about his ancestry.
Then, in just a few hours, everything changes for the Sullivan men.
Sammy receives a call to report immediately to the headmaster of Jake’s school. Jake’s mother is out of town, so whatever the emergency is; it falls on the shoulder of Sammy. When Sammy tries to leave, his boss threatens to fire him from the job he’s been working since his boss was in diapers. Sammy leaves. His boss fires him. When he gets to the school he discovers that the big emergency was a paper that Jake had written that exposes the school and the entire education system for what it is: a fraud. In his paper, Jake states that life is all about belonging to the right clubs; getting into the right nursery school, so that you can get to the right grammar school, on to the right boarding school, to the right college, grad school, to land the right job with the right fortune 500 company. It’s all a giant scam. The headmaster demands an apology from Jake, Jake won’t give it, and Jake gets expelled.
Sammy and Jake begin a long weekend together diving into Sammy’s childhood and Jake’s ancestry. This journey includes trips to break up with their respective girlfriends, and discussions on how they each lost their virginity to older women- this leads to a visit with the now broken down old lady who took Sammy’s virginity. As their weekend continues, they romp around the neighborhoods of Sammy’s childhood with all events leading up to the main event- the discussion of Sammy’s mother and her death.
The characters are rich and vivid. Sammy is a sad and broken down middle aged man whom doesn’t like people and doesn’t know how to love. Jake is a maturing young boy whom is too smart for society and craving for some family history and roots. As the story carries on, though our characters are growing together, learning from one another, and healing, you get the feeling that it is Sammy who needs Jake more than Jake needs Sammy.
The prose is clever but not arrogant. It’s humorous and beautiful, intelligent and moving. I wouldn’t say that I couldn’t put it down, but I definitely enjoyed it thoroughly and part of me wished that I’d come up with the story. Anyone who is a father will certainly shed a few tears. It was simple and read that way, but this isn’t a bad thing; it was effective. I’d liken it to a really great romantic comedy. It is what it is. A romantic comedy is never going to blow you away with brilliance, but if it’s done correctly there’s nothing negative you can say about it, and you will walk away from it having been entertained and feeling all warm and fuzzy on the inside. That’s what this book did to me.
