Right now the book I'm reading is called Motherless Brooklyn. The main character in this book is named Lionel Essrog and he has tourettes syndrome. It makes him do compulsive things like cursing and poking things. Lionel is an orphan and all the people living around him are big and tough. Most people like him would try to stay hidden but having tourettes makes Lionel stand out.
It sounds kind of crazy but the tourettes kind of makes people like Lionel. People call him freak but I don't really think that they mean it in a bad way. They thinks he's brave to talk trash to people way bigger than he is. They aren't educated and I don't think that they even know what tourettes is. Lionel doesn't even know what tourettes is. No one ever tought him.
I don't know anyone that has tourettes but just from how they make it seem in the book, it sounds terrible. I think that the author gave Lionel tourettes for an important reason. Another thing the book talks about is if Lionel is so good at being a "detective"(he's an illegal detective) because of his tourettes or despite that he has tourettes. Most people would think that this is a disadvantage to Lionel but I think it helps him stay focused. It's like the tourettes is making him feel this need to solve every single one of the cases he takes. Also a lot of the characters seem very ignorant and think that just because he has tourettes that he's dumb. By the way he's illegal because he supposedly works in a car servive. They don't even own any cars to rent out.
Lionel is actually really smart. He had to be to survive his chidhood in a scary orphanage. Because of tourettes, sometimes Lionel cursed at the older, bigger, scarier kids. Somehow he always seemed to escape the orphanage without getting hurt too badly. He's smart enough to apologize to the older kids and act like they're so great. Now that they're all grown up and working together, he's their equal.
Tourettes syndrome has played a huge part in Lionel's life but he keeps going, living with tourettes and finding ways to deal with it. Even with tourettes, Lionel has never felt sorry for himself and he's even been able to help some people by working for a detective agency. He's had a rough life and he still finds ways to help others. People should give Lionel a little more respect and treat him better because he's just like an every day hero.
