Genre 6 - Fiction, Fantasy, and YA
"Read one of the following Michael Printz YA Award winners"
Plot Summary
Any description of this book is going to sound scattered. It's a quixotic journey that is well worth taking. Cameron, diagnosed with the deadly mad cow disease, escapes from his hospital bed in Texas and embarks on a journey to find a doctor with a cure at the behest of his guardian punk-rock angel love interest, Dulcie. He takes his hospital roommate Gonzo the hypochondriac dwarf with him, and the trip to Florida takes several dozen odd turns all driven by random coincidences. Flashbacks of hospital scenes throughout the journey bring the reader to question which version is reality.Critical Analysis
I've had this one set aside to read for a while now, and thought it would be a bit too random for me. But after diving into it, it was a compelling story that I couldn't put down and I really liked the random.There is so much packed into this book that it is hard to analyze it beyond "wow. Wow. The same word backward and forward. (Bray 480)" Bray does an amazing job of making everything count. Everything mentioned in Cameron's day to day life of making it through high school comes back in the picture as he travels across the country.
The language is accessible, the conversations believable. The coincidences Cameron follows are the biggest stretch of the imagination, but since he's given the mission of following them to find a cure, it's hardly questioned.
Don Quixote is a definite influence in the hallucinatory journey which Cameron undertakes. Not only is he reading it in class, but elements of it come back in the hallucinations. Dulcie is his guardian punk-rock angel love interest and the car he acquires is named Rocinante; both are based on Cervantes' Dulcinea and Rocinante respectively. It really is a modern day version of Don Quixote that just might inspire a few to try the original.
Connections
- Read more exciting books about diseases.
The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story
by Richard Preston
The Andromeda Strainby Michael Crichton
- Try a few more hallucinatory journeys:
Don Quixote
by Miguel De Cervantes
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Testby Tom Wolfe
- Check out some more road trip stories.
On the Road (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
by Jack Kerouac
Travels with Charley in Search of America: (Centennial Edition)by John Steinbeck
- Lose yourself in other absurdist writings.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams
Catch-22by Joseph Heller
Awards/Reviews
2010 Michael L. Printz AwardFrom Publishers Weekly:
What takes place after he is hospitalized is either that a gorgeous angel persuades him to search for a cure that will also save the world, or that he has a vivid hallucination brought on by the disease. Either way, what readers have is an absurdist comedy in which Cameron, Gonzo (a neurotic dwarf) and Balder (a Norse god cursed to appear as a yard gnome) go on a quixotic road trip during which they learn about string theory, wormholes and true love en route to Disney World. Bray's surreal humor may surprise fans of her historical fantasies about Gemma Doyle, as she trains her satirical eye on modern education, American materialism and religious cults (the smoothie-drinking members of the Church of Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack 'N' Bowl). Offer this to fans of Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy seeking more inspired lunacy.From Library Journal:
When fate deals you a one-in-five-billion blow, do you go out living or dying? You are advised to keep a Cliff's Notes edition of Don Quixote handy as you read-though instead of windmills, Cameron tilts at Disney's Tomorrowland. Bray has not written a teen problem novel about mad cow disease. She swims in deeper water, defending the importance of friendship, family, and life purpose in the face of mediocrity.-Angelina Benedetti, King Cty. Lib. Syst., WAFrom School Library Journal:
Filled with slang, four letter words, humor, pathos, satire, absurdities, sex, drugs, rock 'n roll, and the fight between good and evil, this is not a journey for the faint of heart.-Roxanne Spencer, Educational Resources Center, Western Kentucky University Libraries, Bowling GreenFrom The Horn Book:
Bray gleefully tosses a hallucinogenic mix of elements into the adventure -- snow globes, fire demons, a talking yard gnome, a demon-fighting New Orleans jazz musician, and more -- but their origins can all be found in Cameron's mundane pre-diagnosis life. So is his trip "just a ride," as his Mom once told him about "It's a Small World"? Readers will have a great time trying to sort everything out and answer the question at the heart of it all: even if Cameron's experiences are all a dream, are they any less real?From Booklist:
Talking yard gnomes, quantum physics, cults of happiness, mythology, religion, time travel, the blues, Disney World, the vacuous machine behind reality TV shows, and spring break's beer-and-bikini culture all figure prominently in the plot, and readers may not feel equally engaged in each of the novel's lengthy episodes. But Bray's wildly imagined novel, narrated in Cameron's sardonic, believable voice, is wholly unique, ambitious, tender, thought-provoking, and often fall-off-the-chair funny, even as she writes with powerful lyricism about the nature of existence, love, and death. Familiarity with Don Quixote certainly isn't necessary, but those who know the basic plot will want to start over from the beginning and pick up on each sly allusion to the classic story.
No comments:
Post a Comment