Going Bovine

Starred review from August 3, 2009
Cameron Smith, 16, is slumming through high school, overshadowed by a sister “pre-majoring in perfection,” while working (ineptly) at the Buddha Burger. Then something happens to make him the focus of his family's attention: he contracts mad cow disease. 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. Ages 14–up.

September 1, 2009
Gr 8 Up-In this ambitious novel, Cameron, a 16-year-old slacker whose somewhat dysfunctional family has just about given up on him, as perhaps he himself has, when his diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jacob, "mad cow" disease, reunites them, if too late. The heart of the story, though, is a hallucinatoryor is it?quest with many parallels to the hopeless but inspirational efforts of Don Quixote, about whom Cameron had been reading before his illness. Just like the crazyor was he?Spaniard, Cam is motivated to go on a journey by a sort of Dulcinea. His pink-haired, white-winged version goes by Dulcie and leads him to take up arms against the Dark Wizard and fire giants that attack him intermittently, and to find a missing Dr. X, who can both help save the world and cure him. Cameron's Sancho is a Mexican-American dwarf, game-master hypochondriac he met in the pot smokers' bathroom at school who later turns up as his hospital roommate. Bray blends in a hearty dose of satire on the road trip as Cameron leaves his Texas deathbedor does he?to battle evil forces with a legendary jazz horn player, to escape the evil clutches of a happiness cult, to experiment with cloistered scientists trying to solve the mysteries of the universe, and to save a yard gnome embodying a Viking god from the clutches of the materialistic, fame-obsessed MTV-culture clones who shun individual thought. It's a trip worth taking, though meandering and message-driven at times. Some teens may check out before Cameron makes it to his final destination, but many will enjoy asking themselves the questions both deep and shallow that pop up along the way."Suzanne Gordon, Peachtree Ridge High School, Suwanee, GA"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 25, 2009
It sucks to be Cameron. He has no idea why he sees things that no one else sees or why, at the most inappropriate times, his hands shake uncontrollably. Then the results of his MRI come back. Cameron has a rare case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob (mad cow) disease. Sent on a quest by the angel Dulcie, he and his dwarf roommate break out of the hospital to save the world from dark energy and Dr. X. Why It Is for Us: 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., WA

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2009
Grades 8-12 *Starred Review* In a giant departure from her Gemma Doyle historical fiction trilogy, Brays latest offering is an unforgettable, nearly indefinable fantasy adventure, as immense and sprawling as Cervantes Don Quixote, on which its based. Here the hero is Cameron, a 16-year-old C-plus-average slacker who likens himself to driftwood, but he suddenly becomes the center of attention after he is diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human variant of mad cow disease. In the hospital, he meets Dulcie, an alluring angel clad in fishnet stockings and combat boots, who presents him with a heroic quest to rescue the planet from an otherworldly, evil force. Guided by random signs and accompanied by a teen dwarf named Gonzo, Cameron sets off on a wild road trip across the U.S. to save the world, and perhaps his own life. 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 breaks beer-and-bikini culture all figure prominently in the plot, and readers may not feel equally engaged in each of the novels lengthy episodes. But Brays wildly imagined novel, narrated in Camerons 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 isnt 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)