I admit that I haven't quite finished the book yet. But this is my take so far.
So this kid, Cameron, is kinda a stoner and a loser even though his perfect sister is, well, perfect. Things get worse when after an outburst at school poor Cameron is diagnosed with bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Yep, poor Cameron is going bovine with Mad Cow Disease. Basically, his brain is getting spongy--you can imagine the outcome, but you don't have to because Libba tells us all about it.
After possibly hallucinating an "angel" Cameron goes on a road trip with the hypochondriac little person (dwarf? I am not sure what is the PC description) named Gonzo who shares his hospital room and who Cameron saw a couple times at school.
They traipse all around the country looking for Mr. X. And I have to say, thus far I am concerned about Cameron and Gonzo's safety. Apart from Gonzo who is in the hospital all the time because he and his mother always imagine illnesses, people are generally in the hospital for a reason. I mean Cameron's brain is turning to mush and he is riding buses from Texas to New Orleans to Flordia. It just doesn't seem like a safe environment or one condusive to regaining health.
Okay. Aside from that the book is really funny. Cameran talks like a normal teenager--actually, like a really funny teenager. You hear his inner monologue and it is just funny. I feel like I know people who think and act like him. He thinks his parents are annoying (when really, to this reader they seem normal and concerned). He cusses. He hates his job, ironically flipping burgers. He has a crush on a cute girl at school. Normal kid.
*UPDATE*
I have finished the book...I hate to say it but I didn't like it. I felt like it needed a good editing to reduce the novel by AT LEAST 100 pages.
Did anyone feel differently?
