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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up–Terry Trueman's novel (HarperTempest, 2004) is the companion to his debut work, Stuck in Neutral (July 2002, p. 66). In Cruise Control, the story of the McDaniel family's experience with a severely disabled son is told from the viewpoint of his brother Paul, a high school senior, straight A student, and all around athlete. Andy Paris provides the first person narration in a voice that sounds genuinely adolescent, wavering between bravado and self doubt, as Paul struggles with his long-time disrespect for his father, his love and shame for Shawn, and his violent tendencies on and off the basketball court. Shawn's story, in the first novel, presented the moral uncertainty of whether Mr. McDaniel was secretly plotting Shawn's mercy killing. In this one, Paul exposes his own viewpoint concerning his lot in life as Shawn's protector. Paris does a pitch-perfect rendering of Paul when drunk, spits out the jock's scatological patter, and takes pauses that both reflect Paul's changing perceptions of himself and his family and allow listeners to digest the emotional weight of this unflinchingly realistic look into the lives of those who live with and care for an individual who exhibits no sentient signs. All the characters–from Shawn and Paul, to their mother and sister, basketball players, and a swaggering young man Paul beats up–are carefully developed in this well-orchestrated plot that will appeal to both those who wonder about the fairness of life and those usually too busy with games or ego to reflect on the effects of their own temperamental actions.–Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Gr. 7-10. In this companion to Stuck in Neutral (2000), Trueman revisits the story of Shawn, the developmentally disabled teen whose point of view made that first novel so memorable. This time the narrator is Shawn's older brother, Paul, a gifted athlete. The irony of the family situation is not lost on Paul ("what a sadistic madman God must be to have thrown Shawn and me into the same family"). While Paul loves his brother, he hates their father, who, unable to cope, has abandoned the family. But Paul, like Shawn, is a victim of circumstance, and Trueman does a passionately convincing job portraying a boy who feels trapped and suffocated by responsibilities he never asked to shoulder. As he puts it, his life is "like a car roaring down the freeway in cruise control . . and I can't even slow down." Only at the end does the story stray briefly into wish-fulfillment territory, but by that time, readers will be so invested in Paul's survival that few will quibble. Michael Cart
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Grade 7 Up–Terry Trueman's novel (HarperTempest, 2004) is the companion to his debut work, Stuck in Neutral (July 2002, p. 66). In Cruise Control, the story of the McDaniel family's experience with a severely disabled son is told from the viewpoint of his brother Paul, a high school senior, straight A student, and all around athlete. Andy Paris provides the first person narration in a voice that sounds genuinely adolescent, wavering between bravado and self doubt, as Paul struggles with his long-time disrespect for his father, his love and shame for Shawn, and his violent tendencies on and off the basketball court. Shawn's story, in the first novel, presented the moral uncertainty of whether Mr. McDaniel was secretly plotting Shawn's mercy killing. In this one, Paul exposes his own viewpoint concerning his lot in life as Shawn's protector. Paris does a pitch-perfect rendering of Paul when drunk, spits out the jock's scatological patter, and takes pauses that both reflect Paul's changing perceptions of himself and his family and allow listeners to digest the emotional weight of this unflinchingly realistic look into the lives of those who live with and care for an individual who exhibits no sentient signs. All the characters–from Shawn and Paul, to their mother and sister, basketball players, and a swaggering young man Paul beats up–are carefully developed in this well-orchestrated plot that will appeal to both those who wonder about the fairness of life and those usually too busy with games or ego to reflect on the effects of their own temperamental actions.–Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Gr. 7-10. In this companion to Stuck in Neutral (2000), Trueman revisits the story of Shawn, the developmentally disabled teen whose point of view made that first novel so memorable. This time the narrator is Shawn's older brother, Paul, a gifted athlete. The irony of the family situation is not lost on Paul ("what a sadistic madman God must be to have thrown Shawn and me into the same family"). While Paul loves his brother, he hates their father, who, unable to cope, has abandoned the family. But Paul, like Shawn, is a victim of circumstance, and Trueman does a passionately convincing job portraying a boy who feels trapped and suffocated by responsibilities he never asked to shoulder. As he puts it, his life is "like a car roaring down the freeway in cruise control . . and I can't even slow down." Only at the end does the story stray briefly into wish-fulfillment territory, but by that time, readers will be so invested in Paul's survival that few will quibble. Michael Cart
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.