The Quixote Cult — Genaro Gonzalez

Like a Carlos Santana riff on a Miguel de Cervantes theme, The Quijote Cult is a lyrical, satirical look at a group of Vietnam-era Chicano college students - and would-be radical activists - who gulp down amphetamines as eagerly as they devour the writings of Che Guevara and Jack Kerouac. The embattled hero, known simply as De la O, must deal with adversaries such as hostile family members ("Think your scholarship money will cover getting a haircut?"), budding feminists ("What's wrong with being a big mama?"), baffled professors ("You know what octopus is?"), and, of course, drunken dentists ("Such a messy and unheroic way to die"). In search of political, spiritual, and chemical fulfillment, De la 0 and his freewheeling friends Lizard, Nacho, Coco, and Gabi zoom madly across the continent - south to Mexico City, north to Michigan, and west to California. At last, though, he begins to wonder, Who's zoomin' who?