Going Bovine

usually, when i read a book and write a review, i try my best to impart some semblance of what it was like for me to experience the book. but, this is one book that i haven't got a clue how to do that. it was such a wild, hysterical and confusing ride (and fairly long, too) that i couldn't possibly do it any service in my blabbing. it's just not one of those reading experiences that you can write some formulaic blurb about the plot, writing style, characters, etc. and then wrap up in a bow to look all pretty. and that's a good thing. i think it just needs to be read. so, yeah. i know that doesn't help at all, so i'll try to write about it, but please be warned that any one review can't possibly encapsulate this reading experience."The best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World."Going Bovine opens with one of the most hilarious scenes that i have ever read and really hooked me in as a reader. having grown up in Florida, i spent an unreasonable amount of my childhood at Disney World and reveled in the nostalgia of the opening scenery (and the later scenes throughout the Florida landscape).the book follows our narrator Cameron, who is at the high end of the loser spectrum, destined to work the fast food drive through (or something equally loser-ish) for the rest of his life. but, when he is diagnosed with mad cow disease and is hospitalized, his "barometer on reality" tips back and forth and we lose track of reality along with Cameron. he finds himself on a quest against time to find the mysterious Dr. X, who can both provide a cure and save the world from conspiring evil forces.the characters were well developed and plentiful, from a jazz legend to a talking garden gnome and everything in between. my absolute favorite was Dulcie, the punk rock guardian angel, though Gonzo, the hypochondriac dwarf, came in as a close second, as a pretty admirable sidekick type. even the characters who made cameo appearances were pretty memorable and i was definitely impressed with the range of characterization present in a single book.Bray's writing is sharp and witty and moves at a fairly quick pace, which i found to be very refreshing. there is a lot of punchy cynicism regarding consumers and religious fanatics and more, which really allows the book to be interpreted from multiple angles. there is a lot of depth if you prefer, but it's just as easily a nice and fluffy, funny read if that's what you prefer. but, the dialogue is where this book shined the most for me. if you like biting, wildly untraditional humor that isn't compelled to make any sense at all, you'll love this."Whoa," I say. Or at least, I think that's what I say. I'm stoned. For all I know I could have said, "Board the cows! We've come to enslave your marigolds." This makes me laugh, chuckling all to myself in the back.just be warned, as a Young Adult book, this is full of the things that teens are drawn towards - sex, drugs and rock and roll. if that offends or upsets you, i wouldn't even bother with this book.my only qualm was that i would occasionally lose interest and would need to put the book down for a rest. the rambling nature of the storyline, with Cameron's cross country quest to find Dr. X, along with the length of the book, made for some segmented reading. it kind of reminded me of when i watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. it was just so out there, as is Going Bovine, and i had to get back to reality a bit before i could plunge back into the story. and to be fair, it did all come together for a pretty interesting and meaningful conclusion.and this is a complete and total aside, but i had to include this #pantyworthy quote because it made me snort when i read it:"Gonzo slaps his leg, chortling. "He's tearing that uke up! Go, badass girly-singing man!""I bet the women throw their underwear," I crack."I want to throw my underwear! Pull over so I can take it off!""yep, like i said, the book is hilarious. go read it.

Having been an obsessed fan of the Gemma Doyle Trilogy (one of the most inventive and beautiful stories ever written, but that's just my opinion.) I knew I had to buy Bovine. Actually, I knew about this book a year or so before it came out. (YouTube is a wonderful thing, and Libba Bray and Maureen Johnson make very funny videos.) That being said, I had high hopes for this fourth book of Ms Bray's.Going Bovine is a really kooky concept. Cameron Smith, the main character and story narrator, is dying of the human form of Mad Cow Disease. But in order to stop his death and find an ultimate cure for his sickness, he must go on a cross-country journey and save the universe from "The Wizard of Reckoning" and his "Fire Giants".It sounds extremely odd and bizarre and it is. But it's also so much more. The novel is laced with hallucinations and lucidity all at once. What is happening to Cameron could be a fantasy or it could be real, we aren't to know. I'd like to think it's all a dream, but I feel it's much darker than that. The boy is dying and that's the sad part.Cameron is such a vivid character. Libba Bray has the voice and mind of a teenaged boy down to a T. He's perfectly constructed, his thought process and his feelings are written flawlessly. He's also an outsider when the novel first begins. Cameron is pretty much friendless, he has a twin sister who's popular and basically ignores him. His parents are on the verge of a divorce (Dad's cheating on Mom with a younger woman.). The home front isn't a nice place and neither is school. He spends his time getting high and thinking about boning the mean, popular girl, Staci Johnson, whom he hates but his body betrays him on her hotness. In his sixteen years, Cameron hasn't accomplished much, nor has he made any worth-while teen memories.Enter Mad Cow Disease. There is no cure and quickly our Cameron is going insane, his brain becoming Swiss Cheese as every second passes. And then we the readers, meet the angel Dulcie. She's a punk-rocker with hot pink hair and fluffy wings (which she spray paints different patterns and designs, pretty rad if you ask me.) She tells Cameron that he must go on a road trip with a friend and find a man by the name of Dr. X and help him save the world from destruction. If he can accomplish this, Dr. X will cure Cameron and everything will be wonderful. However, this is no easy adventure, it's extremely hard and Cameron is stuck with Gonzo, a boy from school who's a hypochondriac. And insanely funny.Each chapter is vividly painted with a new thrilling experience in Cameron-Land. In going on this expedition, Cameron Smith creates a lifetime of memories in his own insanity.The book reminds me of a lot of different things combined into one gigantic anthology of awesomeness. A little bit of Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, The Wizard of Oz, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher and the Rye (Cameron has a Holden Caulfield approach.). In fact Bovine has a big similarity to Catcher, both have two different variations of reality. While one thing is happening to Cameron, something totally different is happening in the real world surrounding Cameron. Very much like Holden's world.It's a great book. Libba Bray has written another modern-day classic. Thank you.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a bizarre story, that could have been very very depressing. However the writer has made this young mans journey of death, funny and exciting, full of meaning and messages to us all and yes, sad.It is a strange book that focuses mostly around hallucinations and random encounters, which can make you double check what you've read to get your head around it. However I enjoyed that, as it wasn't like anything I had read in a long time.The characters are realistic and so some are really likeable, while others are annoying or unlikable. However I still wanted to know how these peoples stories turned out either way.If you feel like going on a mind altering journey, this is the book for you.

I don't often read any books but after I had this one reccomended to me I couldn't resist. It was a fantastic story that has you wishing for the main character to achieve happiness.

Very enjoyable.

Half way through, great read.

Yet to rate this as it's an Xmas present.Will do this when it it read by my daughterThanks