Going Bovine by Libba Bray(Random House, Hardcover, September 2009)
Rating:
Cameron's main goal in life is to coast through high school. His younger sister is the over-achiever in the family, so Cameron has given up on trying. He has a hard time connecting with his parents, his classmates, and even music, save for one awful sounding band called the Great Tremelo. Then Cameron is diagnosed with mad cow disease and his life really begins. Dulcie, a cute winged punk angel, comes to him and presents him with a quest to save the world. With nothing to lose, Cameron heads out on the ultimate of road trips.
Going Bovine is a weird mix of string theory, classic literary references, and teenage sarcasm that actually works—in fact, it works quite well. Cameron's voice is smart, disillusioned, and priceless; take his thoughts on high school English class, for example:
"These works—groundbreaking, incendiary, timeless—have been pureed by the curriculum monsters into a digestible pabulum of themes and factoids we can spew back on a test." (p.6)The dilemma that Bray presents is irresistible: the underachieving, yet extremely smart high school boy thinks that he has all the time in the world to experience life, but he doesn't. Cameron's road trip buddies, a hypochondriac dwarf named Gonzo and a Norse God turned yard gnome named Balder, offer tons of fodder for existential musings and crude teenage boy humor. Libba Bray has definitely established herself as a leading voice in contemporary literature. Though this book is nothing like her Gemma Doyle trilogy, I devoured it with the same interest and intensity. And if any booksellers or librarians are reading this review, you are selling this book short if you let the teen label on the back define your audience for it.
You can read this novel in two ways, either Cameron is lying in a hospital bed, hallucinating as the disease eats away at his brain, or Cameron really is battling the forces of good and evil while seriously crushing on a candy-addicted punk angel. Either way you see it, Going Bovine will have you laughing out loud, folding down pages that have some of the best quotes you've read in years, and vowing that, starting today, you will live your live to the fullest. As the old lady in the hospital tells Cameron,
"I don't think you should die before you're ready. Until you've wrung out every last bit of living you can." (p.97)
Posts
That sounds amazing. I can't wait to read it.
ReplyDeleteSo the protagonist is a boy, right? I don't think I've ever heard of a female author writing from a male's pint of view. Sounds . . . different.
ReplyDeleteGreat review!
Sounds interesting!! It's sounds like a interesting idea for a novel. I'll have to check this out especially since Libba Bray is a good author and I enjoyed her first book in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteMega excited for this too!
ReplyDeleteI'm so stoked for this one, but it's sad it won't be out until September. Seems so long away. Great review though and I LOVE the last quote you mentioned. So so true.
ReplyDelete-Lauren
Very well written review.
ReplyDeleteI am very excited for the release of this book.
Awesome review! I have an ARC of this on my shelves. It sounds very odd, so I'm totally looking forward to it! LOL. (:
ReplyDeleteWow, you made me want to read this. Now. =]
ReplyDeleteGreat review!
Okay, so I am really jealous! lol I am impatiently waiting for this book! Glad you enjoyed it, though!
ReplyDeleteI love, love, love Libba Bray, so I'm glad to see you liked this one! Can't wait for it to come out.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds extreme. I so love the idea of the author.
ReplyDeleteI have been waiting for this one! I can't wait to read it. Terrific review.
ReplyDeleteGreat review!! A book with a strong boy character...can't wait to read it!!
ReplyDeleteWoah, how'd you get to read this so early? I've been hearing about it forEVER... sound great. Ooh, and cool quote from it down at the bottom! But, oh, September is so very fare away...
ReplyDeleteSounds terrific! Can't wait till September!
ReplyDeleteGave you an award on my blog! :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fabulous fun, book. Now to wait for September...
ReplyDeleteIt sounds so weird! But really interesting! I'm going to pick this up for sure.
ReplyDeleteHow did you rad this so early? Did you get an ARC? If so, from where?
ReplyDeleteI did get an ARC. Cool, huh? :)
ReplyDeleteThanks and your welcomes! You totally deserve it! :) Happy blogging!
ReplyDeleteLibba Bray is fantastic- this book sounds hilarious and accurate, as far as teenage sarcasm goes. xx
ReplyDeletethe cover makes me laugh every time and sounds like there's lots of funny stuff inside as well. the travel buddies sound crazy fun. i gotta read this.
ReplyDeleteI loved your blog! I myself am writing a review on Going Bovine. I loved this book, cover to cover, and your review was amazing! =]
ReplyDeleteThis book is awesome. I'm 2/3 through it now, and it's just so funny/sad/epic.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant review too. :D
It was an awesome review and I just finished "Going Bovine", excellent novel. I mean it lets you get an inside depth into his head. Cameron's voice is indeed amazing. I love Dulcie, Gonzo, and Balter all together. The whole fact it was centered around Disneyworld. The first page caught my attention. Libba's writing is too good for words. I had a feeling Gonzo was gay because he wasn't remotely interested in those German girls he encountered at the New Orleans cemetary when he and Cameron were searching for the message Junior Webster instructed them to find. I was thoroughly shocked upon discovering the Wizard of Reckoning was Cameron himself in the future all along. This book is on my list of fav's right now. :]
ReplyDeletei read this book and i have to admit the ending left me extremly sad (i wont say why because i would hate to spoil it). But on the other hand this book made me happy, angry, relieved, and sad all at the same time. i highly suggest it.
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ReplyDeleteYou're right it is totally a great book. I finsihed it like two weeks ago, picked up and finished another book but still keep coming back to Going Bovine. I love the way it's all connected and both the explicit and implicit literary references. They are so many but her work is still totally original! I loved Libba Bray the first time I read her and I love her even more now. She creates such great and memorable characters. I have been forcing my sisters to read this just so I could talk about it.
ReplyDeleteI also love the way she titles the chapters. Funny, descriptive but spoiling nothing.