Overall Rating: 5Going Bovine is heartbreaking and hilarious...
Characters: 4.7
Plot: 4.8
Cover Art: 4.5
Favorite Line:
So, I couldn't choose so I have three favorites narrowed down. *There is a lot of language in the lines below and the book, so if you're not comfortable with that this isn't for you. Sorry!
"There are several Dr. Assholes who come in here every day to scribble on my chart and poke me with sharp objects so they can collect points for their Sadism Scout Badges, but so far, no Dr. X."-Cameron Smith to Dulcie
"We human beings can't evolve without pain."-Library Girl to Cameron
"I think about dying every day, because I can't stop thinking about the living."-Cameron
Synopsis:
Can Cameron find what he’s looking for? All 16-year-old Cameron wants is to get through high school—and life in general—with a minimum of effort. It’s not a lot to ask. But that’s before he’s given some bad news: he’s sick and he’s going to die. Which totally sucks. Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there is a cure—if he’s willing to go in search of it. With the help of a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf and a yard gnome, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America into the heart of what matters most.
When the story opens we meet Cameron Smith, just another teenage pothead trying to go through life unnoticed. This is working out just fine until he starts to see and feel things that aren't actually there. He chalks this delusional behavior up to his brain tripping out on the drugs he keeps almost constantly in his system, until it is later confirmed to be Creutzfeldt-Jakob (or Mad Cow) disease, a terminal illness where you basically hallucinate and progressively lose control over your body's functions until you inevitably die. Sounds fun, right? Obviously, Cameron isn't thrilled with this news. He is taken to the hospital where he mourns the things that he never got to accomplish in his life while he waits for death to take him. Then, hope comes in the form of a punk-rock angel named Dulcie. She sets Cameron off on an epic adventure with the dwarf in the hospital bed next to him, who also happens to be a hypochondriac, to find the cure to save Cameron and also save the world. Going Bovine is one of those stories that makes you reassess all of your views on life, death, and whatever's after that. Compare the feel of this story to The Lovely Bones with a boatload of witty humor and laughs. The great thing about this book is that Libba Bray uses a hilarious storyline to deliver a heartfelt message, live while you can. The journey that the guys go on is much more than one of self-discovery, it's about finding who and what makes you want to discover things about yourself. Cameron, Dulcie, Gonzo, Balder, and the rest of the characters are all prime examples of what self-sacrifice and courage truly are. Going Bovine is a fantastic book that anyone who reads it will never forget.
*SEMI-SPOILER ALERT!
I cried like a little girl who just got her puppy stolen at the end of this book. I had read a review previously and while it didn't give anything away it sparked an idea in my head that turned out to actually be the ending of the book. Once again, I'm usually very good at guessing. Those last few pages broke my heart and until I sat down and really thought about the wonderful message Ms. Bray was conveying, I'll admit it I wanted to throw the damn book into oncoming traffic. Again, this happened BEFORE I accepted it as the awesomesauce that is Going Bovine.
Libba Bray's websites:
Official
Blog
