Doing my best to try and catch up on reviews. I had actually read this book several years ago but did a re-read this year in audiobook form. I was surprised that I had never actually reviewed the book here in the first place.
About the Book
Title: Going Bovine
Author: Libba Bray
Series: none
Genre: YA Fantasy, Humor
Pages: 480
Edition Read: Paperback, Audiobook (re-read)
Dates Read: February 14-19, 2015; February 12-23, 2024
Blurb: 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 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.
Review
I’m going to start this review off by saying that this book is DEFINITELY not for everyone. It’s by far one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read, and that’s saying something.
One of the things that can be off putting is the main character. Cam is an asshole. No, really. That’s pretty much his entire personality, but he also has a few things that make him this way. His relationship with his parents isn’t great. He’s always compared to his practically perfect twin sister. He doesn’t really have any friends. He has no real plans after high school. And he almost died when he was five years old at the Small World ride in Disney World.
His life upends when he is diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, or Mad Cow disease (hence the title of the book, which I found hilarious). This disease is fatal and basically destroys the brain and can also cause major hallucinations. It isn’t really a spoiler that most of the story takes place in Cam’s spongifying brain, since it’s fairly obvious the entire time, but what a story it is. I always loved road trip stories anyway and this one is like a road trip on LSD. A garden gnome which might contain the spirit of the Norse god Baldur. The aforementioned punk rock angel, Dulcie. Gonzo, the aforementioned video game obsessed dwarf who is also an incredible hypochondriac. An international government conspiracy that uses snow globes for world domination. A strange feel good cult that lives in an old bowling alley. A jazz musician from New Orleans. An alternative musician from Finland. Physics. String theory. Schrödinger’s cat.
If you’re already tired, you’re not alone. A lot of the book feels like throwing random things around like throwing spaghetti at a wall to see if it sticks. It is absolute pure chaos in places . . . but for me, it still works. Completely. You never know what will happen next or what crazy character they will meet, which makes trying to make predictions about the book utterly impossible. As I said, chaos – but the best kind.
Despite all of this, it is a bit bittersweet, since you know right off the bat that Cam is dying and these hallucinations are a way he is coming to terms with all of that. And he does. In his own way, he makes peace with his family and finds meaning in the small and bizarre things in life. Something we should all try to do, although maybe without all the insanity. Oh, what am I saying. Bring on the insanity too! It makes life more fun.
Goodreads rating: 5 stars
Categories: Books I've Read
Life With No Plot 
Leave a comment