Going Bovine

Took a while to get into, but ended up being a really interesting read that makes you think about your own life. The ending has a twist you begin to suspect, but nevertheless it is a good end. Lots of good quotes, and symbolism (feather).

Cameron is diagnosed with Mad Cow disease, and is instructed by an angel, Dulcie, to set out on a road trip to find Dr. X, who will cure him and save the world. He takes along Gonzo, a agoraphobic dwarf, and along the way they pick up a talking garden gnome, Balder. They have many interesting encounters, and Cameron learns to live before his life ends. ( )

Cameron's main goal in life is to coast through high school and life. Then Cameron is diagnosed with mad cow disease and so begins the YA novel Going Bovine. While in the hospital Cameron meets Dulcie, a cute winged punk angel, who presents him with a quest to save the world and his own life . With nothing to lose, Cameron heads out on the ultimate of road trips. He is joined on his adventure by Gonzo, a hypochondriac little person, and Balder, a Norse god trapped in the form of a yard gnome. Along the way issues of time travel, life and death, love, sex, commercialism, happiness and existence versus living are brought front and center in a satirical, sometimes touching, sometimes hilarious, and often absurd way. Is this novel a book of Cameron’s hallucination or a journey into a parallel universe doesn’t really matter in the end. I loved this quirky little book—I kept thinking about it days after I finished the last page. A 5 out of 5 stars. ( )

5Q5P. I loved this book. Going Bovine is the story of Cameron, a perpetually stoned 16 year old who's relationship with his parents and twin sister, Jenna, is rocky, until he's diagnosed with Mad Cow disease. After he's hospitalized, he's visited by an angel, Dulcie, who sends him on a Quixotic mission to save the world and maybe himself. He sets off his Gonzo, his Mexican American, dwarf friend. Together they battle fire giants, save the ancient Norse god and current garden gnome, Balder, from certain doom at the hands of vapid t.v. personalities and bring down a happiness cult. Or maybe none of that happens.
Cameron is reading Don Quixote for school, and there are plenty of Quixotic parallels throughout. It's a sharp satire, but the story is touching and Cameron is fleshed out and relatable. I agree with one reviewer from SLJ who said that teens might tune out before the end, because it's a pretty long book, and the ending is a little disappointing. But I also think that a lot of teens will love the humor and outrageous plot. It's a pretty complex and layered story. I think that even reluctant readers can find something that they can cling to that will see them through to the end.

This is one of those books that people either seem to love, or not like at all. And I have to say that, after reading it, I can see why. It's a strange story. Not only is the plot kind of wacky, but the underlying themes are not always happy ones. If you don't like to be confused and forced to face your own mortality, this book is probably not for you.

BUT. If you can roll with some crazy, and if you don't mind a thread of serious mixed in, this book is truly worth the ride. Real or not (and when you read the book you'll know what I mean by that), it's hard not to love these characters and their tilting-at-windmills adventure. I'm glad Project TBR forced me to finally give it some attention. ( )

Cameron is a disfranchised youth, disconnected, and disjointed from the world that could be wonderful, if he could take the chance and go there. In the end, through the slow and spiraling destruction of his processing he learns a lifetime of lessons in a short lifetime that hopefully we each will learn in a full, long, lifetime. In the spirit of a Don Quiotesque quest, Cameron learns life's lessons. Lessons about love, meaning, relationships, and value. I really enjoyed Cameron's character as an honest person. I found that he was irritating at first, and as he matured, I admired him in the end. ( )