Going Bovine

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 show more 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. show less

Going Bovine is one of those books that you can't quite stop thinking about after you finish it. You need a recovery period before you start something new, and you have to work to wrap your head around it but in a good way. I, obviously, really liked this book. I think the Printz committee did a great job (again) picking a winner.

Going Bovine is really funny, and really poignant and sad at the same time. The book is basically about a teenage boy who is dying from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (a human variant of Mad Cow). The book is a quest narrative in which Cameron goes on a fantastic (in the magical sense) journey to either save the world and his own life. As is typical in quest stories, what's actually found isn't what's originally show more sought. I don't want to say too much just because while on one hand the reader (and the main character) know what's going on the whole time, on the other you really kind of need to go along for the ride in order to accept it. I think that's what's really impressive about this book. There's not actually a twist ending (you're given plenty of hints), but Libba Bray still makes pulls you along with Cameron so effectively that you find yourself questioning and doubting what you pretty much know.

I also think this is a book that I could read over (maybe more than once) because it's complex enough that I would definitely pick up on things I missed before that would make it even better. Bonus points for that! show less

I'm still not quite sure how to react to this book...except to say that it shook something deep inside me, as the best books do.

Cameron Smith is slouching through life. He just wants everything any normal, nerdy, under-the-radar high school guy wants. But then he starts having weird visions...and learns that his brain is slowly deteriorating from mad-cow disease. He thinks that's the end...until a pink-haired punk angel shows up in the hospital urging him to find a long-lost quantum physicist to cure him and save the world in the bargain. Cameron thinks, "What the hell?" and accepts.

And so he's off on a road trip of bizarre proportions, with a germaphobic/hypochondriac dwarf and later a yard gnome who is possibly a Norse god. He will show more encounter fire giants, scientists that believe in parallel worlds, a happiness cult, a wild Florida teen party, Disney World, a world-traveling Inuit band, a mythical jazz musician, evil snow globe dealers, and so much else. Cameron's voice is spot-on flawless, the chapter title headings are brilliant, the humor is smart, crude, emotional, and altogether perfect.

In a way, it's a book of purest insanity. It is, as one critic commented, a modern, darkly brilliant "Phantom Tollbooth" meets "Catcher in the Rye." Everything stands for something else. Nothing is as it seems. People and places and events all revolve into a gloriously perfect puzzle of life, mind, reality, and the unknown. What is really happening? What is the purpose of Cameron's journey? What is there to live for? What is life anyway? It's a book that's unafraid to ask you the deepest, most brain-melting questions, and then provide possible answers that are the most beautifully perfect kind of madness. This is a book where fate is random and chaos creates meaning, where nothing is what it seems and yet everything falls together in a way that makes sense because it doesn't make sense. It's very, very hard to describe. All I know is that it may have been the most philosophical, metaphysical, crazy novel I've ever read. show less

Going Bovine
By Libba Bray
After reading The Diviners, I wanted more from this author and this was available from the library in audio. I am so glad I found it! What a gem of a book! It has wit, action, a cross country adventure with a skinny terminal ill boy, a teenage death obsessed dwarf, and a talking garden gnome. I shouldn't leave out the punk rock looking winged messenger that helps Cameron on his journey to find Dr X.
See, Cameron has Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, which is like Mad Cow only the human version. As an ICU nurse I have only seen one case in all my years in nursing. The doctors at the time told us this is rare and most doctors and nurses will never deal with a case like this.
Well, Cam's punk rock angel came to his hospital show more and convinced him to go on an adventure to save himself and the world. The whole book is clever, touching, humorous, magical, and sad, yet hopeful.
This is definitely one of my favorite books. show less

Just before dying Alonso Quixano recovers his reason and addresses his family and friends from his deathbed, “I was mad, and now I am sane; I was Don Quixote of La Mancha, and now I am, as I have said, Alonso Quixano the Good. May my repentance and sincerity return me to the esteem your graces once had for me...” Alonso was fifty years old when too much reading—day and night he consumed books of chivalry—and too little sleep deprived him of his reason and he decided to become a knight errant.

Cameron Smith is only sixteen when his study of Don Quixote for the state mandated SPEW (State Prescribed Educational Worthiness) test—Did I mention that Cameron goes to high school in Texas?—is rudely interrupted. His muscles begin to show more twitch uncontrollably; he collapses in class, after punching a classmate and insulting the teacher. He is diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. In animals it’s known as mad cow disease. His brain is deteriorating and he will lose control of his muscles and be subject to dementia and delusions. A gang of eight-foot high fire giants have already chased him, and when he tries to flee he finds the way blocked by, a “Big Dude. Black armor glistening like oil. Spiked Helmet, steel visor. Sword. The light bounces off the sword in arcs and hurts my eyes. Sword.”

But all is not frightening or hopeless. In the hospital he is attended by a nurse named Glory, and awakes to meet one of his classmates in the bed next to his, “Paul Ingacio Gonzales, but everyone calls me Gonzo.” Gonzo is a champion gamer and a bit of a hypochondriac, but he shares Cameron’s love of science fiction movies. Cameron also meets someone that he’s glimpsed briefly before. He wakes up to find her standing at the end of his bed. As he describes her, “I take in the torn fishnets, plaid mini-kilt, shiny riveted breastplate with leather straps at the sides… Her wings are a crazy black-and-white-checkered pattern, like they’ve been spray-painted at a body shop to look like hipster sneakers.” Did I mention that her hair is pink?

He blinks his eyes to make the hallucination go away, but she doesn’t. Then she introduces herself as Dulcie, eats the chocolate pudding from his hospital tray, and tries to enlist him in a mission to save the world and maybe himself by tracking down Dr. X, whose travel between dimensions has opened this universe up to forces of dark energy, including the ones now consuming Cameron’s brain. He tells her this is the most random thing he’s ever heard. She tells him that he has to take Gonzo with him because their fates are connected. He counters, “There’s no such thing as fate.” To which she replies, “Except for random fate.” And he figures, it’s better than just sitting in the hospital bed and waiting.

Alonso Quixano’s quest ends with his death. Will Cameron’s quest take him beyond? Did I mention the yard gnome that’s really a Norse god? show less

Cameron Smith is an ordinary misfit teenager until he starts seeing weird, fiery visions, which he's told are symptoms of the inevitably fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob (aka mad cow) disease. He is confined the hospital as the disease progresses, but from there he finds himself embarking on a strange, hallucinatory road trip/quest featuring powerful music, quantum mechanics, bad teen television, snow globes and Disney World. He's accompanied by a hypochondriac dwarf, a lawn gnome who is also a Norse God, and, occasionally, a pink-haired angel.

It's a rather strange book, but an entertaining one: breezily written, clever, and more layered than it first appears to be. While Cameron's journey may be surreal and purportedly random, it's got its own show more dreamlike logic that works surprisingly well, and if things sometimes get a little wacky, they never actually feel silly, if that distinction makes any sense. I'm left feeling a bit bemused by it in the end, but in a good way. show less

Going Bovine, a rare slipstream fantasy, is quite a trip. Cameron Smith hasn't had much of a life, but he's got a wicked tongue on him. When he falls sick with, of all the ridiculous fatal diseases in the world, mad cow disease, the punk angel of his dreams comes to his aid and sends him on a quest so he can live.

Both hysterical and profane, it might be difficult as a teacher to recommend this to a kid. I read a passage aloud to my summer school class. Then one boy raised his hand and asked "why does he swear so much?" I'd picked a milder passage at the Buddha Burger, and had skipped over a bit that was too adult for read-aloud. When I answered it was because Cameron was an angry person, and I'd edited the passage while reading it, I show more could tell half my audience couldn't wait to get their hands on the book.

So, just leave this around and pretend you don't want the kids to read it. It will hit the banned book lists eventually, but that won't stop it. The kids might learn some new terms for masturbation, and a few Spanish swear words, but they might enjoy themselves and find some new ways to think about life too while they are at it. show less