What Caught My Eye: “Going Bovine” won the Printz Award and I watched a interview of Libba Bray, where she was dressed in a cow costume, and I thought, I need to read this book! Bray was so entertaining and quirky that I just had to give this book a chance. Normally, I’m not drawn to her other books – A Great and Terrible Beauty, etc. – but this was different and I appreciated that.
Why I Didn’t Put It Down: “They” say that when you die, you start seeing things. I know, that when my dad was nearing the end, his eyes would start to wander around. He would look above him and sort of enter another place and then all of sudden he would be back and cognizant. After this book, I wonder if he was on an adventure, in his RV touring the country, meeting new friends and just having a fun time trying out different fishing spots all around the world…or visiting people and saying goodbye and fixing things…or thwarting danger and solving crimes like the cases on Dragnet and Hawaii-5-0…We don’t know but this book gives you a bit of a glimpse as to what might be happening when you are close to leaving this world.
I have to admit that it took a while to get into this book. I don’t know why…normally, I really enjoy “road trip” stories but it took me a while to get into Cameron’s, the boy with mad cow disease, personality. He’s is not motivated, smokes a lot of weed, and apathetic. However, once he receives his diagnosis and starts his journey, it moves quickly and is filled with so much that you have to finish it. It’s funny, quirky, sad, suspenseful and reminded me of the movies, Dogma, Crank, and a couple of others. There’s a dwarf, an punk rock angel (my future Halloween costume), a couple of not so great frat guys, sometimes like MTV, a road trip, some bizarre visuals and a whole lot more. I thought it was a great read but some people might think it’s a bit too much.
Who Would I Recommend This To: It’s for those kids and adults who like something quirky. People who liked Don Quixote, since quite a bit of it is based on that story. People who love road trip buddy stories. Super fun read. BUT— beware, this is for more mature readers – there’s a bit of cussing, some sex (not much like 2 – 3 pages in a 480 page book, also, it deals with dying and what happens when you are dying.
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