Going Bovine by Libba Bray
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Genre: Wikipedia calls it a surreal dark comedy novel Main characters: Cameron John Smith and Paul Ignacio “Gonzo” Gonzales Time and place: 2000-something, all over the States First sentence: “The best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World.” Summary: Cameron is an unpopular 16-years old whose family has drifted apart. He works at a hamburger place and likes smoking pot and that’s about all there is to his life. When he first started having hallucinations he dismissed them as being pot-induced, but when more symptoms appeared and his parents took him to a hospital he finds out he has mad cow disease. Losing control of his muscles, he is kept on a hospital bed until an angel comes and tells him the world’s about to end and he is the only one who can save it. |
There are no limitations to the things that can happen in this book. The Norse god Balder is a yard-gnome, a WWII jazz player is still alive, fire giants are roaming the world and a certain band is transported through space and time. Just so you know what to expect :)
One of my favorite stops is what I took to be a satire on the American society of today (parts of it of course): a place where all the children were only allowed to think happy thoughts, and everyone was told he/she is special. Censorship was rampant, for example all the books have been removed from the library for all sorts of reasons (Winnie the Pooh because “Bears don’t really talk. Might confuse the little ones.“, comic books because “Superheroes have unattainable powers, and are therefore not relatable and might make kids feel bad about themselves.“, and so on), all but a very boring self-help one. A very important element of that world are the smoothies — everyone has access to as many smoothies as he/she wants, with any taste in the world. At least in theory because in practice all of them taste like vanilla. For a very good reason too:
““Oh, they’re all vanilla,” Ruth says. “At first, we gave people a choice. But then we found they didn’t like the blueberry as much as they thought they would or they wished they had gotten the strawberry instead, just like their best friends did. It was a big bummer. So we simplified things for them. Now, they can order whatever they want, but in the end, it’s all the same flavor. You’re guaranteed the same experience every single time. And you’re having the same experience as everybody else. Cuts down on things like dissatisfaction, envy, competitiveness, longing, regret. All that bad stuff.””
Another thing I liked is the way Don Quixote is repeatedly mentioned. It took me a while, but eventually I did noticed the fact that this book is, in a way, a parallel to that book. Cameron is a noble knight, travelling on a quest to save the world (not to mention the car he drives is a Cadillac Rocinante).
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The characters are atypical and quite interesting. One cannot help but feeling sorry for Cameron, whose life was already going nowhere and who got an incurable disease on top of it all. He is a good guy, albeit somewhat misguided at times, and his sense of humor made the book actually fun, despite its dark underlying theme. His sidekick is Gonzo, a little person who’s also a hypochondriac (it’s how the two met, in the hospital while Gonzo was waiting for some test results), but who never let his shortcomings get in the way of doing things (well, let’s rephrase that to “important things”, because for example he never dares eating anything but grilled cheese when in a restaurant). Another original character is Dulcie, the pink-haired angel with graffiti on her wings — I liked her too, and I would have loved to see a bit more of her.
A short quote to give a sense of the writing style:
I creep up the stairs with a fry pan as my only defense, and despite the fact that my heart is beating like a hummingbird’s, it strikes me as funny. Greetings, ax murderer! I was just wondering how you like your eggs?
Thoughts on the ending: I am not certain I got it right, so I am not certain what my feelings are. Summing it up in one word: “interesting” :)
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What I liked most: show spoiler
What I liked least: There is nothing that impressed me in a negative way. Any other book would have seemed too random at times but the author has managed to make it all look believable :)
Recommend it to? Anyone interested in a surreal dark comedy novel, of course. :)
Buy it on Amazon.com | Buy it at bookdepository.co.uk | Libba Bray’s site | FollowTheFeather.com
Written by the same author:
A Great and Terrible Beauty | Rebel Angels | The Sweet Far Thing
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I read the book. I literally just finished it like 20 minutes ago. I bought it like 2 months ago. It is in my top 3 best reads ever. I absolutely LOVED IT!!! I suggest it to everyone that will give a book a chance.
Can you answwer a question for me? Page 474 it says “In another, Gonzo and Justin ride a coaster together.” Who is Justin? Please email me the answer because it is killing me!
Justin is the boyfriend of the girl that was outside the store when Cameron was thrown out — the girl that gave him advice about shoplifting and that later pretended Cameron was her new boyfriend. Then the three of them (Cameron, the girl, and her actual boyfriend, Justin), went to the party where Cam got to meet Balder.
I had to look that up, I didn’t remember who Justin was either :)
Cool review. Made me read the book :D
Another parallel I noticed is that Dulcie is to Cameron as Dulcinea is to Don Quixote.
I felt that the parallel realisties in the book can be explained by the references to the Copenhagen interpretation and Schrodinger’s cat. The Copenhagen interpretation is one explanation of the Schrodinger’s cat paradox (about quantum physics– wikipedia has a decent article). It basically says that it is possible for two opposing realisties to exist simultaneously inside metaphorical steel box (in which a cat has been randomly poisoned by a device or is still alive) when no one is observing who can make a conclusion about which possible reality has evloved. Eventually the observer opens the box and sees which reality actually does has come about, at which point the paradox collapses and we understand the truth.
My interpretation is that Cameron exists both in the hospital and the adventure in two parallel dimensions because cameron (and consequently we the readers) are not yet able to open Schrodinger’s box and observe which is true. Probably because the truth is painful: Cameron is dying (the flask has broken and the cat has been poisoned). In the beginning Cameron is disinterested in his life and is therefore not observant of reality. As the story progresses he becomes more aware of himself and the world around him and starts to observe. The dreams in which he seems himself in the hospital are as if he is peeking into the box but not actually noticing the state of the cat. Eventually he looks and sees that the cat (himself) has actually been poisoned. The alternate realities collapse and become one and the same: he dies.
Dulcie is in his afterlife because she did exist in one of the realities. Although it turns out that that reality did not become what was observed, it was still reality for Cameron and she therefore is real and part of him.
Sorry if that was totally confusing. My brain hurts now n
Wow! I love this interpretation!
It also seems the most plausible one, and I love the simile you made to Schrodinger’s Cat — while not a favorite concept of mine, since it involves a possibly dying cat, and I love cats, is one that I found fascinating for years nevertheless. Which is why I am a bit disappointed in myself right now, because the parallel between it and what happens in the book never crossed my mind!
Thanks for sharing :)
Thanks. I hope that made sense lol. I was late at night haha. Anyway it was fun. I was an English minor in college and I forgot how much I loved really thinking about a book and discussing it. Thats what I love about this book though. I read it several months ago and I still think about it