dorky
Cameron Smith does his best to coast through school and life with minimal effort. That is, until he discovers that he has mad cow disease, his brain is being turned into Swiss cheese, and he doesn't have long to live. Cameron is, as you many expect, not feeling very good about this turn of events. So when a fairy named Dulice offers him that chance to find a cure, he jumps at it. With a game-obsessed hypochondriac Little Person as his companion, Cameron embarks on a road trip that will involves rescuing a missing scientist, Mardi Gras at New Orleans, a cult of happiness, snow globes, reality TV, fire giants, and a lawn gnome that claims to be the Norse god Balder.
Libba Bray is probably best known for her fantastic Gemma Doyle trilogy, a work of historical fiction that takes place in a Victorian boarding school. In a time where women where mostly powerless, Bray shows us women stealing back that power through supernatural means. You won't find anything remotely like that in Going Bovine, but that doesn't make it any less fantastic. Cameron's trippy journey from Texas to Florida is an exciting tale that critiques American culture while praising all the big and little things that make life worth living. The book feels incredibly current, as it touches on 21st century elements such as schools that teach you how to prepare for tests instead of think, free range fast food, and the desire to be famous in a reality TV obsessed world. There's also the big question about what is real, what's just a hallucination, and does it matter what it what? As Cameron embarks on his road trip, he periodically has dreams and hallucinates that he is dying in a hospital. As the book progresses you can't help but wonder if the hospital is real, or if the journey is.
Another thing I liked about Going Bovine was the fact that it's incredibly funny. Cameron has a really amusing voice and a lot of the events fall under that completely random and clever brand of humor that I enjoy so much (a lawn gnome that happens to be a Nose god?). This book also has strong characterization. When we first meet Cameron, he's a witty, intelligent, yet immature sixteen year old that spends his school days smoking pot in the bathroom, his afternoons dealing with his parents imploding relationship, and his weekends goofing off at work. It's amazing to see him grow from this state to the person he becomes at the end. The same goes for many of the side characters, even the lawn gnome.
I became a fan of Libba Bray with the publication of her first novel, A Great and Terrible Beauty. Although Going Bovine is a completely different beast, it manages to possess just as many layers. I look forward to see whatever she happens to put out next, regardless of genre or subject.
Rating: five stars
Length: 480 pages
Source: gift
Challenges: This book is part of the 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge
Similar Books: For other books with road trips, try American Gods with Neil Gaiman, and An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (my review). Another similar work would be Pretty Monsters, a short story collection by Kelly Link (my review).
Next up, I'll be reading Tam Lin by Pamela Dean.
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