Going Bovine [Paperback]

Ever since Cameron was a child and had a near death experience he has never fitted in. Maybe it has something to do with his too-cool-for-school twin sister, one of the elite popular gang overshadowing his yet-to-be-revealed uniqueness? Maybe it's the funny shakes and temporary loss of the use of his limbs which makes him stand out from the crowd as odd? Maybe he's just an unpopular dope smoking, sixteen year old kid who loves his music and likes to swear a lot? A normal teenager, in other words. Sadly it's none of those things, which a trip to the hospital reveals. The reason he's been having problems lately is that he is Going Bovine. Somewhere he has caught BSE (mad cow disease) which will literally drive him mad and kill him if a cure is not found. And there isn't one.

Unless a pink-haired, boot wearing angel called Dulcie comes to you in your deluded dreams with a message that there is someone, a mysterious Dr. X, who can save you. This happens to Cameron and all he has to do is enlist help from his hospital roommate, Gonzo, and go on a road trip to find Dr. X to receive his cure. Easy when you know how, huh? Not quite. Dr. X is a little hard to find since he's into time travel and mistakenly left a crack in the wormhole and let something evil in. Something that will destroy not just Cameron and his chances of survival, but the whole damn universe. And they're hot, fiery, big fella's too!

"Omigod! This is SO cool!" Okay, I'm acting like one of the character's here, but it is the truth! How the author, Libba Bray, blends a story of a young boy suffering from a deadly serious mind degenerating disease, with Gonzo, a comedic hypochondriac dwarf, a warrior garden gnome named Balder, and a school project called Shithenge, I will never understand - but boy, does it work for me! [Does the happy dance!]

This is hugely funny, with characters that have individual, lovable voices, and a real purpose for doing what they do best - which really amounts to entertaining us. Oh, sorry, that's the author's job, but shush, don't tell her, I didn't even know she was there! These characters swept me away on their Ringhorn and I still don't think I've come back yet. Grumpy garden gnomes with attitude don't usually have me in tears. Neither do inhaler wielding dwarves with overprotective, and overbearing mothers and especially not sixteen year-old-boys who are into music, nervous about their appearance, and worried about dying a virgin, like Cameron. But this group of funsters, ganged up on me and I didn't get to speak or see my family for a few days until they'd finished with me. They even dressed me up in a pink dress and took photos of me in exotic places. Just read it, and it will all become clear.

Nothing is what it seems, yet everything fits in a totally random way. Honest, it truly does! From the Wizard of Reckoning, StephenfreakingHawkin and The Theory of Everything and A Little Bit More, Copenhagen Interpretation, the United Snow Globe Wholesalers bounty hunters, and the Church of Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack 'N' Bowl (CESSNAB) revolution; where nobody wants or waits for anything and satisfaction is served with a zombie smile. This might sound all a bit random, but like Dulcie says, everything is indeed connected, in seemingly random ways - just like this book and the way it all comes together at the end. "Read it and weep, Dude!" You might die laughing, but it will be worth it. Totally refreshing, and even better than microwave popcorn!

Libba Bray has seriously watched too many Teletubbies and Pingu episodes, or else how to explain this deliciously bizarre tour de surrealism? Going Bovine is everything you don't want your goody two-shoes kids to read: it's out-of-this universe, it's bleeped up, uncompromising and above all a complicated and unadulterated mess of fantastic everythingness. I'm sure the comparisons with Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were aplenty when this first came out, but in all honesty, that's doing Libba Bray short. Going Bovine's main character Cameron is more akin to a Holden Caulfield in his quixotic search for the meaning of reality than he is to Arthur Dent of Hitchhiker fame.

Going Bovine has one of the most fantastic (in all meanings of the word!) premises ever: a main character (16-year-old reject Cameron) with mad cow disease has to save the universe - and in doing so himself - with his 2 sidekicks: the death-obsessed dwarf named Gonzo, and a talking garden gnome (Balder) who's also the incarnation of an Norse god... Cameron and Gonzo set out from Texas to Florida (because where else would you find the meaning of life?) and meet a pleiad of geeks, freaks, cultists and fratboys.

Libba Bray pulls out all the stops and takes us on an existential trip where she challenges us to think about the links between Walt Disney, Don Quixote, Emily Dickinson and the Wizard of Reckoning. Some of the cat's favorite scenes played out on the compound of CESSNAB, the Church of Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack-N-Bowl, whose tagline Don't Hurt Your Happiness is both hilarious and sad at the same time: happiness as the desired state of mind, which should be defended, in the most fundamentalist of ways....yes, this sure works like a red rag to a bull for Cameron - this to keep in line with the cow metaphor of course.

I can totally hear the nay-sayers here, too, though... Libba Bray just wants to say too much in this novel, and she's made a big old mess of everything. But, the dizzying adventures of Cameron, Gonzo and Balder, the sarcastic wit in the dialogues and the all-encompassing sense of compassion, hope and just sheer fun, just worked hypnotizing for the cat. The cat loves this book. It's a whirlwind of ideas and emotions with at the heart one basic question: what does it mean to live? The cat cannot say no to this book.

In a book where everything is connected, the cat feels it would be a pity to give anything more away, because this is the type of book that should be approached completely unbiasedly and preferably with a huge amount of chocolates - unless you're more herbally inclined, that is.

All Cameron wants to do is graduate high school - and maybe get a date with popular girl, Stacy. When 16-year-old Cameron is diagnosed with Mad Cow Disease, his life takes a crazy turn. A punk rock angel named Dulcie shows up and tells Cameron there's a cure with a mysterious Dr. X - he just has to go and find it. With the help of a dwarf named Gonzo (who has some mother issues) and a yard gnome who just might be a Norse god, Cameron is off on the trip of a lifetime.

So, I actually picked this up several times and was excited to read it, but the premise just sounded strange - and not like my typical read, so I kept putting it off. Then the Printz committee awarded this one with the Printz medal and I knew I had to read it. I actually listened to it on audiobook, which I think worked well with this book.

It's a trippy book - and it's pretty hefty, coming in at almost 500 pages (or twelve audio discs in my case). It's also a book that won't work if you like everything to work out nicely and not be wondering was this a trip or was this real? It's definitely the craziest road trip book I've ever come across!

I have to praise Ms. Bray's writing and I can see why this won the Printz. The writing captivated me. I really believe she writes boy characters better than any other female author. Cameron read just like my teens at the library - he felt real and his voice was spot on. Just for that, this book deserves your attention.

Even though my knowledge of DON QUIXOTE doesn't go much past the Wishbon TV show version (sad, I know), from what I do know of the story, Ms. Bray gives us a modern twist with GOING BOVINE, and it's a perfect nod to the classic. I would love to see this one paired with DON QUIXOTE for a lit circle or book club - it'd make for great discussion.

I didn't find it as laugh-out-loud hilarious as some other reviewers have, but I did find it to have lots of humor and lots of heart, which sometimes is a hard mix to pull off - but again, Ms. Bray does it seamlessly. Cameron's observations about life, love, family, and friendship are all things that teens will relate to, and I think many readers will be nodding along to Cameron's words. There's also some romance and adventure, which is always good.

I think the Printz committee was brave and original for picking this one and I'm impressed with their choice. I'm eager to hear feedback from my teens about this title. I've had one girl read it already and she called it "interesting and different." I don't think it will appeal to all readers, but those that it works for will find a gem of a book.

Reviewed by: Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen