I probably should be doing some school work or writing, but I started this book yesterday and literally could not put it down...

So your name is Cameron Smith and you suffer from an intense form of apathy. You're incredibly intelligent, but you don't try to get grades above straight Cs. You don't "experience" music; you only listen to it to mock it. You have no friends, you don't care about yourself, or anyone else. You can't connect with your dad, who is possibly cheating on your mother and spends more time with his physics than he does with his family, or your mom, who is basically a doormat living through stories and myths she teaches her students, or your twin sister, who was probably once your best friend and now is so above you on the social ladder that she barely says two words to you. You've never gone on adventures or parties or road trips. In fact, the only time that felt real to you in life took place when you were five-years-old and almost drowned in the Small World ride at Disney World.
And then suddenly, you find out you have mad cow disease (the human form), and you're most definitely going to die. So you receive a vision in the form of a punk rocker angel who tells you not to fret--there's a cure! You just have to take this kid to whom you've never spoken with you and look for random but connected clues and you'll find this doctor and all will be well. You think you're losing your mind (you are), but since you've suddenly decided that you don't want to die, you go along with it. Suddenly, you're doing things you never imagined--rescuing talking garden gnomes who swear it's their mission to return to this parallel dimension, trying to save the world through music and physics, crashing parties you've never dreamed of attending, being a participant on a reality show and winning a ton of money, attending a jazz concert and speaking with a legendary musician, wishing on the tree of wishes, falling in love, connecting with your sister, building friendships with the gnome and that guy you once didn't care to know in such a way that you can't imagine never laughing and joking and being with them at all. You don't realize it, but somehow, you begin to care, to care more about... everything like you never thought possible, and for the first time in your life since that time when you were five at Disney World, you're actually happy. You're not simply existing, you're alive and this makes all the difference.
Going Bovine is just absolutely brilliant. It's hilarious, witty, and thoughtful, and honestly, I never thought it would affect me as much as it did. I thought Libba Bray was crazy the first time I heard about this book, and of course, I still think that, but this is not a fantasy novel. It's realistic fiction disguised as fantasy fiction and science fiction with a dab of young adult, but honestly, under it all, it's just... real. Cameron is like so many people today--people who don't live, but merely exist. The existential questions in this book are what got to me the most. And that ending! She threw me for a loop with The Sweet Far Thing, and here she does it again! I don't know why I don't expect the unexpected from her anymore. Anyway, this novel is a ton of craziness mixed with meaningful messages and insight and awesome characters you want to take home with you, garden gnome included. It's like Peter Pan meets Don Quixote meets some story about parallel universe traveling, and the insane mixture is addicting. Just brilliant.
Go read it! :D

So your name is Cameron Smith and you suffer from an intense form of apathy. You're incredibly intelligent, but you don't try to get grades above straight Cs. You don't "experience" music; you only listen to it to mock it. You have no friends, you don't care about yourself, or anyone else. You can't connect with your dad, who is possibly cheating on your mother and spends more time with his physics than he does with his family, or your mom, who is basically a doormat living through stories and myths she teaches her students, or your twin sister, who was probably once your best friend and now is so above you on the social ladder that she barely says two words to you. You've never gone on adventures or parties or road trips. In fact, the only time that felt real to you in life took place when you were five-years-old and almost drowned in the Small World ride at Disney World.
And then suddenly, you find out you have mad cow disease (the human form), and you're most definitely going to die. So you receive a vision in the form of a punk rocker angel who tells you not to fret--there's a cure! You just have to take this kid to whom you've never spoken with you and look for random but connected clues and you'll find this doctor and all will be well. You think you're losing your mind (you are), but since you've suddenly decided that you don't want to die, you go along with it. Suddenly, you're doing things you never imagined--rescuing talking garden gnomes who swear it's their mission to return to this parallel dimension, trying to save the world through music and physics, crashing parties you've never dreamed of attending, being a participant on a reality show and winning a ton of money, attending a jazz concert and speaking with a legendary musician, wishing on the tree of wishes, falling in love, connecting with your sister, building friendships with the gnome and that guy you once didn't care to know in such a way that you can't imagine never laughing and joking and being with them at all. You don't realize it, but somehow, you begin to care, to care more about... everything like you never thought possible, and for the first time in your life since that time when you were five at Disney World, you're actually happy. You're not simply existing, you're alive and this makes all the difference.
Going Bovine is just absolutely brilliant. It's hilarious, witty, and thoughtful, and honestly, I never thought it would affect me as much as it did. I thought Libba Bray was crazy the first time I heard about this book, and of course, I still think that, but this is not a fantasy novel. It's realistic fiction disguised as fantasy fiction and science fiction with a dab of young adult, but honestly, under it all, it's just... real. Cameron is like so many people today--people who don't live, but merely exist. The existential questions in this book are what got to me the most. And that ending! She threw me for a loop with The Sweet Far Thing, and here she does it again! I don't know why I don't expect the unexpected from her anymore. Anyway, this novel is a ton of craziness mixed with meaningful messages and insight and awesome characters you want to take home with you, garden gnome included. It's like Peter Pan meets Don Quixote meets some story about parallel universe traveling, and the insane mixture is addicting. Just brilliant.
Go read it! :D
mood ,:
thoughtful
music ,: the best thing :: relient k
13 mischief managed | solemnly swear that you're up to no good?




