A Satire on Reality

Going Bovine

by Libba Bray

I generally like reading books that are fun and froofy or that have some kind of supernatural element about them. When I started reading this book about a loser kid with a loser life that seemed to attract nothing but loser things, I was not excited. Cameron was not an interesting character. His family was absolutely horrible. Nothing seemed to be going for this book.

Then Cameron the Loser got a fatal disease. Could it get any worse here? Where is the happy ending that I so desire? Could anything good happen in this book, please? Then something miraculous happens! Cameron loses touch with reality! This is where the book really takes off. Cameron goes on adventure after adventure searching for his own special cure.

An adventurer wouldn’t be quite as special without his trusty sidekicks, would he? Cameron has them in abundance. First, our Don Quixote finds his Dulce in the shape of a goth angel who helps lead him through his journey. Along for the ride, Cameron takes the Dwarf of Destruction, Gonzo, who ends up finding something of his own on the trip. Halfway through the journey, Balder the Norse god of wisdom who cannot be killed joins the ranks. With this set of characters, how could you go wrong?

The second half is so dramatically different from the first half that I wonder why the first half was so long. If I was just looking for a good read, I probably would have put the book down before the good part. For what it’s worth, I’m really glad I didn’t.