Going Bovine
Libba Bray's book is full of darkness. Her main character, Cameron, is dying of Mad Cow Disease. He also must save the world. What happens is a two week long adventure that includes a sugar addicted angel, a positive thinking cult, a talking garden gnome, a magic trumpet, and one ancient Cadillac. Bray creates an adventure of epic proportions it zooms back and forth between the magical realism of Cameron's adventure and his hospital room. Untimely, the lesson of the book is live each day to its fullest, and Bray's crafting of the story makes that seem not as trite as it seems.
Going Bovine is a fantastic introduction magical realism. Bray makes the genera completely accessible to a teen audience. Literature is all about building blocks. Having a young adult read and enjoy a book like Going Bovine can create a rich love of a work like One Hundred Years of Solitude. Or it could even get slightly more dangerous and that same young adult could go digging for works by Alejo Carpentier. Be that as it may, Bray does unique justice to the genera her characters are fully realized, and feel like high school students. Much of the YA literature that I read falls far short of that. It is mostly an adult projecting what a modern teen would feel. Bray captures the emotional response, the emotional limitations, and the wonderful perspective that a 16 year old has. Also, what best to test his psyche than give him a talking garden gnome as a best friend? Genius.
Walking away, Going Bovine is going to be a book that is around forever. I can see young people (and adults) connecting to Cameron on a very emotional level. The book is funny, tragic, joyful, painful, and one of the best life lessons I have had the joy to read. At the end of the day, I have become a huge Libba Bray fan, and will be adding more of her books to my reading list.
Next up is Delirium by Lauren Oliver. Another YA dystopia, I know I know... I have a thing for the genera.
Libba Bray's book is full of darkness. Her main character, Cameron, is dying of Mad Cow Disease. He also must save the world. What happens is a two week long adventure that includes a sugar addicted angel, a positive thinking cult, a talking garden gnome, a magic trumpet, and one ancient Cadillac. Bray creates an adventure of epic proportions it zooms back and forth between the magical realism of Cameron's adventure and his hospital room. Untimely, the lesson of the book is live each day to its fullest, and Bray's crafting of the story makes that seem not as trite as it seems.
Going Bovine is a fantastic introduction magical realism. Bray makes the genera completely accessible to a teen audience. Literature is all about building blocks. Having a young adult read and enjoy a book like Going Bovine can create a rich love of a work like One Hundred Years of Solitude. Or it could even get slightly more dangerous and that same young adult could go digging for works by Alejo Carpentier. Be that as it may, Bray does unique justice to the genera her characters are fully realized, and feel like high school students. Much of the YA literature that I read falls far short of that. It is mostly an adult projecting what a modern teen would feel. Bray captures the emotional response, the emotional limitations, and the wonderful perspective that a 16 year old has. Also, what best to test his psyche than give him a talking garden gnome as a best friend? Genius.
Walking away, Going Bovine is going to be a book that is around forever. I can see young people (and adults) connecting to Cameron on a very emotional level. The book is funny, tragic, joyful, painful, and one of the best life lessons I have had the joy to read. At the end of the day, I have become a huge Libba Bray fan, and will be adding more of her books to my reading list.
Next up is Delirium by Lauren Oliver. Another YA dystopia, I know I know... I have a thing for the genera.
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