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elderlyemo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
First of all - it is well written, and does contain within it some really interesting reflections on power, nuclear family, social isolation, self worth and mental health. Steven is a very interesting character who whilst being a bit simple in practice, comes off as compelling in the prose.
Having said that, the quality of the writing makes me feel like the author could have written a much better book. The worst parts of this book - in terms of physical repulsion - are at the beginning and it does slow down into a more manageably disgusting book towards the end (right around where the titular cows start to really impact the narrative) is it still unrelenting and gross? Yes, but I don't think it's necessarily without merit.
This definitely isn't a book for everyone, but I read it in one sitting and annotated quite a lot of it which is usually an indication to me and my own depraved mind that I am getting *something* out of it. What did I get out of Cows? I don't know. But it was something.
I think how popular this book got led to its own downfall and I see it a lot on the Most Disturbing Books of All Time lists - which it totally should be - but I think the absolute lunacy of this story makes it wholly less disturbing.
I'm looking forward to reading more from this author in the future because genuinely - it could be about literally anything. Solid three stars.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Violence, Vomit, and Abortion
detroitmental's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Vomit, Abortion, and Murder
spphynx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Rape, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, and Abortion
laboromi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Abortion, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
katiefloyd's review against another edition
1.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Abortion
vouija's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy
alex_bousquet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
pantrat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape
sommarborne's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
However, this book is oddly captivating and reads like a deeply disturbing urban fairy tale. The second half of the book reminded me a lot of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. It is better to go into this story expecting it to read like a fairy tale & to not take the story to be “realistic” in any sense of the word.
All of the characters except for Steven (the main character) are obnoxious over the top depictions of various levels of evil or hopelessness. The dialogue, in my opinion, is the worst part of the book. It is annoying to read and never gets better.
The author really spoon feeds you way too much. He doesn’t seem to trust the art of subtle storytelling or showing rather than telling. The dialogue is more fitting of a child’s story where you have to make it clear who the “bad guy” is.
It does come across like the author or, at the very least, the main character does not like women whatsoever or anything with a vagina. There is a good deal of vaginal mutilation in this book & a focus on using that as a form of reaffirming Steven’s sense of masculinity. I do think that was the point but I also feel like the author did not convey this particularly well and it made me roll my eyes several times.
I do not usually comment on the physical descriptors of characters too often, but I have to admit that the book is actually super fatphobic and I mean that for real. Steven’s mother is obese and every scene with her makes a point to mention her fatness in revolting ways meant to emphasize her “evilness” essentially. Like I said, the characters are cartoonishly bad.
There is also a super random use of the n-word for absolutely no reason and I mean NO reason. It was so out of left field I had to reread it ten times over because I kept trying to understand where it came from. The book has nothing to do with racism whatsoever & it is one of the cows that randomly says it? It is toward middleish of the book.
The violence is a bit obnoxious and it reminds me of try hards doing their best to use shock and disgust rather than writing better, but the writing itself actually is good beyond that and the development of Steven’s character arc is surprisingly well done. This might seem wild to admit given the context of this book, but Steven is a weirdly relatable main character and I have to give props to the author for that.
He isn’t relatable in the sense of the extreme and violent choices he makes, but rather he is a well done metaphor of the desire to find a community & a purpose in life when you constantly feel detatched from everything and everyone. For me, the ending of the book was incredibly satisfying and made plenty of sense. It was bittersweet in a super fucked up way.
If you can stomach it, I do think it is worth a read. It isn’t often we have these contemporary fairy tales but it really did remind me of the over the top and bizarre gore you would read in the original Grimms fairy tales & similar stories.
I found the animal violence to be fairly easy to skim without missing tangible points. While the scenes are undeniably upsetting and graphic, I will say that the violence against people in the book are definitely more graphic which I did kinda appreciate.
This is a wild read and I think the beginning and dialogue are the weakest points. This is gonna sound insane but trust me: when the cows start to talk is when the book gets more tolerable. I think a lot of interesting essays could be written about this.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Death of parent
Minor: Racial slurs and Abortion
rarityfemme's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail