leakelley 's review for:

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

5.0

---

Libba Bray's Going Bovine, the 2010 Printz Award winner for excellence in young adult literature, is a big, ambitious novel, and certainly worthy of the critical acclaim that has come its way this year. Cameron Smith is simply going through the motions of life; he's alienated from his parents and twin sister, has no real friends or interests, and spends most of his time either smoking pot or collecting the musical works of the Great Tremolo, a Portuguese musician who writes for the recorder and ukulele. Even his interest in the Great Tremolo is a sign of his cynicism, as he collects the music not because he likes it, but in order to make fun of it. As Going Bovine opens, Cameron's sad life is deteriorating even further; he's hallucinating in class and at home, which causes him to get suspended and have even more trouble with his family. At first it's assumed that drugs are the cause, but ultimately Cam is diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, more commonly known as Mad Cow disease. His diagnosis is terminal, so when an angel in torn fishnet stockings challenges Cam to save the world and (perhaps) find a cure, he accepts the challenge, shakes of his stupor, and embarks on a road trip accompanied by his hospital roommate, a dwarf named Gonzo.

Going Bovine is both funny and sad, real and fantastical, witty and absurd. It is not like any other book that you will read this year. I know it's a book that I'm going to be thinking about for a long time.