Going Bovine Response

Going Bovine Reading Blogpost

Gus Miller, 802

Libba Bray’s “Going Bovine” follows sixteen year old Cameron as he ventures through America after being diagnosed with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, and told he is going to die. He experiences many strange things, and an angel named Dulcie guides him and protects him from death along the way. Many of his encounters are questionable at best, and early on he starts seeing and doing surreal things. This is a book about reality itself, about what life really is and means. As Cameron travels, he does strange things that seem like they could never happen, but what he gets from them is meaningful, true, and applicable to real, mundane life. This book is about the core of human behavior and about what really matters in life.

Throughout the book, Cameron has experiences that are impossible to figure out. Although at first, everything seems to be set in a realistic world, things phase into surreality, and stuff like traveling to alternate universes and befriending a talking garden gnome could just as easily be a hallucination as they could be real. The quote “we have been many places. Visited many worlds,” said by an interdimensional band shows how far-out the story is. However, it’s what he gains from these experiences and how they affect him that really matters. He learns the fleeting nature of life and how to live it to the fullest. By being put into a situation where he is exposed to things he’s completely new to and being forced to make odd decisions about possible side effects of his disease while also being on the verge of death, he learns more about the core of himself.

The experiences that Cameron has and the things he learn all come from people and other not entirely human entities he meets along the way. Supporting characters like Gonzo, a dwarf who accompanies him, Balder, a talking yard gnome, and Dulcie, an angel. These characters have unique personality traits that affect Cameron in different ways and build on the depth carried throughout the book. Having them at Cam’s side are what makes him learn about life and how his trip changes from  weird, uninspiring hallucination to a fantastical but at the same time believable journey through human nature. These people mold him into the person he is at the end.

Cameron’s goals seem to be very average and undemanding, until you throw in the fact that he’s going to die. While what he gains on the way isn’t what he wants at first, it’s what he needs, and it turns out to be what brings him happiness. He learns to set aside material parts of the world and realizes that the most precious things aren’t tangible. In a strange afterlife-type universe, Cameron says with his friend Dulcie, “She grins wide then. It’s like the sky can’t take it anymore, and it explodes… something new being born.” By experiencing things that would be less impactful or meaningful through the lens of impending death, he’s able to derive more value and become happier than a normal person experiencing the things he does, even as and perhaps because his life is drawing to a close, and when he finally dies, there’s a whole new realm of existence for him to explore.

In conclusion, “Going Bovine” is a deep and artful story that illustrates the true importance of life and how it can be drawn from the core of human nature. Bray uses humor but also heartfelt emotion to express these sentiments, and her techniques are effective at delivering a truthful and deep message. She uses surreality, social interactions, and mortality to bring out the best of her characters, and although the story seems like an absurd fantasy, there’s real, important things to be learnt from it. The experiences in the book are able to convey a sense of enlightenment and are simple yet important. Overall, this book uses creative story elements to create an unforgettable experience of human nature and the meaning of happiness.