Going Bovine by Libba Bray

My Rating: 4 Stars

Description:
Cameron Smith, 16, is slumming through high school, overshadowed by a sister “pre-majoring in perfection,” while working (ineptly) at the Buddha Burger. Then something happens to make him the focus of his family's attention: he contracts mad cow disease. What takes place after he is hospitalized is either that a gorgeous angel persuades him to search for a cure that will also save the world, or that he has a vivid hallucination brought on by the disease. Either way, what readers have is an absurdist comedy in which Cameron, Gonzo (a neurotic dwarf) and Balder (a Norse god cursed to appear as a yard gnome) go on a quixotic road trip during which they learn about string theory, wormholes and true love en route to Disney World. Bray's surreal humor may surprise fans of her historical fantasies about Gemma Doyle, as she trains her satirical eye on modern education, American materialism and religious cults (the smoothie-drinking members of the Church of Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack 'N' Bowl). Offer this to fans of Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy seeking more inspired lunacy.


My Review:
I cannot say that I absolutely 'loved' this book, because I didn't. However, it was so creative and well written that I cannot give it less than four (out of five) stars - it deserves, in every sense, four stars. I mean, wow, what a ride. This story was absolutely brilliant.

First, Cameron is being a normal, angsty teenage boy; admiring the popular girl from afar, smoking the occasional joint (not that this is completely normal), working a part-time job at a fast food restaurant, etc. But, suddenly, crazy things begin to happen. A cute, punk angel chick with pink hair begins to pop up at random, while he begins to have hallucinations about fire guys, who begin to wreak havoc on the world.

He then finds out that he has the incurable mad cow disease and is expected to die, until, the punk angel chick tells him if he finds Dr. X, he will be able to cure him of the disease. The catch, Dr. X was sucked up into a vortex and will be hard to find.

This is how Cameron escapes the hospital to go on a wild trip to find the cure and, because of Dr. X causing a black hole in the universe, having to save the world from annihilation. But, of course, how can you go on such a trip without the neurotic dwarf, Gonzo - who believes everything he eats and touches will be the death of him - the yard gnome, Balder - who says he’s a Norse god that was cursed, and, of course, Dulcie, the punk angel, who Cameron thinks is pretty hot?
And then you get the crazy people he meets along the way; a friendly, yet scary looking, drag queen, an old musician that is thought to be dead, mad scientests, a crazy cult called the Church of Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack 'N' Bowl, and many more.

Wild and crazy things happen along the way, while the Wizard of Reckoning, the destroyer of the world, is chasing Cameron around the world like the coyote chases the road runner in that well known cartoon that we all love. You know you do...

So, with all that being said, how can I not give this book 4 stars?