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Title details for Going Bovine by Libba Bray - Wait list

Going Bovine

by Libba Bray
Erik Davies
Audiobook
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From the author of the Gemma Doyle trilogy and The Diviners series, this groundbreaking New York Times bestseller and winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for literary excellence is "smart, funny, and layered," raves Entertainment Weekly.
All 16-year-old Cameron wants is to get through high school—and life in general—with a minimum of effort. It’s not a lot to ask. But that’s before he’s given some bad news: he’s sick and he’s going to die. Which totally sucks. Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there is a cure—if he’s willing to go in search of it. With the help of a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf and a yard gnome, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America . . . into the heart of what matters most.
From acclaimed author Libba Bray comes a dark comedic journey that poses the questions: Why are we here? What is real? What makes microwave popcorn so good? Why must we die? And how do we really learn to live? 
"A hilarious and hallucinatory quest."—The New York Times
"Sublimely surreal."—People
"Libba Bray's fabulous new book will, with any justice, be a cult classic. The kind of book you take with you to college, in the hopes that your roommate will turn out to have packed their own copy, too. Reading it is like discovering an alternate version of The Phantom Tollbooth, where Holden Caulfield has hit Milo over the head and stolen his car, his token, and his tollbooth. There's adventure and tragedy here, a sprinkling of romance, musical interludes, a battle-ready yard gnome who's also a Norse God, and practically a chorus line of physicists. Which reminds me: will someone, someday, take Going Bovine and turn it into a musical, preferably a rock opera? I want the sound track, the program, the T-shirt, and front row tickets."—Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    September 22, 2009

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780739385609
      • File size: 436282 KB
      • Duration: 15:08:55

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • ATOS Level: 4
    • Lexile® Measure: 680
    • Interest Level: 9-12(UG)
    • Text Difficulty: 3

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Sixteen-year-old Cameron Smith doesn't like much, has few friends, and, frankly, isn't that likable. But when he finds himself in a hospital, he plans to escape to seek a cure--and then the journey begins. Bray crafts a fantastical story that is creative, laugh-out-loud funny, and poignant. It demands a creative narration. Erik Davies gives Cameron a steady, almost- nonchalant voice as his journeys take him to a jazz club, a cult, Daytona Beach, Disneyland, and other places. Davies relishes the characters Cameron meets--and there are many. They're challenging, but all receive unique voices and accents. His best are Cameron's sidekicks, a teenage dwarf and a talking gnome. Witty dialogue and creative voices make this production a standout. M.B. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from August 3, 2009
      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. Ages 14–up.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:4
  • Lexile® Measure:680
  • Interest Level:9-12(UG)
  • Text Difficulty:3

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