Book Summary and Reviews of Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Going Bovine

by Libba Bray

  • Critics' Consensus (0):
  • Published:
  • Sep 2009, 496 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Can Cameron find what he's looking for?

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.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Book Awards

  • award image Michael Printz Award, 2010

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. An unforgettable, nearly indefinable fantasy adventure." - Booklist

"Starred Review. Bray's surreal humor may surprise fans." - Publishers Weekly

"It's a trip worth taking, though meandering and message-driven at times." - School Library Journal

This information about Going Bovine was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Click here and be the first to review this book!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Libba Bray Author Biography

Libba Bray is an author of young adult novels, including A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing and Going Bovine.

Her first novel, A Great and Terrible Beauty, was a New York Times bestseller. In November 2006, a video promoting the book was a part of The Book Standard's Teen Book Video Awards.

Libba Bray lives in New York City with her husband and son.

Author Interview
Link to Libba Bray's Website

Name Pronunciation
Libba Bray: First syllable rhymes with rib. Libba is a nickname for Elizabeth. Her full name is Martha Elizabeth Bray

Other books by Libba Bray at BookBrowse
  • Rebel Angels jacket

6 more...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Going Bovine, try these:

  • My Heart Underwater jacket

    My Heart Underwater

    by Laurel Fantauzzo

    Published 2023

    About this book

    Fans of Adib Khorram and Randy Ribay will love this coming-of-age debut about a Filipina American teen drowning under pressure and learning to trust her heart.

  • Yolk jacket

    Yolk

    by Mary H.K. Choi

    Published 2022

    About this book

    From New York Times bestselling author Mary H.K. Choi comes a funny and emotional story about two estranged sisters and how far they'll go to save one of their lives - even if it means swapping identities.

  • Who Put This Song On? jacket

    Who Put This Song On?

    by Morgan Parker

    Published 2021

    About this book

    In the vein of powerful reads like The Hate U Give and Girl in Pieces, comes poet Morgan Parker's pitch-perfect novel about a black teenage girl searching for her identity when the world around her views her depression as a lack of faith and blackness as something to be politely ignored.

We have 5 read-alikes for Going Bovine, but non-members are limited to three results. Join free to see the complete list of recommendations.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

More Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History

Browse all Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History books

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    Too Old for This
    by Samantha Downing
    A retired killer's secret is at risk when a visitor arrives, her only option? Another murder.
  • Book Jacket
    How to Kill a Crime Writer
    by Sarah Lotz
    A young woman joins forces with her late mother's fictional heroine to solve her murder.
  • Book Jacket
    The Cloak and Dagger Club
    by Jackie McMahon
    Inspired by Agatha Christie's Detection Club, a murder mystery and second-chance romance collide.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    The Night Hunter
    by Natalie Moss
    Two sisters confront family secrets, and a deadly predator, in the South African bush.
  • Book Jacket
    Tenderness
    by Rowan Beaird
    A 1970s island wedding is threatened when a bride's sinister former cult resurfaces.
  • Book Jacket
    Henry Tudor Must Die
    by Jillian Laine
    One exiled. One condemned. Two queens unite for revenge against Henry VIII.
Who Said...

No pleasure is worth giving up for the sake of two more years in a geriatric home.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

Y C T an O D N T

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.