Review Me Twice - Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Here it is.  The review for the book that started it all.

This is now the second time I've read this book and my opinion on it hasn't changed a whole lot.  But, to be fair, I did like it better than the first time.  The first time, I was really put off that I figured out "the big secret" really early on.  I mean, REALLY early on.  And, I don't know, maybe I was supposed to figure it out, but I wasn't a big fan.

This time, it was less of an issue because I knew the "secret", I knew what was going to happen, and I knew the basic plot points of the book (though I had forgotten the more specific details.)  I could appreciate it a little more.  For instance, there are a TON of spoofs of popular things.  Like, "Star Fighter" is a movie that's got a massive cult following.  It's a thinly veiled "Star Wars" reference.  But it's SUPPOSED to be thinly veiled because Bray is making fun of it.  There was a lot of that going on in the book, which I enjoyed and appreciated more this time around.

I could also appreciate the characters more.  I REALLY liked Gonzo and Balder.  They were funny, interesting, and odd characters.  They were what really made this book for me.  Especially because I thought that Cameron was kind of a bland character.  For being the main character, his personality was kind of ehhhhh...

I still think this book should have been funnier.  I mean, side splitting funny.  If you read Bray's blog, she has a side splitting humor, but that humor never seems to happen in her books.  I've read almost every single thing she's written, hoping for this on-the-floor-it's-so-funny laughter.  I never get it and I think that's what disappoints me the most.

My Bottom Line 3 out of 5

There are some books where, when you finish reading the last page, you close and sigh deeply and think, "That book impacted me in a significant way." This is not one of those books for me. Instead, this one is insidious. From time to time, I think of something and realize it's from this book. So it stuck with me, even though I didn't expect it to.

I could see this book as a weird indie movie that teens love and their parents think is stupid. I almost hope it becomes one, because it seems made for it, but on the other hand, no matter how it would be done, it wouldn't be "right," because this is a book where all the details would be imagined differently by everyone, and no director could satisfy everyone's imaginations.

So, I like it. But it's a weird kind of like. Kind of like how the book tells a story, but it's a weird kind of story.

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