Cows

Well I inhaled this book with a straw. Is it gross? Yes. Did the scene where Steven "makes dinner" for the Hagbeast for the first time make me gag? Yes. But damn I loved the talking cows. And I felt like Matt Stokoe was driving at a deeper meaning. So while I would need to know the person I was recommending it to, I would still think this a book some people would do well with.

Reading this novel wasn't a pleasure, it was an experience.

I had heard so much about Cows, the controversial debut novel from Matthew Stokoe, that I figured I had two options: avoid it like the plague, or challenge myself. Despite not being that much of an expert on so-called 'extreme horror,' I decided on the latter.

There is satire within the pages, along with - dare I say it - allegory. But that allegory is buried pretty damn deep, almost hidden away in a morass of squalor, degradation and violence. The aforementioned satire is pitch black, and literally smothered in blood, viscera, shit, and all manner of vileness. To use the word 'violent' would be a gross understatement. In my own writing, I tend to focus on squalor and degradation, this however, is a whole other level. Believe everything you might have heard (or should that be herd?). At times, my fevered imagination likened Cows to a deranged version of Animal Farm, if it was rewritten by Terry Gilliam and John Waters, whilst tripping on LSD. It is not for the faint hearted.

This book was pretty good! It was more indepth than your average splatter punk, although it had it's fair amount of gore and grossness, it also had a deeper message. It wasn't violence for the sake of violence or graphic sex for the sake of shock. Well, some of it! So twisted and weird and wrong, gotta love it. Plus, cows.
I think Stokoe got a new fan in me!

Not since the time of Jane Austen has there been such an interesting romance story as you will find in Cows.

The first half of the book was weak, it was all about the shock value, look at how many times I can say c***. Not until Steven stands up to the Hagbeast does a plot start to develop. The evolution of the cows is great to read, I am pretty sure that you will find herds living under cities and those found in fields are just a front to distract you, I have never trusted them!

Looking forward to the sequel now.

The only novel that's ever made me feel sick was actually one of Tim Powers's. But this one didn't do badly, assuming the reader likes being made sick (and not in the manner of Dorothy Parker's 'Tonstant Weader Fwowed Up' which may have to do with the unreleased 'Christopher Robin Finds a Chainsaw'.) I dont think the author is barking but his characters certainly are (or mooing, possibly). If meat is murder, is murder meat?
Or as Black Daniel sing, "I love you but don't touch me 'cos you're sick." Which is pretty much the theme of the entire book.