Cows

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Well, Steven sees the good life on TV but he notices that lacking are directions about how to obtain it. The disturbing landscape conjured up nightmare images of Bad Boy Bubby and Eraserhead, while an overpowering stench of beef permeated my senses. A cow revolution is in the low bellowing and Steven, soon becomes the cow-back riding ringleader in a power struggle between cows and humans.

The book made me honestly think, and knocked dust off parts of my brain that had long since atrophied from banal reality and controlled responses. enormously disturbing and transcendently clever, Cows, a literally eviscerating portrait of life among the British lower classes, is revered internationally as one of the most daring English-language novels of the past few decades. As I mentioned, if you can dig down through the horrid scenarios, this books has some redeeming qualities.

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I can understand readers giving the book one star based on gut reaction or effect or just plain dislike. Stokoe’s writing is very good in that it will make the reader privy to the delusions and pressures within the character’s mind while almost making sense of the insane thought processes. A version of this problem has been well studied in the case of de Sade, where repetition plays a central part in the creation of the pornographic effect.There were one-star rankings for people who were absolutely repulsed by it, and five-star rankings by folks who were absolutely exhilarated at having gotten through a book so brutal. When he is introduced to brutality through his job in a slaughterhouse, he senses a change in his directionless existence. Underground literary shock-rocker Stokoe slaps his readers in the face with this bloody, truly disgusting diatribe against normalcy. He doesn’t seem to have thought about the fragmented consciousness of Naked Lunch, or the ecstatic prejudices and violence of Céline.

There is a message and there are some hilarious parts for those of us who like our humour pitch black. For a contemporary artist it shouldn’t necessarily matter that the resulting artwork is harmonious—the purpose of choosing strong images, after all, is seldom to produce a pleasing or harmonious effect—but somehow it does. Seriously though, if you are easily offended, have a weak stomach or have any triggers at all, don't bother.

One of the most outrageous, original and insightful books ever written on the subject of alienation and societal decay, COWS is a violent, blood-soaked nightmare - a tale of love, self-empowerment and talking cows. This novel is hideous in its depravity and beautiful in its understanding of what it means to have nothing left to lose. Original review: Look, I’m just gonna cut to the chase: This is, hands down, the most disgusting book I’ve ever read. Matthew Stokoe is a novelist whose work has been translated into French, Spanish, Russian and German. They are hard to find, though, and the book is most assuredly not for any but the most stout and difficult-to-shock reader.