Honestly, it's not that bad; it's just empty violence.

I spent around 3 hours reading this emotionless gore, and personally, it didn't disgust me, bother me, or stick with me – these types of books are what I like to call "Torture-porn". And yet it has its moments.
The biggest issue with this book for me is its lack of engagement. I had no motivation to read the next page, which is a shame because the book had a promising start and some creative ideas. The beginning chapters hinted at a book with a message, tackling difficult topics such as domestic abuse, mental health, and the feeling of alienation.

Where the book did not disappoint was the language; the descriptions and imagery were vivid, disgusting, and at times, haunting. I particularly admired how monstrously the protagonist's mother is portrayed; it's very fitting for her character. But while the characters are mostly well-written, their actual involvement in the story falls flat. You know a book is structured poorly when the pacing of a character passing in and out of consciousness feels no different from the previous fifty pages of the novel. I am disappointed to say how boring and empty the book felt despite having a literal secret sewage society of cows that talk like thugs.

In summary, this book is not worth your time aside from the talking cows.
I like the cover designs.

And the dog name Dog deserved better. RIP for Dog. ( )

What the fuck did I just read.

Pick me up mom, I'm scared. ( )

Wow. I knew how violent, bloody, gritty and possibly gross this book was supposed to be but little did I realize it was true. This book is extreme and not for everyone, probably not even for most people. There were multiple times when I had to pause in my reading to catch my breathe. Or where I cringed in sympathetic pain. Or where I had to simply absorb what I had read before I tried feeding my brain more images and more pain. However, unlike many torture porn horror movies, there was a true story here.

Steven is twenty-five years old and living with his mom; it might be better to call it cohabitation since each of them despise the other. We the readers quickly find out the extremes with which the mother torments her son; after a lifetime of this, Steven is left nearly powerless. Afraid of the world, Steven starts his first day at a new job: working at a meat grinding plant. Cripps, the plant foreman, assigns Steven to the grinder while loudly ridiculing everyone for being too weak to slaughter cows for eight-hours until it "sings to you of things beyond yourself." And then there is Lucy, Steven's semi-girlfriend who is obsessed with finding the black tumors and pus that are hidden in every living being.

These pieces all tie together in a sexual, violent, disgusting, bloody fashion that makes for a engrossing read. Not engrossing because of the shock but because the story is right below the surface of all the atrocities. That story is about alienation and trying to fit in to society. Steven understands from TV what life should be, or could be, but he can't reconcile it with his reality. While he removes the roadblocks in his life and muscles the pieces of what should be a perfect life into place, he can't get anything to stay. Not until he rejects that life, or that life rejects him depending on the point of view, and instead accepts something completely different. From that perspective, it is easy to relate to Steven's loneliness. Relating to his life is something I hope no one ever has to do. If you can stomach reading about most perversities that you can think of, then I would highly recommend COWS. But don't push it. I would hate for you to focus only on the the extreme aspects and miss the great story. ( )

This is the most vile and disgusting book I've ever read. By far. It's like the author wrote this book for the sole purpose of being sick and twisted. Nevermind having a story. There's no reason for a story when the reader can barely get through a sentence without puking their guts out, right?

This is the story of Steven, who is pretty much bat-shit insane from the very beginning. He believes he is being poisoned by his disgusting Hagbeast of a mother. Because she feeds him nasty slop that's not even fit to feed the pigs. He can't just turn his nose up and not eat it, because the Hagbeast makes sure that he's eaten every bite.

Steven is the bane of his mother's existence. She hates him. And Dog. She fucking hates the dog, who is called "Dog" for whatever reason. I mean, how hard is it to name your fucking dog? She pisses on Dog, and kicks him around, even though its hind legs don't even work. It pulls itself around the house by its front paws, like a pathetic little invilid.

Steven hates the Hagbeast as well. So one day, he's decided he's had enough. So he says "Fuck you, ma! I'm doing the cooking from now on. You can't poison me anymore." So he goes into the kitchen and tries to find something to make, but he decides that he just can't cook. So he does the next best thing. He goes into the bathroom with two plates, and comes out with two plates full of shit. He sets them down on the table, one in front of the Hagbeast, and one in front of himself.

"Eat up ma," he says. Now, the Hagbeast is not stupid. No sir. She tells him that there's no way she's eating what he's prepared, unless he eats it as well. So, he takes a bite. And the Hagbeast starts shoving the shit into her ugly face, only to puke all over the kitchen table.

That part is disgusting, yes. But that's just the beginning. It gets so much worse from then on. And then, Steven learns how to communicate with cows, for some reason. I guess, because they want him to kill their tormentor, Cripps. Because Cripps rapes them before and after killing them, at the factory.

That whole storyline seemed pretty fucking stupid. Frankly, the whole book is fucking retarded. It goes from a guy who hates his mother, to a guy who wants the perfect picket fence life, with his insane girlfriend, to a guy who's learned to murder, and enjoy it, to a guy who talks to cows and believes that he's their leader.

So the only point I can see to this book, is that brits are sick and twisted fucks. I mean, we knew that already. We didn't really need this detailed description of the how and why they're sick and twisted. ( )