I remember reading that Christopher Lee didn't like people referring to his 'horror films', he preferred calling them 'terror films'. It's easy to go for cheap, gross-out effects because it's instant gratification (if that's the right word), but genuinely disturbing fiction stays with you much longer and is much harder to achieve.
Yep, just finished this, not entirely sure what just happened! It does read like some sort of fever-dream or acid trip. I think I know which passage you were referring to as I nearly had a physical reaction as well. Having said that, I did find it a compelling read and had to see how it finished. Not sure I'm better off for reading it, but glad I did.
I’ve come to realize the Splatterpunk genre is not for me. I have no problem with it, it’s just not my thing. Plus, I love cows too much and can’t get myself to read this haha. Loved your review!
I think a lot of people missed the point of Cows. There definitely is a message. Basically it’s about society and being stuck in a viscous circle and not being able to escape. MC is on the outside looking in. Mique’s Book Vlogs did an amazing video on it about a month ago.
Thank you, I'll have to check out that video. I think every book is different for every reader. But I also think that most of the time when the message of a book isn't clear, the fault lies with the author.
This was a good review and pretty much mirrors my experience with this book. The only reason I decided to read it was because of all the recommendations on your previous video. I felt like I was reading a teenagers idea of "horror" while on some serious drugs.
I finished this book today and man... honestly I think theres enough about the themes and such of the book that you could probably write an academic essay discussing them, but I don't think its worth reading the 200 pages of blood and shit and vomit to find them and take them apart a bit.
Pretty much my sentiments. It has been a number of years since reading it and nothing but a hint of foulness lingers. Glad to have relived it a little with your review just to catch the recommendation at the end. Looks good.
I have to strongly recommend Stokoe's High Life, which is a fantastic neo-noir novel. Very different from Cows, although it still contains disturbing/violent/sexually explicit content.
I agree - it's far more gritty and less weird than Cows, and so probably more disturbing (as it's all 'really' happening, whereas in Cows you feel the protagonist's making some of it up).
I found the first half of the book pretty good but once the storyline recentered on the herd I thought the book lost a lot of momentum. Thats also when the shocking stuff stopped to work on me. Would probably rate it 3/5 overall and more for the first half alone.
Sorry, please keep scrolling if you don’t want spoilers book was so gross that it just became bad, plus what the hell was that twist with the cows talking and having a cult???!!! I didn’t even finish it. I don’t think I was the target audience, it felt like a trip
I really appreciate your review and 99.9% of your reviews I completely agree with. This is the 0.1% that I disagree about some parts of the review. I haven't finished it yet because every time I read it, I feel physically sick, just as you said you do, as well. Take my partial review with a grain of salt since I'm not quite done the book. That being said, let me tell you my opinion and thoughts with you. Yes, the book was absolutely disgusting in every shape and form. Yes, I actually vomited at one point. Yes, this book is not disturbing but rather gore-shocking. I do agree that some of the characters are in desperate need of more context. There are many faults; but every book has them and never has one written a piece that is perfect in all ways. My opinion: Though this is horrifically violent and disgusting, I feel like the reader is following and watching an acutely severe devolvilution of the mental health of the protagonist. (I have depression, anxiety, and PTSD, so I'm well versed in the madness of poor mental health). A lot of the times when I have an episode, good things are distorted and the line between good and bad, right and wrong ceases to exist. For example, to be clear, if my husband makes dinner for me when I'm having a particularity difficult episode, *eveything* is wrong with it. I tell him the chicken tastes rotten, the mashed potatoes look and smell like baby pablum, the veggies are too hard or too soft, my fork is dirty, these stupid plates are ugly AF. I could go on, but I digress. My thoughts when reading the book are that the protagonist is trapped in some sort of void in the vacuum of his ravaged mind. I think he hallucinates often and forms false memories of good times he wishes he could have. I also think he is an extreme sociopath, able to kill animals and people with very little to no reaction. I think the cows represent the friends he wishes he had, accomplishing that hallucination when they bow to him. I think it is a harrowing, profoundly deep journey throught the mess and maze that mental illness is. So sorry for the long post, Olly! I could write more but I suspect everyone will be rolling their eyes at this point lol.
I think those are probably completely valid points but for me that didn't come across at all in the book. Every book is different for every reader though, so really glad that you are getting value from it. And as someone who suffered from crippling depression when I was younger, I hope you get some respite from that soon.
Just finished reading and wow.. the lucy scene made me physically weak (squeamish) and thats the only break I had to take. I was trying to find the meaning behind it and make a connection to Steven but I just couldn’t. I still feel no way about him if anything I was kinda hoping he’s just khs and get it over with lmao. What does the ending even symbolise? I’m kinda mad 🥴💀
@soybouy_6668 The ending has very obvious meaning, Steven lost every semblance of being a human being. His flat falling apart forced him out into the world and he very obviously could not live among people so he had no choice but to go live with the herd. Which was ideal for him everything because he never could have lived among people at all. Lucy was his last connection to humanity and his flat was his only safe place in the world.
@@IDXEii Thank you for this insight, I wasn’t looking at it from a metaphorical standpoint because I was so annoyed lol - definitely makes more sense now
@@soybouy I understand that most of the events are so absurd that it's hard to really even attempt to look at anything seriously, but I treated the extreme bizarre instances as exaggeration by an unreliable narrator even if that's not true, the overlaying themes about society and a man being driven farther and farther into madness while simply trying to obtain the goal of being happy and living a normal, we're fairly well played out
I think the book is done a disservice when a bunch of people recommend it and create an expectation that the author wasn’t trying to achieve. As you note it’s not terribly disturbing and I found the middle with the talking cows didn’t really match the bleak beginning and especially the end. Wish that he had opted for more realism. But I did enjoy it because it did make me nauseous at times which I think is an extremely difficult reaction to elicit.
I definitely agree re the nausea point, I don't any other book has got me in quite the way this one did. I also agree that books with a lot of hype often end up not living up to it, which in a way is no fault of the author.
Gratuitous putridity. Fully agree. The gross out scenes were so outrageous I cannot even remember them. And there does seem to be an underlying message Stokoe thinks he's trying to express, possibly about animal cruelty and factory farming, however, I'm with you, the storyline was so nonsensical and stupid that no message was ultimately conveyed. And the book rated zero stars for me on a scale of 1-5.
Publishers were searching for the next Bret Easton Ellis in the 90s and someone ended up thinking Matthew Stokoe was the way to go? I've read Stokoe's High Life because I have a weakness for California Noir but didn't care for the book. It sounds like Cows hits the same way with visceral things happening to cardboard characters.
"Visceral things happening to cardboard characters." is a very good way to describe it. To be fair to Stokoe lots of people do seem to like this book, so he's doing something right I guess
Great review that really explores all of my issues with the subgenre overall lol. The part in Terrifier 2 that caused me the most pain was that Clown Cafe song.
i remember commenting on one of ur posts & how i despised this book, so glad to hear how ur experience of this book was - the book is like a car crash, absolutely awful but u can’t look away. a queasy read.
Hey Olly, this review made me realize again how different a non native reading and booktube experience is compared to a native one. I'd say I'm pretty proficient in English, albeit with many mistakes in grammar and wording. My writing is probably in bookish rather than speaking language. But I know a lot of words. I know the disctinction between disturbing and disgusting. Still, the thinking behind the disctinction would require my native language. Therfore, kudos to you for doing the buddy read with Ann Novella (with whom I share my native language). I'm really looking forward to it! PS: I like you being honestly and matter of fact(ly?) brutal in your review here.
Your English sees excellent to me! I'm very much looking forward to the buddy reads with Ann - it will be interesting to see if our experience of the books will be different because of the language difference. Glad you enjoyed the review! I try to be quite even handed and kind in my reviews, but it's fun to let loose sometimes!
One last comment for now: I wish now more than ever that I was published because there is one novella I wrote that would fit perfectly on your "disturbing books" list. Well, I will keep you in mind in case it ever sees the light of day. 🙂
Beware chapter 14. Thats the one where I finally reacted "oh god no, why am I reading this? Why, why!!!!! If you read disturbing books the SCORN soundtrack is brilliant.
The last several "extreme horror" novels I've read I find I remember almost nothing about them. So, so much for being "shocking." All the "shocking" stuff has become mundane. I barely remember any of the gore out of Cows, other than that there was slaughterhouse sex (although I've forgotten the particulars), and that the cows talked and wanted to create a cow civilization in the sewers or something... which was so stupid and silly that the gory stuff just became a cartoon anyway.
I didn’t find cows disturbing in an unsettling way either but I loved it. I had no idea where the story was going and even after finishing it I still don’t haha. It still has me thinking. I always tell friends about the book I read about the cow messiah and if anything, it’s a good conversation with friends haha. I can see how it’s not for everyone, though.
Funny you should mention the part about how, when someone gets their arm chopped off, you can't relate, but you can relate to minor cuts. I don't know how familiar you are with giallo director Dario Argento, but it was that exact line of thinking that made him choose the murder methods he used in DEEP RED (PROFONDO ROSSO). Someone gets their face pushed into scalding hot water in a bathtub. Another gets their mouth bashed against the edge of a mantlepiece. Yes, there are some murders that involve pain we might not identify with, but most of them are like the ones I just described.
@@CriminOllyBlog By the way, I tried reading this book too. I did not finish, not because it grossed me out, but because it BORED me. I felt like he was trying too hard, meaning he didn't have a story during which gross things happened. Instead, it reads like he must have thought about the gross scenes first, and then he tried to build a plot around them. It's the difference between a comedian like Richard Pryor, who told funny stories that just so happened to have cursing in them, versus a comedian who thinks the CURSING is the funny part. I'm not one of these prudes who thinks a book has to have "redeeming value" or else it is pornography, but I am absolutely unimpressed by a book whose only purpose is to gross people out. It's kind of like an internet troll who leaves insulting comments for the sole purpose of offending, knowing damn well we can't get them because they're hiding behind the anonymity and security of a computer screen. It reminds me of a time when I was walking down the boardwalk in Los Angeles, and...actually, this comment is getting long. I will describe this anecdote in another.
Okay, so I was walking down the boardwalk in Los Angeles. There were a lot of people out and about, doing what they could to earn a buck, like musicians busking and magicians wowing the audience with their superior misdirection skills. I came upon a guy who had several easels set up around him. There were several large drawing pads on these easels, upon which he had written several poems, scrawled in unusual ways so that they filled up each sheet. One of them started with the very noticeable line, "God is a F@G!" I stopped and read beyond that line, and I don't remember what he said exactly, but I do remember thinking there was no point to it. Seemed to me like he wrote that just to anger any religious people who might have gone by. (Who knows? Maybe he had some unfortunate history with the Church and/or religious people.) The only good thing I could say about it is that at least the guy had balls because, if anyone read that and got offended, he was sitting RIGHT THERE, less than five feet from each easel, as opposed to leaving them online.
@@CriminOllyBlog Please give Monster a go... it's vile, it's sickening but also very sad... an extreme horror novel but cannot help having empathy for the protagonist in the story. Also read Sick B***tards byu Matt Shaw - found that one extremely disturbing! I plan on getting more of his books as I thin k he is a good writer!
Now that I'm old, I can't watch any videos that feature people slipping on ice, falling off skateboards, riding mountain bikes into a tree -- anything orthopedic, I guess. Multiple small cuts I could probably handle. Although, thinking back to the paper cuts scene from Swimming with Sharks, maybe not.
@@CriminOllyBlog Do you have AFHV in the UK or is it BFHV? We have an antenna channel here in Minneapolis that seems to play nothing but videos (many borrowed from UA-cam) of people performing idiotic stunts that invariably end in pain. Literally. 24 hours a day.
@@troytradup our equivalent is called You’ve Been Framed. But yes exactly the same kind of thing. And yeah we have crappy channels that basically play it all day too
Matthew Stokoe seems like an impressive author with so much to offer in terms of storylines and concepts. This particular book by him seems very intriguing. Cows seems like a fairly unusual title for a book. You can never really predict what are the possible events that may unfold within its pages. We all look forward to these types of content from you, Olly. Keep up the good work. May God bless you.
I read this about a week ago and at first I didn't like it because I felt it was just gross for the sake of being gross. I still think that, but regardless I found myself wanting to know what would happen next while reading. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would but I also understand why someone wouldn't enjoy it
I agree with you 102 precent. Couldnt connect to the carachter at all. It is more disgusting then disturbing. I recently read "dead inside" and somehow connected to both characters even they were engaged in extreme horrific activities. I think due to the fact that you get more inside thier soul. And also, the gross things that they are engaged in, do not cause suffering to living beings... Keep up the great job
I agree. I didn't finish it. I'm just one of those people that gore just doesn't do it for me. I think I have been desensitized through the years. As far as disturbing, I like books that have disturbing as in " weird family stuff, mental stuff, or religious stuff" that's not "normal"....as far as horror, I like supernatural, ghosts, demons, etc. Blood and gore just ...no. Also, I am an animal lover and books that have long, drawn out animal killing I just don't read.
Just finished it; I also found it didn’t live up to its reputation as a "disturbing book” so much as a disgusting one, but I do find myself reflecting on the possible meaning of Steven sort of “corrupting” the cows by teaching them to be more human in a purely destructive way, while Steven himself sort of deteriorates to a state where he can only live among animals, effectively subhuman himself. I have to disagree with your statement that the meaning of a piece being unclear is a fault of the author; I think there can be lots of value in art with more oblique meanings. One of the greatest books I’ve ever read is ‘The Recognitions’ by William Gaddis & imo a lot of the power of that reading experience comes from the more subtle shades of potential meaning hiding within the obvious themes. I don’t think I’ll ever consider ‘Cows’ to even approach the levels of ‘The Recognitions’ in terms of literary experience & value, but I do want to give more thought to what it might be trying to say
I read your text review where you say the scene that almost made you puke. I can't say that I can see a message in that and I certainly don't want to receive it either!
Olly, Hi!! Hope you are well, I'm still loving your channel, and you're great in promoting all these interesting reads! Only, please can you tell me how to get on to your COMMUNITY TAB please? Thank you....kind regards 🙂
Funny, I thought Cows was disturbing but Notice was the least disturbing thing I’ve read in years. I would literally fall asleep reading Notice, as I found it boring and tame for my tastes. But Cows? It’s up there with the vilest things I’ve ever gotten through. You want truly disturbing? Read HOGG. I couldn’t even finish it.
I haven't read 'Cows' but from your review, I think 'Tender Is The Flesh' suffers from the same problem. Psychology is always far more horrific than gore. You have to get the balance right otherwise, it's just, ironically, dull. Longtime since I've read The Wasp Factory. Now that was a great I need to dig out.
I've read Tender is the Flesh as well now, and I thought that was much more successful. I didn't find it that disturbing, but I thought it was an effective and interesting read.
@@CriminOllyBlog It had its moments but I found a lot of the ideas a tad 'on the nose'. The dark web has already revealed in life at least one of the more disturbing images present in the book and the holocaust itself set the bar a little too high for these gore fest dystopias to really hit the mark.
I'm sure people have suggested the book 'Hogg' to you but in your quest to be disturbed so to speak, reading that one I'm predicting will leave you speechless. Juan (he might not remember, but I do) has called evil itself as the narrator. Not the first person narrator, but if the Devil had a voice. Oh and if you do read and review it, I will utter a certain quote from the book as a running gag every time people on Booktube talk about 'Hogg'.
Well.... I guess I won't be picking up Cows anytime soon. :) Just curious... What made you stick with finishing Cows instead of DNF'ing it? Keep up the great work!
Yeah, there's a huge difference between disgusting and disturbing. I love disturbing books. McCarthy and BEE are two of my favorite authors. I tried reading a splatterpunk book again this year. I found it boring and silly. For me, Keene has been only author that can walk that fine line between horror and grotesque silliness. I am not even tempted to read Cows. BTW, so glad I found your channel! I've been looking for a book channel with my two favorite genres for a while now. Digging on your vids!
I have started to read cows but did not finish yet. So now I’m determined to finish it today for the #readwhatyouownchallenge 🤗 thanks for the book review Mr Olly ❤️
I've been reading this stupid thing for like a week and a half. I should have been able to read it in a couple days, but I have to take a break every couple of chapters to wash off all the poop.
hahahaha brutal video title! this book really doesn't sound great... but I still want to read it for some reason haha I think I agree with you on what makes a book disturbing but I haven't completely made up my mind, I need to read more disturbing books for that!
Gosh, how original, the bad mum trope. I wouldn't have DNF'd it, I would have TIO'd it !! (thrown it out 😉). Don't eat meat, as the message ? Carsick looks interesting. I hitch hiked across Britain, I should write a book about it. 👍🤣
I wonder if the author is vegan. There is a vegan deathgrind band called Cattle Decapitation that clearly push an agenda in their music. Cows was on my TBR list but I'm not really interested if it is just a gross out fest...
I remember reading that Christopher Lee didn't like people referring to his 'horror films', he preferred calling them 'terror films'. It's easy to go for cheap, gross-out effects because it's instant gratification (if that's the right word), but genuinely disturbing fiction stays with you much longer and is much harder to achieve.
Completely agree. For me disturbing books are the ones that get under your skin and stay there
I see that
Yep, just finished this, not entirely sure what just happened! It does read like some sort of fever-dream or acid trip. I think I know which passage you were referring to as I nearly had a physical reaction as well. Having said that, I did find it a compelling read and had to see how it finished. Not sure I'm better off for reading it, but glad I did.
I’ve come to realize the Splatterpunk genre is not for me. I have no problem with it, it’s just not my thing. Plus, I love cows too much and can’t get myself to read this haha. Loved your review!
Thank you! There’s certainly splatterpunk stuff I like, but the newer wave of extreme horror doesn’t really appeal
I think a lot of people missed the point of Cows. There definitely is a message. Basically it’s about society and being stuck in a viscous circle and not being able to escape. MC is on the outside looking in. Mique’s Book Vlogs did an amazing video on it about a month ago.
Thank you, I'll have to check out that video. I think every book is different for every reader. But I also think that most of the time when the message of a book isn't clear, the fault lies with the author.
This was a good review and pretty much mirrors my experience with this book. The only reason I decided to read it was because of all the recommendations on your previous video.
I felt like I was reading a teenagers idea of "horror" while on some serious drugs.
Yes, 100% agree with your final statement!
I finished this book today and man... honestly I think theres enough about the themes and such of the book that you could probably write an academic essay discussing them, but I don't think its worth reading the 200 pages of blood and shit and vomit to find them and take them apart a bit.
Ha! Yeah I agree
Pretty much my sentiments. It has been a number of years since reading it and nothing but a hint of foulness lingers. Glad to have relived it a little with your review just to catch the recommendation at the end. Looks good.
A hint of foulness is a great way to describe it!
I have to strongly recommend Stokoe's High Life, which is a fantastic neo-noir novel. Very different from Cows, although it still contains disturbing/violent/sexually explicit content.
Thanks - I may check that out
I agree - it's far more gritty and less weird than Cows, and so probably more disturbing (as it's all 'really' happening, whereas in Cows you feel the protagonist's making some of it up).
High life is a masterpiece.
I found the first half of the book pretty good but once the storyline recentered on the herd I thought the book lost a lot of momentum. Thats also when the shocking stuff stopped to work on me.
Would probably rate it 3/5 overall and more for the first half alone.
Sorry, please keep scrolling if you don’t want spoilers
book was so gross that it just became bad, plus what the hell was that twist with the cows talking and having a cult???!!! I didn’t even finish it. I don’t think I was the target audience, it felt like a trip
Yeah totally agree about the twist - it made a bad book worse
I really appreciate your review and 99.9% of your reviews I completely agree with. This is the 0.1% that I disagree about some parts of the review. I haven't finished it yet because every time I read it, I feel physically sick, just as you said you do, as well. Take my partial review with a grain of salt since I'm not quite done the book.
That being said, let me tell you my opinion and thoughts with you. Yes, the book was absolutely disgusting in every shape and form. Yes, I actually vomited at one point. Yes, this book is not disturbing but rather gore-shocking. I do agree that some of the characters are in desperate need of more context. There are many faults; but every book has them and never has one written a piece that is perfect in all ways.
My opinion: Though this is horrifically violent and disgusting, I feel like the reader is following and watching an acutely severe devolvilution of the mental health of the protagonist. (I have depression, anxiety, and PTSD, so I'm well versed in the madness of poor mental health). A lot of the times when I have an episode, good things are distorted and the line between good and bad, right and wrong ceases to exist. For example, to be clear, if my husband makes dinner for me when I'm having a particularity difficult episode, *eveything* is wrong with it. I tell him the chicken tastes rotten, the mashed potatoes look and smell like baby pablum, the veggies are too hard or too soft, my fork is dirty, these stupid plates are ugly AF. I could go on, but I digress.
My thoughts when reading the book are that the protagonist is trapped in some sort of void in the vacuum of his ravaged mind. I think he hallucinates often and forms false memories of good times he wishes he could have. I also think he is an extreme sociopath, able to kill animals and people with very little to no reaction. I think the cows represent the friends he wishes he had, accomplishing that hallucination when they bow to him.
I think it is a harrowing, profoundly deep journey throught the mess and maze that mental illness is.
So sorry for the long post, Olly! I could write more but I suspect everyone will be rolling their eyes at this point lol.
I think those are probably completely valid points but for me that didn't come across at all in the book. Every book is different for every reader though, so really glad that you are getting value from it. And as someone who suffered from crippling depression when I was younger, I hope you get some respite from that soon.
Thank you, Olly. I hope so too.
Don't forget about my excerpts😀📖
@@shawnjessicadavis6072 I haven’t, don’t worry!
@@shawnjessicadavis6072 🤗
Just finished reading and wow.. the lucy scene made me physically weak (squeamish) and thats the only break I had to take. I was trying to find the meaning behind it and make a connection to Steven but I just couldn’t. I still feel no way about him if anything I was kinda hoping he’s just khs and get it over with lmao. What does the ending even symbolise? I’m kinda mad 🥴💀
Yeah it all felt like a weird, disgusting pointless mess to me!
@soybouy_6668 The ending has very obvious meaning, Steven lost every semblance of being a human being. His flat falling apart forced him out into the world and he very obviously could not live among people so he had no choice but to go live with the herd. Which was ideal for him everything because he never could have lived among people at all. Lucy was his last connection to humanity and his flat was his only safe place in the world.
@@IDXEii Thank you for this insight, I wasn’t looking at it from a metaphorical standpoint because I was so annoyed lol - definitely makes more sense now
@@soybouy I understand that most of the events are so absurd that it's hard to really even attempt to look at anything seriously, but I treated the extreme bizarre instances as exaggeration by an unreliable narrator even if that's not true, the overlaying themes about society and a man being driven farther and farther into madness while simply trying to obtain the goal of being happy and living a normal, we're fairly well played out
I think the book is done a disservice when a bunch of people recommend it and create an expectation that the author wasn’t trying to achieve. As you note it’s not terribly disturbing and I found the middle with the talking cows didn’t really match the bleak beginning and especially the end. Wish that he had opted for more realism. But I did enjoy it because it did make me nauseous at times which I think is an extremely difficult reaction to elicit.
I definitely agree re the nausea point, I don't any other book has got me in quite the way this one did. I also agree that books with a lot of hype often end up not living up to it, which in a way is no fault of the author.
I loved The Wasp Factory and agree it is an incredibly well written, but deeply disturbing novel. I think I'll give Cows a skip.
Yes, The Wasp Factory is amazing
Gratuitous putridity. Fully agree. The gross out scenes were so outrageous I cannot even remember them. And there does seem to be an underlying message Stokoe thinks he's trying to express, possibly about animal cruelty and factory farming, however, I'm with you, the storyline was so nonsensical and stupid that no message was ultimately conveyed. And the book rated zero stars for me on a scale of 1-5.
I think I gave it 2 stars because some parts were well done and I didn't struggle to finish it
Publishers were searching for the next Bret Easton Ellis in the 90s and someone ended up thinking Matthew Stokoe was the way to go? I've read Stokoe's High Life because I have a weakness for California Noir but didn't care for the book. It sounds like Cows hits the same way with visceral things happening to cardboard characters.
"Visceral things happening to cardboard characters." is a very good way to describe it. To be fair to Stokoe lots of people do seem to like this book, so he's doing something right I guess
Yea, I found Cows to be very disgusting as well. I somehow managed to read through the whole book, but I’m not sure why I bothered to finish it.
LOL yes my thought at the end was the same
Honestly I feel the same way
On one hand, I’m intrigued… on the other, I’m not into books that lack a message, so I’ll have to chew on this for a bit. Excellent review!
Glad you enjoyed the review! I think in some ways it is a book that's worth reading because of its notoriety.
Bummer Cows didn't work out for you. Carsick is a delight and I'm really excited for you to read it!!
I am really looking forward to Carsick!
Great review that really explores all of my issues with the subgenre overall lol. The part in Terrifier 2 that caused me the most pain was that Clown Cafe song.
I had managed to shake off the earworm I had for that song AND NOW IT IS BACK
i remember commenting on one of ur posts & how i despised this book, so glad to hear how ur experience of this book was - the book is like a car crash, absolutely awful but u can’t look away. a queasy read.
Yeah I couldn't agree more!
Haven’t read but I’d still buy and read it despite it being purely gross out. I love your spoiler free reviews. They are done really well. Thanks!
Thanks, John! I try to say just enough about the book to give a sense of it
I really enjoy hearing your thoughts about books and its really inspired me to expand my horizons to general adult fiction more.
Thank you! Really glad you're enjoying the channel
Might I suggest Amygdalatropolis and Negative Space, both by BR Yeager?
Someone else suggested Amygdalatropolis - am going to try and check it out
@@CriminOllyBlog Ben is a close pal. We collaborated on Negative Space. I made the musical "score" for it. So it's a wee bit of a shameless plug haha.
@@burialgrid6394 ha ha fair enough
I thought Woom and The Slob was bad but Cows really made my stomach turn.
I've yet to read Woom but will be soon. The Slob I found didn't really affect me
Anyone know where to buy notice by heather Lewis yet still cannot find anywhere to buy it
Emily Books have the ebook for sale - check my community tab for a link
@@CriminOllyBlog ok thanks 👍
Hey Olly, this review made me realize again how different a non native reading and booktube experience is compared to a native one. I'd say I'm pretty proficient in English, albeit with many mistakes in grammar and wording. My writing is probably in bookish rather than speaking language. But I know a lot of words. I know the disctinction between disturbing and disgusting. Still, the thinking behind the disctinction would require my native language. Therfore, kudos to you for doing the buddy read with Ann Novella (with whom I share my native language). I'm really looking forward to it! PS: I like you being honestly and matter of fact(ly?) brutal in your review here.
Your English sees excellent to me! I'm very much looking forward to the buddy reads with Ann - it will be interesting to see if our experience of the books will be different because of the language difference.
Glad you enjoyed the review! I try to be quite even handed and kind in my reviews, but it's fun to let loose sometimes!
One last comment for now: I wish now more than ever that I was published because there is one novella I wrote that would fit perfectly on your "disturbing books" list. Well, I will keep you in mind in case it ever sees the light of day. 🙂
Beware chapter 14. Thats the one where I finally reacted "oh god no, why am I reading this? Why, why!!!!!
If you read disturbing books the SCORN soundtrack is brilliant.
The last several "extreme horror" novels I've read I find I remember almost nothing about them. So, so much for being "shocking." All the "shocking" stuff has become mundane. I barely remember any of the gore out of Cows, other than that there was slaughterhouse sex (although I've forgotten the particulars), and that the cows talked and wanted to create a cow civilization in the sewers or something... which was so stupid and silly that the gory stuff just became a cartoon anyway.
I didn’t find cows disturbing in an unsettling way either but I loved it. I had no idea where the story was going and even after finishing it I still don’t haha. It still has me thinking. I always tell friends about the book I read about the cow messiah and if anything, it’s a good conversation with friends haha.
I can see how it’s not for everyone, though.
LOL I can see how that could be a fun conversation! Glad you got more out of it than I did
Funny you should mention the part about how, when someone gets their arm chopped off, you can't relate, but you can relate to minor cuts. I don't know how familiar you are with giallo director Dario Argento, but it was that exact line of thinking that made him choose the murder methods he used in DEEP RED (PROFONDO ROSSO). Someone gets their face pushed into scalding hot water in a bathtub. Another gets their mouth bashed against the edge of a mantlepiece. Yes, there are some murders that involve pain we might not identify with, but most of them are like the ones I just described.
Yes! I still remember that mantlepiece death 😱
@@CriminOllyBlog By the way, I tried reading this book too. I did not finish, not because it grossed me out, but because it BORED me. I felt like he was trying too hard, meaning he didn't have a story during which gross things happened. Instead, it reads like he must have thought about the gross scenes first, and then he tried to build a plot around them. It's the difference between a comedian like Richard Pryor, who told funny stories that just so happened to have cursing in them, versus a comedian who thinks the CURSING is the funny part. I'm not one of these prudes who thinks a book has to have "redeeming value" or else it is pornography, but I am absolutely unimpressed by a book whose only purpose is to gross people out. It's kind of like an internet troll who leaves insulting comments for the sole purpose of offending, knowing damn well we can't get them because they're hiding behind the anonymity and security of a computer screen. It reminds me of a time when I was walking down the boardwalk in Los Angeles, and...actually, this comment is getting long. I will describe this anecdote in another.
Okay, so I was walking down the boardwalk in Los Angeles. There were a lot of people out and about, doing what they could to earn a buck, like musicians busking and magicians wowing the audience with their superior misdirection skills. I came upon a guy who had several easels set up around him. There were several large drawing pads on these easels, upon which he had written several poems, scrawled in unusual ways so that they filled up each sheet. One of them started with the very noticeable line, "God is a F@G!" I stopped and read beyond that line, and I don't remember what he said exactly, but I do remember thinking there was no point to it. Seemed to me like he wrote that just to anger any religious people who might have gone by. (Who knows? Maybe he had some unfortunate history with the Church and/or religious people.) The only good thing I could say about it is that at least the guy had balls because, if anyone read that and got offended, he was sitting RIGHT THERE, less than five feet from each easel, as opposed to leaving them online.
I'm currently reading this... it's disgusting! Have you ever read "Monster" by Matt Shaw? Give that a try....
It really is, isn't it!
I haven't read that particular Shaw book but have read a couple of others by him which were pretty gross
@@CriminOllyBlog Please give Monster a go... it's vile, it's sickening but also very sad... an extreme horror novel but cannot help having empathy for the protagonist in the story. Also read Sick B***tards byu Matt Shaw - found that one extremely disturbing! I plan on getting more of his books as I thin k he is a good writer!
@@gavvo-7640 Sick Bastards is one of he ones I've read :)
Now that I'm old, I can't watch any videos that feature people slipping on ice, falling off skateboards, riding mountain bikes into a tree -- anything orthopedic, I guess. Multiple small cuts I could probably handle. Although, thinking back to the paper cuts scene from Swimming with Sharks, maybe not.
No 'America's Funniest Home Videos' for you then, Troy
@@CriminOllyBlog Do you have AFHV in the UK or is it BFHV? We have an antenna channel here in Minneapolis that seems to play nothing but videos (many borrowed from UA-cam) of people performing idiotic stunts that invariably end in pain. Literally. 24 hours a day.
@@troytradup our equivalent is called You’ve Been Framed. But yes exactly the same kind of thing. And yeah we have crappy channels that basically play it all day too
Matthew Stokoe seems like an impressive author with so much to offer in terms of storylines and concepts. This particular book by him seems very intriguing. Cows seems like a fairly unusual title for a book. You can never really predict what are the possible events that may unfold within its pages. We all look forward to these types of content from you, Olly. Keep up the good work. May God bless you.
Sounds like a bot
Thanks Sophia!
What you said about violence that you have a frame of reference for being more disturbing totally makes sense to me.
Yes, I've always found that to be true
I read this about a week ago and at first I didn't like it because I felt it was just gross for the sake of being gross. I still think that, but regardless I found myself wanting to know what would happen next while reading. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would but I also understand why someone wouldn't enjoy it
I compare Cows to Scrottie McBoogerballs from Southpark. It's actually very well written but how disgusting it is takes away from that fact.
I love how you describe the books as disgusting but the way you say it , it makes me giggle 🤭
Ha! Thank you
I agree with you 102 precent. Couldnt connect to the carachter at all. It is more disgusting then disturbing. I recently read "dead inside" and somehow connected to both characters even they were engaged in extreme horrific activities. I think due to the fact that you get more inside thier soul. And also, the gross things that they are engaged in, do not cause suffering to living beings...
Keep up the great job
I have Cows on my Amazon watchlist but it sounds like I can take a pass.
I wouldn’t rush to read it
What a great review 👏 👌 love your insights! So glad I found this channel!
Thank you so much!
I agree. I didn't finish it. I'm just one of those people that gore just doesn't do it for me. I think I have been desensitized through the years. As far as disturbing, I like books that have disturbing as in " weird family stuff, mental stuff, or religious stuff" that's not "normal"....as far as horror, I like supernatural, ghosts, demons, etc. Blood and gore just ...no. Also, I am an animal lover and books that have long, drawn out animal killing I just don't read.
Yeah there was a LOT of animal abuse
Just finished it; I also found it didn’t live up to its reputation as a "disturbing book” so much as a disgusting one, but I do find myself reflecting on the possible meaning of Steven sort of “corrupting” the cows by teaching them to be more human in a purely destructive way, while Steven himself sort of deteriorates to a state where he can only live among animals, effectively subhuman himself. I have to disagree with your statement that the meaning of a piece being unclear is a fault of the author; I think there can be lots of value in art with more oblique meanings. One of the greatest books I’ve ever read is ‘The Recognitions’ by William Gaddis & imo a lot of the power of that reading experience comes from the more subtle shades of potential meaning hiding within the obvious themes. I don’t think I’ll ever consider ‘Cows’ to even approach the levels of ‘The Recognitions’ in terms of literary experience & value, but I do want to give more thought to what it might be trying to say
I read your text review where you say the scene that almost made you puke. I can't say that I can see a message in that and I certainly don't want to receive it either!
Ha ha yes I could have lived without receiving it!
Olly, Hi!! Hope you are well, I'm still loving your channel, and you're great in promoting all these interesting reads! Only, please can you tell me how to get on to your COMMUNITY TAB please? Thank you....kind regards 🙂
Thank you for doing this :)
Hi Julia - hopefully the tip Maya posted will help you find it - if not let me know
Funny, I thought Cows was disturbing but Notice was the least disturbing thing I’ve read in years. I would literally fall asleep reading Notice, as I found it boring and tame for my tastes. But Cows? It’s up there with the vilest things I’ve ever gotten through. You want truly disturbing? Read HOGG. I couldn’t even finish it.
I really do think every book impacts every reader in different ways. I have HOGG on my kindle and am very nervous about even starting it, LOL
I haven't read 'Cows' but from your review, I think 'Tender Is The Flesh' suffers from the same problem. Psychology is always far more horrific than gore. You have to get the balance right otherwise, it's just, ironically, dull. Longtime since I've read The Wasp Factory. Now that was a great I need to dig out.
I've read Tender is the Flesh as well now, and I thought that was much more successful. I didn't find it that disturbing, but I thought it was an effective and interesting read.
@@CriminOllyBlog It had its moments but I found a lot of the ideas a tad 'on the nose'. The dark web has already revealed in life at least one of the more disturbing images present in the book and the holocaust itself set the bar a little too high for these gore fest dystopias to really hit the mark.
@@allisterwhitehead that final comment is very true
Seeing someone stub their toe is the worst for me, I always get a pain in my toe and a shiver down my spine😄
Definitely!
Where do you even find these books? I have been looking for Cows cant find it anywhere.
I'm sure people have suggested the book 'Hogg' to you but in your quest to be disturbed so to speak, reading that one I'm predicting will leave you speechless. Juan (he might not remember, but I do) has called evil itself as the narrator. Not the first person narrator, but if the Devil had a voice.
Oh and if you do read and review it, I will utter a certain quote from the book as a running gag every time people on Booktube talk about 'Hogg'.
I do have Hogg on my Kindle waiting to be read. Not sure I'm quite brave enough to dive in yet though
Well.... I guess I won't be picking up Cows anytime soon. :) Just curious... What made you stick with finishing Cows instead of DNF'ing it? Keep up the great work!
To me at least it was horrible but addictive. It's like trying to look away from a car crash.
Yes, it wasn't a book I found hard to finish, if that makes sense
Yeah, there's a huge difference between disgusting and disturbing. I love disturbing books. McCarthy and BEE are two of my favorite authors. I tried reading a splatterpunk book again this year. I found it boring and silly. For me, Keene has been only author that can walk that fine line between horror and grotesque silliness. I am not even tempted to read Cows.
BTW, so glad I found your channel! I've been looking for a book channel with my two favorite genres for a while now. Digging on your vids!
Thank you so much! Comments like that make my day. Really glad you're enjoying the channel
Glad I got this for free on Kindle. Didn't bother to finish it. Like you say, just disgusting to try and shock for the sake of. Massive waste of time.
I think not finishing it was probably a good move!
I was just gonna ask if you saw terrifier 2 and you mentioned it.
I did! In fact I have a video about it going up soon (possibly Sunday)
@@CriminOllyBlog The gore was so over the top it wasn't gross,if that makes any sense.
@@christine7956 yes it does!
I have started to read cows but did not finish yet. So now I’m determined to finish it today for the #readwhatyouownchallenge 🤗 thanks for the book review Mr Olly ❤️
Thanks Bad! 😊
@@CriminOllyBlog welcome Olly 😊enjoy reading 📖
I know that scene! Won't be eating any babyruth candy bars for awhile.
😂😂😂🤢🤮
I've been reading this stupid thing for like a week and a half. I should have been able to read it in a couple days, but I have to take a break every couple of chapters to wash off all the poop.
hahahaha yeah I kind of felt like that too
I agree 100 percent about him writing like a child trying to do a wow factor
Lol yeah it’s pretty blatant - “look at me, I’m so rude”
I have to be in the right mood to read a book like Cows. Disgusting in a book is fine with me, just not all the time!
Completely agree!
I have zero desire to read this one. Enjoyed hearing your thoughts on it though. It sounds pretty poopy. 🤭
LOL it kind of is
Very amusing review, if you found it more disgusting than Hogg & 120 days I’m removing it from my TBR, and pushing Wasp Factory higher up the list.
Loving your channel as a new subscriber! But, I think this one may be a DEF no for me. 😱
Thank you Jo! So glad you're enjoying the channel
hahahaha brutal video title! this book really doesn't sound great... but I still want to read it for some reason haha
I think I agree with you on what makes a book disturbing but I haven't completely made up my mind, I need to read more disturbing books for that!
I think it's one of those books that is almost worth reading just to say you have.
And glad you liked the title LOL
I'd emoji - wager (💴💶💷💸💵💶 ) the author is either a vegan or writing from the perspective of one.
Possibly true
Sounds like the author needs some serious therapy.
😂
What is the most disturbing, according to you?
Notice by Heather Lewis
the tale of scrotie mcbooogerballs but real
Lol
Gosh, how original, the bad mum trope. I wouldn't have DNF'd it, I would have TIO'd it !! (thrown it out 😉). Don't eat meat, as the message ? Carsick looks interesting. I hitch hiked across Britain, I should write a book about it. 👍🤣
I possibly should have done one of those things
I ❤ John Waters
He's an absolute icon
Thanks,,book buddy, for reading this so I don’t have to. 🤗. Really does not seem to be my cuppa tea, and would probably turn me vegetarian. - 📚MJ
Yeah I definitely wouldn't recommend it to you!
Comment added 👻
Thank you!
I wonder if the author is vegan. There is a vegan deathgrind band called Cattle Decapitation that clearly push an agenda in their music.
Cows was on my TBR list but I'm not really interested if it is just a gross out fest...
Other people seem to have taken more from it than I did, but I really wasn’t a fan
I concur Olly haha
LOL thanks Pax
1