Cows is also visionary, brilliant, amazingly complex, a must on my ten best reads of the year list, and the second full-length piece of fiction I have finished in less than twenty-four hours this year.

I tried - I really tried and all I could think to compare it to was Jonathan Swift's essay "A Modest Proposal".Fortunately, a new job at the local slaughterhouse introduces him to Cripps, an insane foreman who preaches the gospel of self-empowerment through killing. Now I must admit it’s a bit weird to read Cows (2015) and then pick up the pulpy Fevre Dream (1982) by R. But the political posturing does not come at the expense of humour, which is illustrated in the bovine metaphor that Cam uses when talking about women, individuality and the cultural imperative to procreate. Steven sickens slowly, holed up in his room, watching perfect lives on TV, dreaming of what it would be like to be safe, to be happy, to be loved.

I completely understand the frustrations that the author has regarding mass-farming and I agree, but on the whole I found that the book was more about describing the personalities of particular cows on her farm rather than a more scientific approach which would have discussed cows as a species. Når man har forsøgt at måle på køers intelligens, har det ofte været med et menneskeligt – og for en ko ubrugeligt – teoretisk udgangspunkt fremfor en praktisk intelligens, som koen rent faktisk kan drage nytte af. This a book that is strangely moving and shows what can be gained from treating animals with the respect that they deserve and is a compelling case against the horrors of factory farming. But where Trollope’s characters are women in their late 40s, dealing with the consequences of the choices they have made, O’Porter’s women are a generation younger, poised on the cusp of a key decision: whether to have children. But if there are a dozen or more, they just sit there and stare insolently at you, they don't leave until they are ready.

Direi più interessante per chi è vissuto da sempre in centro a Manhattan e non ha mai visto una mucca viva che per chi vive in Alto Adige e incontra nella sua vita più mucche, cavalli, maiali che esseri umani. Baby cows will trot off slowly if you approach them, baby bulls will run, even teenage, pre-abbatoir ones, they are all scaredy cats.