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The Cows
COW n. /kaʊ/
A piece of meat; born to breed; past its sell-by-date; one of the herd.
Women don’t have to fall into a stereotype.
The Cows is a powerful novel about three women. In all the noise of modern life, each needs to find their own voice.
It’s about friendship and being female.
It’s bold and brilliant.
It’s searingly perceptive.
It's about never following the herd.
And everyone is going to be talking about it.
A piece of meat; born to breed; past its sell-by-date; one of the herd.
Women don’t have to fall into a stereotype.
The Cows is a powerful novel about three women. In all the noise of modern life, each needs to find their own voice.
It’s about friendship and being female.
It’s bold and brilliant.
It’s searingly perceptive.
It's about never following the herd.
And everyone is going to be talking about it.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2017
About the author
Dawn O'Porter
19 books1,201 followersDAWN O’PORTER lives in London with her husband Chris, her two boys Art and Valentine, and her cats Myrtle and Boo.
Dawn is the bestselling author of the novels The Cows and the Richard and Judy Book Club picks So Lucky and Cat Lady, and her non-fiction title Life in Pieces was also a Sunday Times bestseller.
Dawn started out in TV production but quickly landed in front of the camera, making numerous documentaries that included immersive investigations of Polygamy, Size Zero, Childbirth, Free Love, Breast Cancer and the movie Dirty Dancing.
Dawn’s journalism has appeared in multiple publications and she was the monthly columnist for Glamour magazine. She is now a full-time writer, designs dresses for Joanie Clothing, and has a large following on her Patreon blog.
Instagram: @hotpatooties
www.patreon.com/DawnOPorter
Dawn is the bestselling author of the novels The Cows and the Richard and Judy Book Club picks So Lucky and Cat Lady, and her non-fiction title Life in Pieces was also a Sunday Times bestseller.
Dawn started out in TV production but quickly landed in front of the camera, making numerous documentaries that included immersive investigations of Polygamy, Size Zero, Childbirth, Free Love, Breast Cancer and the movie Dirty Dancing.
Dawn’s journalism has appeared in multiple publications and she was the monthly columnist for Glamour magazine. She is now a full-time writer, designs dresses for Joanie Clothing, and has a large following on her Patreon blog.
Instagram: @hotpatooties
www.patreon.com/DawnOPorter
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,761 reviews
March 9, 2018
Dawn O'Porter gives us a story of women, middle aged, on a journey to discover and consolidate their identity and feel comfortable in their skins. There is much humour, mayhem and comic touches although not all of it worked for me. In that sense, for me, this was a mixed bag of a read, feeling uneven at times and too much, too much, at others. The three women are Tara, single mother and television producer, Camie, a blogger and PA to a well known photographer, Stella. The author puts them in a wide range of diverse scenarios, an embarrassing video that goes viral on social media, relationship with a toy boy, pregnancy, abortion and more. We see the women struggle their way through what life throws at them, and stretched to the limit as they endeavour to handle their issues. They are definitely not women who follow the herd. I found this a funny and entertaining reading with a big dollop of the cringeworthy. I appreciated how the novel touched on important critical issues such as the damage that can be caused by the internet and social media. Many thanks to HarperCollins for an ARC.
April 27, 2017
Link to review: http://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/2...
With heavy billing and a hefty amount of hype, The Cows is clearly a book with high ambitions. It’s certainly an interesting idea – transferring the debate over whether or not a woman is defined by her ability to procreate down to the populist chick lit genre. I had to raise an eyebrow though when the book kicked off with a dictionary definition of what a cow is but which fell into the common misconception that a heifer becomes a cow after giving birth to a calf. Despite my family being two generations away from our farming roots, I still know the truth – a heifer remains a heifer until it has its second calf. This book’s battle cry is a Twitter hashtag, #Dontfollowtheherd and while the cow metaphor is not quite thought out, it does capture something of the tightrope that it can be in attempting to stay out of trouble in the electronic age.
The novel centres around three women, Cam, Tara and Stella. None of them felt quite fleshed out, with more of a feeling of them having been workshopped rather than truly explored. Stella is repeatedly referred to as ‘spiky’, Tara is the Cool Girl who prefers pubs to bars and Cam is obviously O’Porter’s Voice of God with her blog posts on HowItIs.com clearly intended to be taken as Gospel.
There have been so many books written by female journalists and comedians on the subject of modern womanhood and given how clearly Cam was an author-surrogate, I did rather wonder why O’Porter hadn’t just written one of those. It was strange too how a novel which claimed to celebrate non-conformity could have characters who were so interchangeable. Every piece of clothing they ever put on is ‘silky’, every guy has to be ‘cute’ – indeed the word cute is seriously over-represented. This is very much feminism for white women who pluck their eyebrows.
It was strange to read that O’Porter wrote this after herself giving birth. I am in full agreement that a woman can be complete without progeny or indeed without a partner. I even agree with Cam that it does tend to be women who put each other into boxes rather than the men. What I was less comfortable with was the rather vicious way women who did not follow The Way Of Cam were depicted. Sophie is oppressed by her husband in exchange for his cash. Stella becomes a bonkers sperm-thief in her desperate scramble for motherhood. Mel is a bundle of varicose veins who urinates when she sneezes. There is little chance of missing the point here.
There were moments of warmth, with the character of Jason offering a ray of sunshine in a novel full of otherwise fairly depressing relationships. Cam writes about a relationship which she celebrates for its lack of emotional intimacy, Stella is dumped directly before needing treatment to prevent cancer, all the married men appear to lust openly after Tara much to the dismay of their wives and Tara herself … well, she enjoys herself on a train and then gets slut-shamed through the media after a mobile phone video capturing the experience goes viral.
A lot of O’Porter’s arguments felt a little off. It feels childish that Cam’s sisters assume she is a lesbian because she is single. Maybe this is naive – when I was twenty-three, my female line manager asked me this question because I wore jeans rather than a dress to a work night out. Still, your sisters in their forties? Really? Then there’s extremely thinly-veiled attack on Jenni Murray of Woman’s Hour where the Jenni Murray surrogate is labelled a frumpy bat feels like O’Porter has missed the point of a programme which has been running for decades and which has tackled a host of woman’s issues with far greater nuance and depth than O’Porter is likely to ever manage.
At the same time though, I’m not sure how far O’Porter intended her work to be taken seriously – Tara is at one point questioned by a pair of police officers who are actually called Flowers and Potts. I waited for the punchline there and it never came.
I also don’t quite know what I was expected to think of Tara’s train escapade. I would think that it was absolutely disgusting if a man was caught masturbating on a train, whether he thought he was alone or not – but does O’Porter want me to think that Tara is somehow liberated when she does it? The issue for me there is the public shaming. I remember a high school residential where a boy in my year was captured doing the same thing after lights-out thanks to an eagle-eared roommate and a flash camera. The one print of the photo was passed round the class with massed ughs and dismay – but then it was put away and we all moved on. Thanks to the Internet, things are more complicated. Cam grandly tells someone that in enjoying Tara’s humiliation, they are failing at feminism. I don’t think that’s the point there – I wouldn’t watch that video in the same way that I didn’t watch the Tulisa one or look at the photos during the iCloud hack – I was brought up better than to glory in someone else’s humiliation. It’s a decency thing.
The question over whether it is wrong to have a child because you want one, potentially without consulting the potential father – that’s more complex. As someone whose father was kept fully apprised of their existence but who decided before my birth that family was not for him, I don’t think the child is necessarily missing out but there will always be questions. Every situation is different but lightweight fiction such as this isn’t really the place to get into all of this.
A lot of the writing here is a little clunky and repetitive – Cam is referred to as The Face of Childfree Women with tiresome regularity and O’Porter has a little way to go on developing her dialogue. I think the point she was trying to make was that there is another way of being – if you’re not a mother, you will still be ok. That is something that I wholeheartedly applaud. I think with Stella, O’Porter was also trying to capture how dangerous it can be to hold on to a dream like this. Again, while I think the example was a little on the extreme, I would agree with this. It’s just that while telling her readers to not follow the herd, I have a feeling that we are supposed to follow Dawn O’Porter instead. While wearing something silky of course.
With heavy billing and a hefty amount of hype, The Cows is clearly a book with high ambitions. It’s certainly an interesting idea – transferring the debate over whether or not a woman is defined by her ability to procreate down to the populist chick lit genre. I had to raise an eyebrow though when the book kicked off with a dictionary definition of what a cow is but which fell into the common misconception that a heifer becomes a cow after giving birth to a calf. Despite my family being two generations away from our farming roots, I still know the truth – a heifer remains a heifer until it has its second calf. This book’s battle cry is a Twitter hashtag, #Dontfollowtheherd and while the cow metaphor is not quite thought out, it does capture something of the tightrope that it can be in attempting to stay out of trouble in the electronic age.
The novel centres around three women, Cam, Tara and Stella. None of them felt quite fleshed out, with more of a feeling of them having been workshopped rather than truly explored. Stella is repeatedly referred to as ‘spiky’, Tara is the Cool Girl who prefers pubs to bars and Cam is obviously O’Porter’s Voice of God with her blog posts on HowItIs.com clearly intended to be taken as Gospel.
There have been so many books written by female journalists and comedians on the subject of modern womanhood and given how clearly Cam was an author-surrogate, I did rather wonder why O’Porter hadn’t just written one of those. It was strange too how a novel which claimed to celebrate non-conformity could have characters who were so interchangeable. Every piece of clothing they ever put on is ‘silky’, every guy has to be ‘cute’ – indeed the word cute is seriously over-represented. This is very much feminism for white women who pluck their eyebrows.
It was strange to read that O’Porter wrote this after herself giving birth. I am in full agreement that a woman can be complete without progeny or indeed without a partner. I even agree with Cam that it does tend to be women who put each other into boxes rather than the men. What I was less comfortable with was the rather vicious way women who did not follow The Way Of Cam were depicted. Sophie is oppressed by her husband in exchange for his cash. Stella becomes a bonkers sperm-thief in her desperate scramble for motherhood. Mel is a bundle of varicose veins who urinates when she sneezes. There is little chance of missing the point here.
There were moments of warmth, with the character of Jason offering a ray of sunshine in a novel full of otherwise fairly depressing relationships. Cam writes about a relationship which she celebrates for its lack of emotional intimacy, Stella is dumped directly before needing treatment to prevent cancer, all the married men appear to lust openly after Tara much to the dismay of their wives and Tara herself … well, she enjoys herself on a train and then gets slut-shamed through the media after a mobile phone video capturing the experience goes viral.
A lot of O’Porter’s arguments felt a little off. It feels childish that Cam’s sisters assume she is a lesbian because she is single. Maybe this is naive – when I was twenty-three, my female line manager asked me this question because I wore jeans rather than a dress to a work night out. Still, your sisters in their forties? Really? Then there’s extremely thinly-veiled attack on Jenni Murray of Woman’s Hour where the Jenni Murray surrogate is labelled a frumpy bat feels like O’Porter has missed the point of a programme which has been running for decades and which has tackled a host of woman’s issues with far greater nuance and depth than O’Porter is likely to ever manage.
At the same time though, I’m not sure how far O’Porter intended her work to be taken seriously – Tara is at one point questioned by a pair of police officers who are actually called Flowers and Potts. I waited for the punchline there and it never came.
I also don’t quite know what I was expected to think of Tara’s train escapade. I would think that it was absolutely disgusting if a man was caught masturbating on a train, whether he thought he was alone or not – but does O’Porter want me to think that Tara is somehow liberated when she does it? The issue for me there is the public shaming. I remember a high school residential where a boy in my year was captured doing the same thing after lights-out thanks to an eagle-eared roommate and a flash camera. The one print of the photo was passed round the class with massed ughs and dismay – but then it was put away and we all moved on. Thanks to the Internet, things are more complicated. Cam grandly tells someone that in enjoying Tara’s humiliation, they are failing at feminism. I don’t think that’s the point there – I wouldn’t watch that video in the same way that I didn’t watch the Tulisa one or look at the photos during the iCloud hack – I was brought up better than to glory in someone else’s humiliation. It’s a decency thing.
The question over whether it is wrong to have a child because you want one, potentially without consulting the potential father – that’s more complex. As someone whose father was kept fully apprised of their existence but who decided before my birth that family was not for him, I don’t think the child is necessarily missing out but there will always be questions. Every situation is different but lightweight fiction such as this isn’t really the place to get into all of this.
A lot of the writing here is a little clunky and repetitive – Cam is referred to as The Face of Childfree Women with tiresome regularity and O’Porter has a little way to go on developing her dialogue. I think the point she was trying to make was that there is another way of being – if you’re not a mother, you will still be ok. That is something that I wholeheartedly applaud. I think with Stella, O’Porter was also trying to capture how dangerous it can be to hold on to a dream like this. Again, while I think the example was a little on the extreme, I would agree with this. It’s just that while telling her readers to not follow the herd, I have a feeling that we are supposed to follow Dawn O’Porter instead. While wearing something silky of course.
October 26, 2017
Not at all sure I've chosen the right rating because I'm uncertain whether to regard The Cows as a work of satiric fiction or a domestic drama about contemporary life. The principal characters are women just crossing the threshold of middle-age, tho' their emotional age is about 16. They are employed on the margins of what is referred to as 'the creative sector': Tara a producer ot television documentaries, Stella the PA for a famous photographer, & Camie, a blogger who advocates for women to be free to be childless & enjoy sex without commitment, putting her beliefs into action with a 26 y/o boy-toy. Both Tara & Stella are hot for the photographer for different reasons. Tara has a child but needs a man; Stella, who has bad genes requiring a hysterectomy and mastectomies, wants a baby. But after her first unconsummated encounter with the photog Jason, Tara is videoed masturbating in a tube train and goes viral as the Wandsworth Wank Woman whilst Jason accidentally loses his mobile phone down a town drain. (Neither of these incidents, BTW, is remotely believable.) There is a marvellously embarrassing television interview that Tara subjects herself to, which I found totally convincing and darkly hilarious. The mores in this world are quite foreign to me: boy-toy gets blogger pregnant and—surprise—he wants a relationship & blogger to have baby. But as the voice of childless women, blogger determines on abortion instead, but then was written out of the script in a totally arbitrary and unconvincing accident. When word transpires that blogger was 9 weeks pregnant (I am still trying to figure out how the public finds out—so far as I know obituaries don't usually include this sort of information), her followers are most upset that she should be such an unprincipled hypocrite as to fall pregnant till they discover (how?) that Camie had scheduled an abortion in the next couple of days, proving she was a person of high standards after all. Meanwhile, at literally the climactic moment, Tara interrupts Jason with the avid to conceive Stella. As we are assured that Jason finds Stella attractive, and her only interest is the baby, why didn't she simply ask if he would be kind enough to perform this favour of impregnating her? It'd scarcely take him away from the book he is trying to finish for more than five minutes! The more you think about the plot of this book, the more it disintegrates. But parts of it are indeed hilariously funny, and I also learned a huge amount about matters that many of us single males know little about like ovulation cycles and cough syrup.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2017
i've read some strange books in my time but this one takes the cake
July 8, 2018
This book caught my eye at the store, possibly because of it horrendous cover art; but I picked it up and read the synopsis and first few pages anyway. The introduction implies that society sees women either as pieces of meat or child bearers - and that their quality as meat declines as soon as they have had children. I knew I had to read it.
"The Cows" is the interconnected story of three very different women who have experienced sexism, but also (more or less subtle) bullying from other women about their life choices. Tara is a middle aged single mom working on Internet-television documentaries; Camilla is a blogger known for her strong opinions and liberated lifestyle; Stella is the quiet PA of a famous photographer who is going through a complicated grieving process - her twin sister died of cancer, and she knows she must get a preventive surgery that will save her life but render her incapable of having a baby, something she desperately wants. Their lives collide when Tara is caught on camera doing something pretty private, bringing up the issues of sexist double standards, privacy, slut shaming and public shaming, consent and Internet trolling.
This book is brutally frank about some realities experienced by pretty much all women: out of line colleagues, illogical societal pressures about, well, everything, daily hypocrisies and the bottomless garbage pit that is the Internet. The narrative is honest, funny and surprisingly compassionate. I wondered where Stella's story line was going because for a while it felt like an entirely different kind of book, but then it turned into an interesting exploration of the suffering that results in people behaving with hostility towards perfect stranger.
I loved Cam: living by her own rules and for herself, not to please anyone despite the pressures and misunderstanding of her family. As much as I completely understood her position about children (I'm the proud owner of two tied tubes myself), I also think she was very hard on herself; the right to choose also means the right to change your mind.
The reason "The Cows" doesn't get the full five stars, no matter how much I loved it, is because quite a few crucial plot points are wildly far-fetched and unrealistic. I get that they are hilarious and perfect to illustrate the points O'Porter is trying to make, and that reality is often stranger than fiction so why couldn't these things happen... but I just found myself thinking "ok, that would NEVER happen" a couple of times. But then again if she was trying to bring social commentary to the chick lit genre, which is mostly unbelievable drivel, then she accomplished exactly what she set out to do!
A flawed but relatable and very thought-provoking book! 4 and a half stars and a strong recommendation!
"The Cows" is the interconnected story of three very different women who have experienced sexism, but also (more or less subtle) bullying from other women about their life choices. Tara is a middle aged single mom working on Internet-television documentaries; Camilla is a blogger known for her strong opinions and liberated lifestyle; Stella is the quiet PA of a famous photographer who is going through a complicated grieving process - her twin sister died of cancer, and she knows she must get a preventive surgery that will save her life but render her incapable of having a baby, something she desperately wants. Their lives collide when Tara is caught on camera doing something pretty private, bringing up the issues of sexist double standards, privacy, slut shaming and public shaming, consent and Internet trolling.
This book is brutally frank about some realities experienced by pretty much all women: out of line colleagues, illogical societal pressures about, well, everything, daily hypocrisies and the bottomless garbage pit that is the Internet. The narrative is honest, funny and surprisingly compassionate. I wondered where Stella's story line was going because for a while it felt like an entirely different kind of book, but then it turned into an interesting exploration of the suffering that results in people behaving with hostility towards perfect stranger.
I loved Cam: living by her own rules and for herself, not to please anyone despite the pressures and misunderstanding of her family. As much as I completely understood her position about children (I'm the proud owner of two tied tubes myself), I also think she was very hard on herself; the right to choose also means the right to change your mind.
The reason "The Cows" doesn't get the full five stars, no matter how much I loved it, is because quite a few crucial plot points are wildly far-fetched and unrealistic. I get that they are hilarious and perfect to illustrate the points O'Porter is trying to make, and that reality is often stranger than fiction so why couldn't these things happen... but I just found myself thinking "ok, that would NEVER happen" a couple of times. But then again if she was trying to bring social commentary to the chick lit genre, which is mostly unbelievable drivel, then she accomplished exactly what she set out to do!
A flawed but relatable and very thought-provoking book! 4 and a half stars and a strong recommendation!
July 14, 2021
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My mom brought this book back from me when she went to the UK. I thought it looked really interesting despite the ugly cover (sorry, but it is ugly, okay?) and did what I do with 80% of my books: put it down somewhere and forgot I owned it. While cleaning out my shelves, I happened across it again and decided to give it a read. Almost immediately, I was sucked into the story and it was giving me ALL THE FEELINGS, good and bad. I wished I'd read it sooner.
THE COWS is a chick-lit book that is unlike other chick-lit books in that it doesn't play to the usual stereotypes. The women are allowed to be unlikable and non-traditional; they aren't peppy caricatures of girlhood. Tara is a TV shark and a single mom whose life is derailed by a moment that goes viral. Stella is the PA to a photographer and working through grief of her mother's and twin's deaths to cancer. All three of them have the BRCA gene and she wants desperately to have a child before having her breasts and uterus removed. And then there's Cam, a lifestyle blogger who's single and child-free and loving it. All three of their storylines end up intersecting in an interesting and unexpected way that had me white-knuckling the book.
Not only is the story good, I think it has a really great message. I loved Tara and Cam and I REALLY fucking hated Stella, but I can see why the author chose to wrote them all the way she did. Society really does place unfair standards on women. I related to Cam the most because, like her, I'm a blogger who can come off as charismatic online but is actually quite anxious in person, and I also am uninterested in having children. When you have a platform like that, I think there is an expectation that, as a woman, you portray a universal experience of womanhood. But you can't be EVERYTHING, and when you fail at that, people lash out at you for not being who they want you to be. That parasocial interaction and how quickly it becomes toxic is really played out intensely in THE COWS, how having a public persona makes people feel entitled to you and your spaces, and you almost start feeling more like an abstract and less of a person. It was done SO well here that it was honestly chilling.
Tara, on the other hand, is the perfect example of internet shaming gone awry. Her story kind of reminded me of that woman who tweeted the AIDS joke while on a plane and then had people tracking her flight number gleefully, waiting for her to find out that the whole world had declared her Public Enemy of the Day. She was the character I think I really felt for the most and I loved her interactions with her daughter and how she really fought hard to be taken seriously, as both a single mother, and as a social pariah. Motherhood can take many forms and there is no one right answer, and I felt like the author had a lot of things to say about that subject too that were all fairly empowering.
As for Stella, I think she's the epitome of what sometimes drives trolling on the internet. Happy people don't usually make it their business to ruin other people's lives. She behaved abominably and selfishly and I wanted to strangle her for it, but she was such a troubled character with so much shit being flung in her direction that it was hard not to feel sorry for her a (very) tiny bit. The ending with her storyline maybe wasn't the vindictive finish I was hoping for, but I guess that is kind of the moral of this story: we, as a society, feel far too comfortable persecuting women for not conforming to society's standards and leaving them at the mercy of mob justice. So I guess in that sense, I felt satisfied.
This is such a smart and intense book. I hope they make it into a TV mini-series. I feel like it would appeal to the same sorts of audiences who enjoyed Big Little Lies.
4.5 stars
October 26, 2017
One of the worst books I have read in a long time. Good premise but just ridiculous. The writing was also painfully bad.
March 29, 2017
3.5 stars. This novel is about 3 women, Tara, Stella and Cam.
Tara is a single mother who makes online documentaries. Cam is single and a feisty who is committed to being childless. She writes a blog about women and their issues. Stella is grieving the death of her sister, Alice, who had ovarian cancer.
The contents of this novel might offend some people as it covers abortion, sex, periods and masterbation to name a few. It tells about the dangers of videos going viral.
I did enjoy this novel but some scenarios were just a little far fetched. I will leave you to make your own mind up on these. A well written, topical novel about women who stand by their beliefs. Definitely not a book for the prudish!
I would like to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins UK HarperFiction and the author Dawn O'Porter for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Tara is a single mother who makes online documentaries. Cam is single and a feisty who is committed to being childless. She writes a blog about women and their issues. Stella is grieving the death of her sister, Alice, who had ovarian cancer.
The contents of this novel might offend some people as it covers abortion, sex, periods and masterbation to name a few. It tells about the dangers of videos going viral.
I did enjoy this novel but some scenarios were just a little far fetched. I will leave you to make your own mind up on these. A well written, topical novel about women who stand by their beliefs. Definitely not a book for the prudish!
I would like to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins UK HarperFiction and the author Dawn O'Porter for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 8, 2017
The Cows is absolutely brilliant. It made me laugh, cry, cringe with embarrassment, nod in agreement and left me feeling rather emotional, yet completely empowered by the end of it.
This story focusses on three very different women who are initially unconnected, but gradually become a part of each other’s lives due to events that in many ways are out of their control.
Tara – A single mum and successful career woman, thanks to her own mum helping to take care of her daughter for her.
Cam – A very confident blogger who never wants children.
Stella – A woman struggling to cope with the death of her twin sister, dealing with health issues and wants nothing more than to have a child of her own.
I’m finding it hard to say what happens in this book, as I don’t want to give too much away, so all I’m going to say about the plot is that one woman makes a rather embarrassing mistake that turns her life upside down.
This book feels very current with the focus on social media and feminism. I loved this story. I couldn’t get enough of it and the messages and opinions within the storyline really resonated with me.
I liked Tara, and found myself laughing a lot while I was reading about her. I connected with Stella the least. I did feel for her, especially as she seemed so sad, but definitely didn’t fully connect with her.
I particularly related to Cam, as I too chose to wear band t-shirts and talk about music with boys rather than gossip sessions with girls when I was growing up. One of my teachers in secondary school used to refer to the class as boys, girls and Julie. In another class most of the girls were sat on one side of the room, the boys on the other, but I was always found sat amongst the boys. I don’t really know why this happened. It’s just where I felt more at home. I was quite shy and low in confidence, so I suppose I felt intimidated by female competition and bitchiness. Boys talked about more interesting things and didn’t argue so much, which made me feel more relaxed around them. I’ve always been feminine, but can’t relate to female stereotyped things like orange foundation, scary HD eyebrows, high heels and prosecco. Give me geeky glasses, Doc Marten boots, rock music and a double rum any day.
I also related to Cam’s lack of desire to have children. There are various reasons for me not having children. Partly due to health and circumstances, but mostly through choice. No novel I’ve read before has made so much sense and expressed so much support and sensible reasoning for a woman choosing not to have children. I loved that this book made me feel normal. It’s not that I hate children, I just don’t want any myself. I love being an auntie, as I can have a great time with my niece for a few days, then give her back to my sister when I’m exhausted and want to get back to my own routine.
When I was younger I was often asked why I didn’t have kids yet and told that I would change my mind. Thankfully, now I’m almost 40 years old, most people have accepted my mind is not going to change. I definitely used to feel the pressure that by not having children I was somehow wasting my womb and not performing my duty as a woman. Through Cam and her beliefs, this book reassured me that is not the case. My womb hasn’t gone to waste. Being born with a womb and the hormones that come with being female, is partly what makes me who I am. If I had been born a man, I would likely have been less emotional than I am, and I love being emotional. It makes me fall in love with the books I read, be enthusiastically affectionate towards animals, see and feel the beauty of nature around me. I love being a woman! I love being me!
Despite loving this book, I have never seen myself as a feminist, although now I’m beginning to think I’ve probably been one all my life without realising it. I’m just another human being trying to get on in life the best I can. We are all guilty of judging others, but I have always tried my best to see the beauty in diversity and often dream of a day when we can all embrace our differences. I think it’s safe to say I’ve never followed the herd. In fact, cows scare me, although not quite as much as sharks!
This story focusses on three very different women who are initially unconnected, but gradually become a part of each other’s lives due to events that in many ways are out of their control.
Tara – A single mum and successful career woman, thanks to her own mum helping to take care of her daughter for her.
Cam – A very confident blogger who never wants children.
Stella – A woman struggling to cope with the death of her twin sister, dealing with health issues and wants nothing more than to have a child of her own.
I’m finding it hard to say what happens in this book, as I don’t want to give too much away, so all I’m going to say about the plot is that one woman makes a rather embarrassing mistake that turns her life upside down.
This book feels very current with the focus on social media and feminism. I loved this story. I couldn’t get enough of it and the messages and opinions within the storyline really resonated with me.
I liked Tara, and found myself laughing a lot while I was reading about her. I connected with Stella the least. I did feel for her, especially as she seemed so sad, but definitely didn’t fully connect with her.
I particularly related to Cam, as I too chose to wear band t-shirts and talk about music with boys rather than gossip sessions with girls when I was growing up. One of my teachers in secondary school used to refer to the class as boys, girls and Julie. In another class most of the girls were sat on one side of the room, the boys on the other, but I was always found sat amongst the boys. I don’t really know why this happened. It’s just where I felt more at home. I was quite shy and low in confidence, so I suppose I felt intimidated by female competition and bitchiness. Boys talked about more interesting things and didn’t argue so much, which made me feel more relaxed around them. I’ve always been feminine, but can’t relate to female stereotyped things like orange foundation, scary HD eyebrows, high heels and prosecco. Give me geeky glasses, Doc Marten boots, rock music and a double rum any day.
I also related to Cam’s lack of desire to have children. There are various reasons for me not having children. Partly due to health and circumstances, but mostly through choice. No novel I’ve read before has made so much sense and expressed so much support and sensible reasoning for a woman choosing not to have children. I loved that this book made me feel normal. It’s not that I hate children, I just don’t want any myself. I love being an auntie, as I can have a great time with my niece for a few days, then give her back to my sister when I’m exhausted and want to get back to my own routine.
When I was younger I was often asked why I didn’t have kids yet and told that I would change my mind. Thankfully, now I’m almost 40 years old, most people have accepted my mind is not going to change. I definitely used to feel the pressure that by not having children I was somehow wasting my womb and not performing my duty as a woman. Through Cam and her beliefs, this book reassured me that is not the case. My womb hasn’t gone to waste. Being born with a womb and the hormones that come with being female, is partly what makes me who I am. If I had been born a man, I would likely have been less emotional than I am, and I love being emotional. It makes me fall in love with the books I read, be enthusiastically affectionate towards animals, see and feel the beauty of nature around me. I love being a woman! I love being me!
Despite loving this book, I have never seen myself as a feminist, although now I’m beginning to think I’ve probably been one all my life without realising it. I’m just another human being trying to get on in life the best I can. We are all guilty of judging others, but I have always tried my best to see the beauty in diversity and often dream of a day when we can all embrace our differences. I think it’s safe to say I’ve never followed the herd. In fact, cows scare me, although not quite as much as sharks!
May 3, 2017
I really don't get why the reviews are so good. It's a good thing to be a feminist, it's definitely not a good thing to try to get a man to impregnate you (without him knowing your intentions), to pretend you have cancer and then label it as a woman taking life by the horns! I love stories about strong and complicated women but this was so short of that. Disappointing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 30, 2023
Having really enjoyed So Lucky, I thought I'd read another from this author.
I must say I loved this even more!
It's very much a female driven narrative, tackling various issues that ladies face in the modern world that helped make it an eye-opening read.
The plot follows three distinctive characters in Cam, Tara and Stella.
Out of the trio, it's Tara's subplot that is the most striking.
Mainly because of the quite openly sexual conversations and a particular situation that she now finds herself in.
I was surprised by the dramatic ending, though also appreciated how all three strands converged, very witty and thoughtful - I'd happily read a sequel featuring these characters.
I must say I loved this even more!
It's very much a female driven narrative, tackling various issues that ladies face in the modern world that helped make it an eye-opening read.
The plot follows three distinctive characters in Cam, Tara and Stella.
Out of the trio, it's Tara's subplot that is the most striking.
Mainly because of the quite openly sexual conversations and a particular situation that she now finds herself in.
I was surprised by the dramatic ending, though also appreciated how all three strands converged, very witty and thoughtful - I'd happily read a sequel featuring these characters.
January 2, 2018
I was so excited to start it. I love her. Love her on social media, her articles and documentaries and I read and loved both of her YA novels. So I had HIGH expectations.
Such a let down.
The story revolves around 3 women in their 30s and 40s (Tara, Cam and Stella) all living in London. Unconnected at the start but events transpire to bring them together.
Two problems at the outset. Firstly, I didn't like any of the 3 women for various reasons (one implausibly irresponsible, one was so vain and arrogant, and the third behaved so ludicrously I couldn't take her seriously). Secondly, the act that the book centres on and that eventually brings all of the women together was totally ridiculous. A public act of masturbation. On a train. Commited by a woman in her 40s. A single mother. After a date where she gets merry but is sober enough to spurn his advances, knowing that she likes him and wants to take it slowly. But then all of a sudden not sober enough to be able to decide to wait 20 minutes until she gets home.
The way this character acted in the aftermath was too much for me. Her child was abandoned so she could wallow as she watched the act go viral.
Another character was a blogger who was extremely badly written. Couldn't decide who she was from one chapter to the next. Was she happy being childless or not? I was confused.
The third woman was supposed to be the most empathatic. A woman dealing with the death of her twin sister. But her actions and reactions during the book, brought any sympathy I might have had for her to an abrupt end.
The entire book sent out mixed messages. One minute it preached against judging women for their actions and choices and the next referred to a secondary character as trashy for her choices!
Such a let down.
The story revolves around 3 women in their 30s and 40s (Tara, Cam and Stella) all living in London. Unconnected at the start but events transpire to bring them together.
Two problems at the outset. Firstly, I didn't like any of the 3 women for various reasons (one implausibly irresponsible, one was so vain and arrogant, and the third behaved so ludicrously I couldn't take her seriously). Secondly, the act that the book centres on and that eventually brings all of the women together was totally ridiculous. A public act of masturbation. On a train. Commited by a woman in her 40s. A single mother. After a date where she gets merry but is sober enough to spurn his advances, knowing that she likes him and wants to take it slowly. But then all of a sudden not sober enough to be able to decide to wait 20 minutes until she gets home.
The way this character acted in the aftermath was too much for me. Her child was abandoned so she could wallow as she watched the act go viral.
Another character was a blogger who was extremely badly written. Couldn't decide who she was from one chapter to the next. Was she happy being childless or not? I was confused.
The third woman was supposed to be the most empathatic. A woman dealing with the death of her twin sister. But her actions and reactions during the book, brought any sympathy I might have had for her to an abrupt end.
The entire book sent out mixed messages. One minute it preached against judging women for their actions and choices and the next referred to a secondary character as trashy for her choices!
March 30, 2017
3.5
I am going to start this review by saying that I didn't very much enjoy Dawn O'Porter's first novel, Paper Aeroplanes. Despite that, I was still excited when The Cows was made available to me through Netgalley. I do like O'Porter and her documentaries, and the blurb that accompanied this book sounded promising.
This book has changed my opinion of O'Porter as a novelist. Like the little check-ins with the Daily Mail online that many of us enjoy, it is addictive. The book follows the story of three female protagonists: Tara, a single mother and online documentary-maker who, in the opening pages of this book, is filmed masturbating on a public (but empty) train; Cam, a single feisty feminist in her 30s, committed to remaining childless, who writes a very successful blog about being a woman and women's issues; and, finally, Stella, a lonely, soon-to-be single P.A. carrying the BRCA gene, who is grieving the death of her twin sister, Alice, from ovarian cancer. That all makes it sound like there's a lot going on in this novel, but O'Porter handles the ins and outs of all this drama excellently.
What I really like about this book is the sheer boldness of it. O'Porter is absolutely fearless in how she writes about the situations that affect women. Masturbation, sex, orgasms, periods, pregnancy, abortion: O'Porter hides from nothing. She tackles each topic unapologetically, empowering each of the women she celebrates in these stories. If you are a bit prudish, you might recoil at some of the language used here, but it didn't phase me in the slightest.
The characters O'Porter creates between this book's pages are funny, engaging and vivid. I especially love Tara and Cam, both strong, admirable women who forge their own paths in life. Stella, I found myself liking a little bit less. In fact, there were times while reading this novel that I felt myself really pitying her, often worrying about the state of her mental health, and just wishing she would shake herself. But she came through a little better for me towards the end of the book.
Overall, the characters are believable, although some of the situations they got themselves into hung a little bit of the edge of reality, for me. I mean, can you imagine yourself masturbating on a public (but empty) Tube on the Victoria line, just because you felt "horny"? And what Tube that leaves Tottenham Court Road at 11:40pm (approx.) on a Friday night is completely empty? And, even if it was, would you still feel comfortable going for it? (If you would, power to you, but I just found this a little farfetched.) There were other times throughout this book where I thought to myself, "No, that would never happen". For example, in the digital, social media-infiltrated world in which we live, are we expected to believe that something as scandalous as the video of a young, single female pleasuring herself on a London Tube (which we are told has gone viral and been viewed over 3 million times) would escape the attention of a male photographer with an online following and presence? The man in question is Jason, Tara's love interest, who was the cause of her getting so fired up on that very train ride. Right after meeting Tara and saying his goodbyes, he was hit by a cyclist and his phone fell down a drain (leaving him with no way of contacting her). Are we expected to believe that just because he couldn't access the internet on his phone for a period of time, he escaped the hype, the public gossip, the newspaper articles, the Sky News interview etc. relating to this scandal? You can't write a book about the absolute soakage of the internet and social media and then expect us to believe that a story as big as this one didn't reach the one person Tara was trying to track down. Again, it just didn't ring true for me.
Despite these minor blips, however, The Cows proves itself to be an immensely enjoyable read with some excellent discussions of women and their friendships with each other. I love how it pays tribute to all kinds women: mothers; older, married women; single women; women who don't want children; powerful, successful women; and women who refuse to follow the herd. This book is a searing and fearless look at the choices women make in spite of their sex or biological make-up, and the consequences that can come from speaking about your choices in a public forum. I think it is a truly courageous offering from O'Porter that has certainly changed my opinion of her written work. Thank you so much to the publisher and to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to enjoy The Cows.
I am going to start this review by saying that I didn't very much enjoy Dawn O'Porter's first novel, Paper Aeroplanes. Despite that, I was still excited when The Cows was made available to me through Netgalley. I do like O'Porter and her documentaries, and the blurb that accompanied this book sounded promising.
This book has changed my opinion of O'Porter as a novelist. Like the little check-ins with the Daily Mail online that many of us enjoy, it is addictive. The book follows the story of three female protagonists: Tara, a single mother and online documentary-maker who, in the opening pages of this book, is filmed masturbating on a public (but empty) train; Cam, a single feisty feminist in her 30s, committed to remaining childless, who writes a very successful blog about being a woman and women's issues; and, finally, Stella, a lonely, soon-to-be single P.A. carrying the BRCA gene, who is grieving the death of her twin sister, Alice, from ovarian cancer. That all makes it sound like there's a lot going on in this novel, but O'Porter handles the ins and outs of all this drama excellently.
What I really like about this book is the sheer boldness of it. O'Porter is absolutely fearless in how she writes about the situations that affect women. Masturbation, sex, orgasms, periods, pregnancy, abortion: O'Porter hides from nothing. She tackles each topic unapologetically, empowering each of the women she celebrates in these stories. If you are a bit prudish, you might recoil at some of the language used here, but it didn't phase me in the slightest.
The characters O'Porter creates between this book's pages are funny, engaging and vivid. I especially love Tara and Cam, both strong, admirable women who forge their own paths in life. Stella, I found myself liking a little bit less. In fact, there were times while reading this novel that I felt myself really pitying her, often worrying about the state of her mental health, and just wishing she would shake herself. But she came through a little better for me towards the end of the book.
Overall, the characters are believable, although some of the situations they got themselves into hung a little bit of the edge of reality, for me. I mean, can you imagine yourself masturbating on a public (but empty) Tube on the Victoria line, just because you felt "horny"? And what Tube that leaves Tottenham Court Road at 11:40pm (approx.) on a Friday night is completely empty? And, even if it was, would you still feel comfortable going for it? (If you would, power to you, but I just found this a little farfetched.) There were other times throughout this book where I thought to myself, "No, that would never happen". For example, in the digital, social media-infiltrated world in which we live, are we expected to believe that something as scandalous as the video of a young, single female pleasuring herself on a London Tube (which we are told has gone viral and been viewed over 3 million times) would escape the attention of a male photographer with an online following and presence? The man in question is Jason, Tara's love interest, who was the cause of her getting so fired up on that very train ride. Right after meeting Tara and saying his goodbyes, he was hit by a cyclist and his phone fell down a drain (leaving him with no way of contacting her). Are we expected to believe that just because he couldn't access the internet on his phone for a period of time, he escaped the hype, the public gossip, the newspaper articles, the Sky News interview etc. relating to this scandal? You can't write a book about the absolute soakage of the internet and social media and then expect us to believe that a story as big as this one didn't reach the one person Tara was trying to track down. Again, it just didn't ring true for me.
Despite these minor blips, however, The Cows proves itself to be an immensely enjoyable read with some excellent discussions of women and their friendships with each other. I love how it pays tribute to all kinds women: mothers; older, married women; single women; women who don't want children; powerful, successful women; and women who refuse to follow the herd. This book is a searing and fearless look at the choices women make in spite of their sex or biological make-up, and the consequences that can come from speaking about your choices in a public forum. I think it is a truly courageous offering from O'Porter that has certainly changed my opinion of her written work. Thank you so much to the publisher and to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to enjoy The Cows.
May 6, 2018
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
A fabulously thinly veiled 'call to arms' for women everywhere - solidarity, sisters; not judgement and jealousy!
Any book about feminism is usually of interest to me. However, to refer to r The Cows as a simple feminist story would be to do it serious injustice. It's an upbeat, wise-cracking examination of how many females judge and bully one another (particularly online) - and an overall message to remind us to a) get over it and b) start supporting one another a lot more. AMEN TO THAT!
The book centres on three women. Cam is a successful blogger who rapidly becomes the face of childless women everywhere - daring to speak out about her lack of desire to procreate, despite encountering vicious protests online. Tara is an equally successful media type and mother of one. And Stella is a woman in a state of grief - for her dead mother and twin sister, and for her own health problems.
The book really explodes into action when Tara does something that is regarded as unspeakably awful by the general public as a whole (I won't spoil the surprise by telling you what it is). She becomes an overnight sensation for all the wrong reasons - and in a heartbeat, her career and life seems completely wrecked. Cam is the only woman who seems to stick up for her, even though they've never met. And Stella? Well, Stella's jealous actions hurt both women, but there's a twist at the end...
There is soooo much to love about this book - not least because the characters are so relateable. Even though Stella's actions are at best questionable and at worst psychotic, the pain conveyed over her twin sister's death is palpable and moving. Tara's moment of shame initially had me thinking 'who would do that' - and struggling to suspend my disbelief, before realising that the act itself wasn't the thing the author wanted me to focus in on. Instead, it was other people's reactions. Glee at seeing someone else publicly humiliated. Judgement at their lifestyle choices. Ruthless bullying online. It was repulsive to read and it was right to make the reader repulsed. Thousands of people troll online everyday - it's a vile act, yet somehow as a society, we deem it acceptable or at least something that must be tolerated. Since when did this become okay?
But I digress. I think this book is a call to arms to ALL women - to be more accepting (and less judgey) of other women's actions and decisions, and to start supporting one another, not butting heads all the time. As the book so succinctly summarises, it doesn't matter if you're childless or a mother of eight, or if you're in a relationship or not, or if you're a career mum or a stay at home mother - these decisions don't define you as a person, and they certainly shouldn't limit you.
I very much enjoyed this book. Can you tell?!
A fabulously thinly veiled 'call to arms' for women everywhere - solidarity, sisters; not judgement and jealousy!
Any book about feminism is usually of interest to me. However, to refer to r The Cows as a simple feminist story would be to do it serious injustice. It's an upbeat, wise-cracking examination of how many females judge and bully one another (particularly online) - and an overall message to remind us to a) get over it and b) start supporting one another a lot more. AMEN TO THAT!
The book centres on three women. Cam is a successful blogger who rapidly becomes the face of childless women everywhere - daring to speak out about her lack of desire to procreate, despite encountering vicious protests online. Tara is an equally successful media type and mother of one. And Stella is a woman in a state of grief - for her dead mother and twin sister, and for her own health problems.
The book really explodes into action when Tara does something that is regarded as unspeakably awful by the general public as a whole (I won't spoil the surprise by telling you what it is). She becomes an overnight sensation for all the wrong reasons - and in a heartbeat, her career and life seems completely wrecked. Cam is the only woman who seems to stick up for her, even though they've never met. And Stella? Well, Stella's jealous actions hurt both women, but there's a twist at the end...
There is soooo much to love about this book - not least because the characters are so relateable. Even though Stella's actions are at best questionable and at worst psychotic, the pain conveyed over her twin sister's death is palpable and moving. Tara's moment of shame initially had me thinking 'who would do that' - and struggling to suspend my disbelief, before realising that the act itself wasn't the thing the author wanted me to focus in on. Instead, it was other people's reactions. Glee at seeing someone else publicly humiliated. Judgement at their lifestyle choices. Ruthless bullying online. It was repulsive to read and it was right to make the reader repulsed. Thousands of people troll online everyday - it's a vile act, yet somehow as a society, we deem it acceptable or at least something that must be tolerated. Since when did this become okay?
But I digress. I think this book is a call to arms to ALL women - to be more accepting (and less judgey) of other women's actions and decisions, and to start supporting one another, not butting heads all the time. As the book so succinctly summarises, it doesn't matter if you're childless or a mother of eight, or if you're in a relationship or not, or if you're a career mum or a stay at home mother - these decisions don't define you as a person, and they certainly shouldn't limit you.
I very much enjoyed this book. Can you tell?!
June 21, 2018
I used to think Dawn O'Porter was great, but this book was frankly awful.
It was supposed to be some sort of feminist statement, but if you think feminism is a load of women being awful to each other while saying things like 'just make an effort to change your life! get what you want!' then that's pretty shocking. All the characters were awful, the 'feminist' blogs interspersed throughout were awfully written (although no worse than the rest of the writing), the physical descriptions of women were awful, like the stereotypical male fantasy writing that people laugh at "Like every guy I've ever slept with, Jason buckles at the sight of my breasts". The main premise of the story made me cringe unbearably. The descriptions of women who were mothers becoming fat and peeing themselves was revolting, while the woman who couldn't become a mother turned into a complete psychopath. None of the characters ever behaved in any sort of believable way. I kind of see what she was trying to do, but she utterly failed.
The only thing I can say in her defence is that I would never normally read a book of this genre.... so maybe this is what they're all like, but I was sucked in on the 'it's a feminist statement' and by Dawn O'Porter premise.
Oh, and at one point the character is on an 'eastbound Victoria line train'. LITERALLY ANYONE THAT LIVES IN LONDON WOULD KNOW THAT THE VICTORIA LINE IS NEVER EASTBOUND.
It was supposed to be some sort of feminist statement, but if you think feminism is a load of women being awful to each other while saying things like 'just make an effort to change your life! get what you want!' then that's pretty shocking. All the characters were awful, the 'feminist' blogs interspersed throughout were awfully written (although no worse than the rest of the writing), the physical descriptions of women were awful, like the stereotypical male fantasy writing that people laugh at "Like every guy I've ever slept with, Jason buckles at the sight of my breasts". The main premise of the story made me cringe unbearably. The descriptions of women who were mothers becoming fat and peeing themselves was revolting, while the woman who couldn't become a mother turned into a complete psychopath. None of the characters ever behaved in any sort of believable way. I kind of see what she was trying to do, but she utterly failed.
The only thing I can say in her defence is that I would never normally read a book of this genre.... so maybe this is what they're all like, but I was sucked in on the 'it's a feminist statement' and by Dawn O'Porter premise.
Oh, and at one point the character is on an 'eastbound Victoria line train'. LITERALLY ANYONE THAT LIVES IN LONDON WOULD KNOW THAT THE VICTORIA LINE IS NEVER EASTBOUND.
July 10, 2018
I actually threw this book into the bin.
I found it crude, patronizing and really nasty. If the 3 women in this book represent feminism then we really need to worry. They patronized anyone who had a "traditional " life whilst using them for babysitting etc.
As for the men - I felt mostly sorry for them for being cast with such weak characters - men are much better than that.
And it wasn't funny and it wasn't well written - it was like an essay written by a schoolgirl aiming to shock.
I really feel that those who praised it did so just to go along with the idea that this was a book for women about women. Well they don't represent the hardworking women I know.
Sorry I even gave it one star
I found it crude, patronizing and really nasty. If the 3 women in this book represent feminism then we really need to worry. They patronized anyone who had a "traditional " life whilst using them for babysitting etc.
As for the men - I felt mostly sorry for them for being cast with such weak characters - men are much better than that.
And it wasn't funny and it wasn't well written - it was like an essay written by a schoolgirl aiming to shock.
I really feel that those who praised it did so just to go along with the idea that this was a book for women about women. Well they don't represent the hardworking women I know.
Sorry I even gave it one star
August 2, 2021
The Cows is a (at times) funny read about three different women who all end up crossing paths with each other by the end of the book.
This book shows how women are victimised in the workplace for being a woman, shamed for being a woman and generally treated unfairly at times.
We meet Tara, a single mum of 6 year old Annie. Tara gets publicly shamed for doing something indecent on a train and was very unfairly judged and victimised for it. This also showed how unfair social media can be and how trolls verbally attack and maim people. My heart really went out to Tara. Not only did she get judged for this but her daughter gets dragged into it as people judge and criticise her for not telling Annies father about her! People need to seriously realise that not everything is black and white and there are often reasons for doing things that people do not have to explain to them about.
We also meet Cam who's a strong, independent feminist who has social anxiety but has found blogging whatever she feels like writing is a way of speaking publicly. Cam also gets a lot of ridicule and backlash for things she writes openly about (from sex with her younger man to not wanting chikdren).
We also meet Stella. I personally couldn't get to liking Stella's character. I did feel sorry for her and understood her choices to an extent but I still couldn't warm to her. She's lost her mum and twin to cancer and she carries the BCR gene so she has an 85% change of developing cancer. She goes on about death all the time and drives her partner away. She does some crazy things and what she plans to do just made me really uncomfortable and made my skin crawl!
None of these strong women follow the herd and I had so much fun reading it!
This book shows how women are victimised in the workplace for being a woman, shamed for being a woman and generally treated unfairly at times.
We meet Tara, a single mum of 6 year old Annie. Tara gets publicly shamed for doing something indecent on a train and was very unfairly judged and victimised for it. This also showed how unfair social media can be and how trolls verbally attack and maim people. My heart really went out to Tara. Not only did she get judged for this but her daughter gets dragged into it as people judge and criticise her for not telling Annies father about her! People need to seriously realise that not everything is black and white and there are often reasons for doing things that people do not have to explain to them about.
We also meet Cam who's a strong, independent feminist who has social anxiety but has found blogging whatever she feels like writing is a way of speaking publicly. Cam also gets a lot of ridicule and backlash for things she writes openly about (from sex with her younger man to not wanting chikdren).
We also meet Stella. I personally couldn't get to liking Stella's character. I did feel sorry for her and understood her choices to an extent but I still couldn't warm to her. She's lost her mum and twin to cancer and she carries the BCR gene so she has an 85% change of developing cancer. She goes on about death all the time and drives her partner away. She does some crazy things and what she plans to do just made me really uncomfortable and made my skin crawl!
None of these strong women follow the herd and I had so much fun reading it!
February 3, 2019
Thank god I only paid 99p for this
March 6, 2021
This was a slow burner for me. Three women's stories, not knowing each other until close to the end. Each of their journeys fraught in their own way. Women generally have a very different and often difficult journey then men, in my experience for sure.
By the end I identified with all three women and their difficulties in their lives. Sometimes I got quite angry at what was happening, especially in the total trolling of one of our heroines who was videoed without her consent and put through hell by the internet, the media and her friends and family, and she has a six year old daughter with all this crap happening to her.
Their stories resonated with me and were part of the media headlines we see today. It was a slow starter and the blurb talked of it being 'frank and funny'. Maybe frank, but not so funny in my eyes. I hate blurbs that promise funny and hilarious, when there is little of either usually. Is this supposed to sell books? Not sure if I will ever read another book promoted as such.
I do recommed this book as it has a lot going for it for sure, topical and often spot on.
By the end I identified with all three women and their difficulties in their lives. Sometimes I got quite angry at what was happening, especially in the total trolling of one of our heroines who was videoed without her consent and put through hell by the internet, the media and her friends and family, and she has a six year old daughter with all this crap happening to her.
Their stories resonated with me and were part of the media headlines we see today. It was a slow starter and the blurb talked of it being 'frank and funny'. Maybe frank, but not so funny in my eyes. I hate blurbs that promise funny and hilarious, when there is little of either usually. Is this supposed to sell books? Not sure if I will ever read another book promoted as such.
I do recommed this book as it has a lot going for it for sure, topical and often spot on.
April 8, 2018
Not really sure what to make of this one. I felt like it was trying to be relatable but the ridiculous lives of the women in the book were really hard to relate to at all.
September 1, 2018
Thank god for Bookbub and its promotional emails or I would never have found this book!
The first thing that caught my eye was the edgy cover, then the book’s description (especially the - women don’t have to fall into a stereotype - part), and lastly the O’Porter’s profile photo (she looks like a rockstar!). But then I started reading and I couldn’t stop! It's all about three women standing by their beliefs in today’s largely stereotypical society.
Two of my favourite notes:
‘Can I be a princess?’ I stand up and take her hand as we walk back to the car.
‘What did I say about girls being princesses? Remember?’
‘You said that little girls don’t have to be princesses.’
‘That’s right. That’s what all the other little girls will do, so we should do something different, right?’
‘Right!’
‘That’s my girl!’
——
‘I am an excellent mother, and my daughter will grow up understanding that her own choices are the right choices, no matter what anyone else thinks. That’s the greatest lesson I can teach her.’
——
What more can I say?
The first thing that caught my eye was the edgy cover, then the book’s description (especially the - women don’t have to fall into a stereotype - part), and lastly the O’Porter’s profile photo (she looks like a rockstar!). But then I started reading and I couldn’t stop! It's all about three women standing by their beliefs in today’s largely stereotypical society.
Two of my favourite notes:
‘Can I be a princess?’ I stand up and take her hand as we walk back to the car.
‘What did I say about girls being princesses? Remember?’
‘You said that little girls don’t have to be princesses.’
‘That’s right. That’s what all the other little girls will do, so we should do something different, right?’
‘Right!’
‘That’s my girl!’
——
‘I am an excellent mother, and my daughter will grow up understanding that her own choices are the right choices, no matter what anyone else thinks. That’s the greatest lesson I can teach her.’
——
What more can I say?
April 3, 2017
Any book with the meme #DontFollowTheHerd was always going to peak my interest.
The Cows is a story of three woman ~ Tara, Camilla and Stella. All live very different lives. All have very different stories to tell. But the one thing they have in common is that all are trying to succeed in a society that is continually challenging them and attempting to push them back down.
Tara is a single mother of a one. Working in the male dominated world of the media, Tara is tough and determined to reach and raise that ‘glass ceiling’. She has learnt to develop a thick skin and takes the snide remarks, from her predominantly male colleagues, in her stride. Her ambition has always been to achieve and succeed, to prove to both herself and her daughter that women can have it all!!
Camilla (Cam) is the social introvert who hides behind her blog and twitter feed, as a representative of all that is wrong in the world for many women today. Cam has an agenda to prove to the world that the stereo typical view of a woman is wrong. A self admitted loner, Cam struggles to deal with people in the ‘real world’, growing up as the youngest in a busy family with three sisters. Cam has never felt the need to be normal and has always struggled to fit in. Blogging was a way for her to express who she really was and in doing so she created a very successful site. Through her site, with huge sponsorship, Cam became the voice of a generation. ‘It became my life; it became my addiction. The Internet is the love of my life, because it allows me to be who I want to be’
Stella is the one that I felt most pain for. Stella’s story is very sad and in The Cows we get to see how Stella deals with managing and surviving in a world where nobody really cares anymore. Stella attempts to keep her past just that…in the past. She tries to move on and puts on the brave face that everyone wants to see. Nobody wants to deal with other peoples problems and Stella becomes all too aware of where she is in life and what awaits her down the line.
There is a quote from Tara that I think sums up where all these women and many more in today’s society are at:
‘This feeling of never being fully enough for anyone worries me’
Tara becomes the victim of a social media frenzy through an incident that, while may appear extreme, shows how one act can have such a detrimental effect on a person’s life for a very long time.
There is something quite gladiatorial about the manner in which Tara is attacked. ‘Social paranoia is a new emotion for me’
Dawn O’ Porter wrote a great post on her own blog in 2012 on the nature of Trolling in which she states that:
‘I have been trolled, trolled real hard. Trolled so hard I haven’t slept for days. Trolled so hard my self esteem has been left raw and sore. Sore and raw. Rawsore. Trolling hurts, it hurts bad.’
With this book, the full impact of the damage caused by social media is very evident and I have full respect for Dawn O’ Porter in portraying it in all it’s horror.
The story is told with words that, I don’t doubt, will offend many, but anyone picking up a book written by Dawn O’ Porter should expect no less. Dawn O’ Porter is not known for shying away from the world. Her vocal approach to life is refreshingly honest, yet in this post she does reveal the human fall out of social media when it goes against you.
The Cows is a fictional story with a very frightening, yet realistic, narrative at it’s core. As a blogger myself I am all too aware of the chain reaction that a remark on twitter can have. In 140 characters a life can be destroyed, a career ruined. Dawn O’ Porter has expressed all this and more using the three central women as her vehicle to carry the story. People will judge this book as they see fit. It will divide many and it is definitely not a book to everyone’s taste.
But as a blogger, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister and a friend I would recommend this book to all the young women of today. The writing is sharp, witty and though at times whimsical, it’s also a very intelligent read.
The Cows is a book about standing up and not to be afraid to be heard. There are many who hide behind the screen, who rant with a viciousness that is frightening. In The Cows Dawn O’ Porter is saying, that it is ok to be afraid and that we should all strive to be who we want to be…To stand up and #DontFollowTheHerd
The Cows is a story of three woman ~ Tara, Camilla and Stella. All live very different lives. All have very different stories to tell. But the one thing they have in common is that all are trying to succeed in a society that is continually challenging them and attempting to push them back down.
Tara is a single mother of a one. Working in the male dominated world of the media, Tara is tough and determined to reach and raise that ‘glass ceiling’. She has learnt to develop a thick skin and takes the snide remarks, from her predominantly male colleagues, in her stride. Her ambition has always been to achieve and succeed, to prove to both herself and her daughter that women can have it all!!
Camilla (Cam) is the social introvert who hides behind her blog and twitter feed, as a representative of all that is wrong in the world for many women today. Cam has an agenda to prove to the world that the stereo typical view of a woman is wrong. A self admitted loner, Cam struggles to deal with people in the ‘real world’, growing up as the youngest in a busy family with three sisters. Cam has never felt the need to be normal and has always struggled to fit in. Blogging was a way for her to express who she really was and in doing so she created a very successful site. Through her site, with huge sponsorship, Cam became the voice of a generation. ‘It became my life; it became my addiction. The Internet is the love of my life, because it allows me to be who I want to be’
Stella is the one that I felt most pain for. Stella’s story is very sad and in The Cows we get to see how Stella deals with managing and surviving in a world where nobody really cares anymore. Stella attempts to keep her past just that…in the past. She tries to move on and puts on the brave face that everyone wants to see. Nobody wants to deal with other peoples problems and Stella becomes all too aware of where she is in life and what awaits her down the line.
There is a quote from Tara that I think sums up where all these women and many more in today’s society are at:
‘This feeling of never being fully enough for anyone worries me’
Tara becomes the victim of a social media frenzy through an incident that, while may appear extreme, shows how one act can have such a detrimental effect on a person’s life for a very long time.
There is something quite gladiatorial about the manner in which Tara is attacked. ‘Social paranoia is a new emotion for me’
Dawn O’ Porter wrote a great post on her own blog in 2012 on the nature of Trolling in which she states that:
‘I have been trolled, trolled real hard. Trolled so hard I haven’t slept for days. Trolled so hard my self esteem has been left raw and sore. Sore and raw. Rawsore. Trolling hurts, it hurts bad.’
With this book, the full impact of the damage caused by social media is very evident and I have full respect for Dawn O’ Porter in portraying it in all it’s horror.
The story is told with words that, I don’t doubt, will offend many, but anyone picking up a book written by Dawn O’ Porter should expect no less. Dawn O’ Porter is not known for shying away from the world. Her vocal approach to life is refreshingly honest, yet in this post she does reveal the human fall out of social media when it goes against you.
The Cows is a fictional story with a very frightening, yet realistic, narrative at it’s core. As a blogger myself I am all too aware of the chain reaction that a remark on twitter can have. In 140 characters a life can be destroyed, a career ruined. Dawn O’ Porter has expressed all this and more using the three central women as her vehicle to carry the story. People will judge this book as they see fit. It will divide many and it is definitely not a book to everyone’s taste.
But as a blogger, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister and a friend I would recommend this book to all the young women of today. The writing is sharp, witty and though at times whimsical, it’s also a very intelligent read.
The Cows is a book about standing up and not to be afraid to be heard. There are many who hide behind the screen, who rant with a viciousness that is frightening. In The Cows Dawn O’ Porter is saying, that it is ok to be afraid and that we should all strive to be who we want to be…To stand up and #DontFollowTheHerd
December 28, 2022
not for everyone but this is for me.
"A parody account - @ShitWankWomanSays - has over 400,000 followers...."
oh god remember Shit Says accounts? gosh mentions like this make the whole thing age like fine milk. also i honestly forgot that grumpy cat was a thing.
"A parody account - @ShitWankWomanSays - has over 400,000 followers...."
oh god remember Shit Says accounts? gosh mentions like this make the whole thing age like fine milk. also i honestly forgot that grumpy cat was a thing.
March 6, 2019
This book is thoroughly ridiculous, but by far the most ridiculous thing about it is that it should be considered feminist and one of the characters, Cam, a feminist. A truly mind-boggling read.
September 15, 2018
Please don’t be fooled by the title!
At the start of the book, Dawn O’Porter gives us the dictionary description of a cow. Part of the herd. Used for milk and beef. They produce milk, calves and then get slaughtered for their meat, which will most probably end up in dog food. Why therefore has she chosen these beautiful creatures with long eyelashes as the title for this book? Are women part of a herd? Is that what we’ve become as women?
The story revolves around three women. Tara, Cam and Stella.
Tara, a single mother is an investigative reporter who can crack some pretty tough stories only to find that her sexist bosses remove her name before the story is viewed by the public and instead insert their names. She meets Jason on a blind date and they connect. Unfortunately, he loses her number. While on the train going home, she thinks she’s alone in the train carriage, so decides to pleasure herself and this act is filmed by a teenager who quickly uploads it to the web, causing unwelcome notoriety.
Cam is a blogger. She’s made lots of money out of this career. Writing about feminist issues. She very seldom leaves her beautiful comfortable home and has a lover who is much younger than herself. Her blogs are mainly her own views on what the word feminism means to her. She cannot understand the desire of women to have children.
Stella is still trying to get over the deaths of her mother and her twin-sister who both died of breast cancer and she too must make the decision to have a hysterectomy and mastectomy to avoid a similar death. However, she is determined to have a child before this takes place. As her boyfriend has walked out, she doesn’t really care now who is going to father the child.
I know I’m grey and maybe I’ll be criticised for being “out of touch” with the “real world” but this book offended me on so many levels.
Why would a woman, however drunk, think it’s okay to pleasure herself on a train and when caught beg for understanding? We live in the age of “Me Too” something that women, feminists, call them what you will, have fought so hard for. It’s taken courage, lots and lots of courage for these women to stand up and say, “I’m not going to let a man take advantage of me.” But if we as women then perform something that is illegal, then surely we’ve got to give the same respect to men? How can this woman be portrayed as just pleasuring herself when a man caught doing a similar thing, would be branded as a pervert?
Feminism? What it means to me is years of being part of an organisation called Business and Professional Women. It was founded years ago and the main aim was to ensure that women coming into the workplace were given equal rights, equal pay and respect and dignity. Unfortunately, it seems that the modern feminist thinks differently. This book using Cam’s voice through her blogs just actually made me want to weep because it makes women just look nasty.
Stella is the most dysfunctional, obsessed and awful human being possible. Her behaviour would be enough to send any man running for the hills.
I always try to give authors the benefit of the doubt, unfortunately, in this case, I can’t. This book is supposed to be THE BOOK to read this year. It’s not! It will never fail to amaze me why publishers grab hold of a book and make it sound like we’ll miss our chance of a lifetime if we don’t read books they’ve marketed to the hilt. I know of so many really gifted authors who are overlooked by publishers, yet, they go ahead and publish books like this, telling us females, what an outstanding read we’re going to have. Rubbish!
Bluebell
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.
At the start of the book, Dawn O’Porter gives us the dictionary description of a cow. Part of the herd. Used for milk and beef. They produce milk, calves and then get slaughtered for their meat, which will most probably end up in dog food. Why therefore has she chosen these beautiful creatures with long eyelashes as the title for this book? Are women part of a herd? Is that what we’ve become as women?
The story revolves around three women. Tara, Cam and Stella.
Tara, a single mother is an investigative reporter who can crack some pretty tough stories only to find that her sexist bosses remove her name before the story is viewed by the public and instead insert their names. She meets Jason on a blind date and they connect. Unfortunately, he loses her number. While on the train going home, she thinks she’s alone in the train carriage, so decides to pleasure herself and this act is filmed by a teenager who quickly uploads it to the web, causing unwelcome notoriety.
Cam is a blogger. She’s made lots of money out of this career. Writing about feminist issues. She very seldom leaves her beautiful comfortable home and has a lover who is much younger than herself. Her blogs are mainly her own views on what the word feminism means to her. She cannot understand the desire of women to have children.
Stella is still trying to get over the deaths of her mother and her twin-sister who both died of breast cancer and she too must make the decision to have a hysterectomy and mastectomy to avoid a similar death. However, she is determined to have a child before this takes place. As her boyfriend has walked out, she doesn’t really care now who is going to father the child.
I know I’m grey and maybe I’ll be criticised for being “out of touch” with the “real world” but this book offended me on so many levels.
Why would a woman, however drunk, think it’s okay to pleasure herself on a train and when caught beg for understanding? We live in the age of “Me Too” something that women, feminists, call them what you will, have fought so hard for. It’s taken courage, lots and lots of courage for these women to stand up and say, “I’m not going to let a man take advantage of me.” But if we as women then perform something that is illegal, then surely we’ve got to give the same respect to men? How can this woman be portrayed as just pleasuring herself when a man caught doing a similar thing, would be branded as a pervert?
Feminism? What it means to me is years of being part of an organisation called Business and Professional Women. It was founded years ago and the main aim was to ensure that women coming into the workplace were given equal rights, equal pay and respect and dignity. Unfortunately, it seems that the modern feminist thinks differently. This book using Cam’s voice through her blogs just actually made me want to weep because it makes women just look nasty.
Stella is the most dysfunctional, obsessed and awful human being possible. Her behaviour would be enough to send any man running for the hills.
I always try to give authors the benefit of the doubt, unfortunately, in this case, I can’t. This book is supposed to be THE BOOK to read this year. It’s not! It will never fail to amaze me why publishers grab hold of a book and make it sound like we’ll miss our chance of a lifetime if we don’t read books they’ve marketed to the hilt. I know of so many really gifted authors who are overlooked by publishers, yet, they go ahead and publish books like this, telling us females, what an outstanding read we’re going to have. Rubbish!
Bluebell
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.
April 8, 2017
I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Cows follows three different women, in their late 20s, 30s and early 40s, as they navigate their way through life while facing off against public opinion on what women should be and what they should do, health scares, sexuality, misogyny in the workplace and much more.
This book was absolutely brilliant and I loved all of it. It's been a long time since a book was able to make laugh out loud while reading (including when in public) and make me want to yell 'WTF!' five minutes later. This book is a laugh out loud funny, unapologetic take on feminist literature and I really feel it's a must-read. This book covers working in a male-focused environment, pressures of being a single and/or working mum, childlessness - both intentional and unintentional, abortion, public opinion, sex, orgasms, masturbation. It really has a bit of everything!All the nice bits about being a woman but all the crappy ones too!
I really loved that the women were all of varying ages and they were all at different points in their lives. Tara was a working mom, who came to work two hours early every day so she could pick up her daughter from school but was still made feel guilty by her male colleagues. She is professional but also a red-blooded woman with sexual needs and desires, as well as a desire to find love, all of which lead her to make a mistake that destroys her life.
Cam is a no-nonsense feminist blogger who enjoys a fantastic sex life with younger men, talks openly about masturbation and orgasms and her desire to remain childless. She struggles with her own anxieties of course, and often struggles to connect with her sisters and mothers - all of whom are mothers and presume she's gay because she wants to remain unattached (which doesn't even make sense cause gay people get married and have kids too). We also see her deal with online trolls.
Stella is a bit of a mess. She's still dealing with the loss of her identical twin sister and her mother to cancer while also struggling to accept that she has the BRCA gene meaning she has an 85% chance of getting the cancer that killed her family. She's desperate to have a baby and through her loss, comes up with a crazy plan to get one.
This book was just so honest and refreshing and I really loved a lot of what was discussed in it. From simple pizza farts (yes, women fart too!) to open discussion about why a woman might not want a baby, I appreciated it all. Tara's story was particularly engrossing due to how it spirals but more so because, for me, how the media treats her and the ever-changing face and mood of the internet's opinion. I loved Cam's blog and her posts which we get to read. I feel like if her blog was a real thing, I'd definitely be a fan. We need more women like Cam int he world for sure. Those who aren't afraid of saying don't use your gender as an excuse, just go and do it and demand what you want until you get it. Stella, while not my favourite character, was an intriguing one to follow as her story showed what it can take for someone to become an online troll. As a celebrity, I'm certain Dawn O' Porter has had to deal with many, many trolls herself and I like how she kind of 'unveiled' the face and mindset of a troll to show they are something to be pitied and not to be scared of. Stella went completely crazy for me and I found myself reeling at times from her decisions but she was certainly entertaining!
The ending definitely shocked me, I did not see it coming at all. But I loved how the conclusion came about and how things got better for all our girls (well, most of them but if you've read the book you know what I mean). I can't recommend this enough for people who love honest, feminist fiction.
The Cows follows three different women, in their late 20s, 30s and early 40s, as they navigate their way through life while facing off against public opinion on what women should be and what they should do, health scares, sexuality, misogyny in the workplace and much more.
This book was absolutely brilliant and I loved all of it. It's been a long time since a book was able to make laugh out loud while reading (including when in public) and make me want to yell 'WTF!' five minutes later. This book is a laugh out loud funny, unapologetic take on feminist literature and I really feel it's a must-read. This book covers working in a male-focused environment, pressures of being a single and/or working mum, childlessness - both intentional and unintentional, abortion, public opinion, sex, orgasms, masturbation. It really has a bit of everything!All the nice bits about being a woman but all the crappy ones too!
I really loved that the women were all of varying ages and they were all at different points in their lives. Tara was a working mom, who came to work two hours early every day so she could pick up her daughter from school but was still made feel guilty by her male colleagues. She is professional but also a red-blooded woman with sexual needs and desires, as well as a desire to find love, all of which lead her to make a mistake that destroys her life.
Cam is a no-nonsense feminist blogger who enjoys a fantastic sex life with younger men, talks openly about masturbation and orgasms and her desire to remain childless. She struggles with her own anxieties of course, and often struggles to connect with her sisters and mothers - all of whom are mothers and presume she's gay because she wants to remain unattached (which doesn't even make sense cause gay people get married and have kids too). We also see her deal with online trolls.
Stella is a bit of a mess. She's still dealing with the loss of her identical twin sister and her mother to cancer while also struggling to accept that she has the BRCA gene meaning she has an 85% chance of getting the cancer that killed her family. She's desperate to have a baby and through her loss, comes up with a crazy plan to get one.
This book was just so honest and refreshing and I really loved a lot of what was discussed in it. From simple pizza farts (yes, women fart too!) to open discussion about why a woman might not want a baby, I appreciated it all. Tara's story was particularly engrossing due to how it spirals but more so because, for me, how the media treats her and the ever-changing face and mood of the internet's opinion. I loved Cam's blog and her posts which we get to read. I feel like if her blog was a real thing, I'd definitely be a fan. We need more women like Cam int he world for sure. Those who aren't afraid of saying don't use your gender as an excuse, just go and do it and demand what you want until you get it. Stella, while not my favourite character, was an intriguing one to follow as her story showed what it can take for someone to become an online troll. As a celebrity, I'm certain Dawn O' Porter has had to deal with many, many trolls herself and I like how she kind of 'unveiled' the face and mindset of a troll to show they are something to be pitied and not to be scared of. Stella went completely crazy for me and I found myself reeling at times from her decisions but she was certainly entertaining!
The ending definitely shocked me, I did not see it coming at all. But I loved how the conclusion came about and how things got better for all our girls (well, most of them but if you've read the book you know what I mean). I can't recommend this enough for people who love honest, feminist fiction.
August 17, 2018
What a crazy mixed up mess of a book! It started out really well and made a lot of funny, irreverent but also very revealing and thought provoking points. I found Tara’s story initially interesting as she worked in TV which is very male dominated - evidence clearly seen in the difference between male and female employees at the BBC. I thought this statement was really interesting ‘women will watch male-centric programming but men won’t watch anything too female’ which I think is true as I’ll happily sit and watch football (soccer) but my husband wouldn’t sit and watch Greys Anatomy! His loss! I think the point the author is making is that what men want to watch is more important- not sure the viewing figures support that but still! There were other thoughtful comments in the first half of the book about female actions and reactions to other females and how we judge ourselves much of which she asserts is based on our appearance rather than competence and what we have to say and how women will not always stand up for themselves and be honest in their opinions.
Then the book seemed to drift into something else and I lost interest and the last part was a real slog as boredom overwhelmed me. What was the point of the book? At what point was the point lost??🤣. I got totally fed up with Tara’s YouTube story. Talk about overblowing it so that it got repetitive and dull. There were several sections that seemed unrealistic too. For example, Cam and her mother had a difficult relationship for years and after a short conversation her mother flipped like a switch and once Cam had died the lambasting she got in the press as her pregnancy was revealed didn’t ring true. Would the reaction really be that callous??? As for the part where Tara interrupts the coitus (truly interuptus) was beyond SILLY. This book gave so many mixed messages about women I have absolutely no idea now what the message was meant to be. I preferred the book at the beginning when it was being controversial rather than the drivel it became. What is it with authors who start a book in an interesting way and then lose the thread half way through? I can’t recommend this book. Sorry - most definitely not for me.
Then the book seemed to drift into something else and I lost interest and the last part was a real slog as boredom overwhelmed me. What was the point of the book? At what point was the point lost??🤣. I got totally fed up with Tara’s YouTube story. Talk about overblowing it so that it got repetitive and dull. There were several sections that seemed unrealistic too. For example, Cam and her mother had a difficult relationship for years and after a short conversation her mother flipped like a switch and once Cam had died the lambasting she got in the press as her pregnancy was revealed didn’t ring true. Would the reaction really be that callous??? As for the part where Tara interrupts the coitus (truly interuptus) was beyond SILLY. This book gave so many mixed messages about women I have absolutely no idea now what the message was meant to be. I preferred the book at the beginning when it was being controversial rather than the drivel it became. What is it with authors who start a book in an interesting way and then lose the thread half way through? I can’t recommend this book. Sorry - most definitely not for me.
December 28, 2023
This book is about three women, with very different lives. Tara is a proud single Mum working in a job she’s good at and loves in the male dominated TV industry. Stella has recently broken up with her long term partner and longs for a child, bordering on obsession, as she has recently lost both her identical twin and mother to cancer.Cam is feisty and another fiercely independent woman writing a daily blog “HowItIs” for the sisterhood of women like her who have no maternal instincts and no wish to have a child.
The story started well enough with Ms. O’Porter’s trademark style of humour, but it soon languished into you’ve - got - to - be - kidding - me territory with the situations the characters found themselves in due to their actions. I mean, seriously?
These situations were then discussed, re-hashed and the focus of several chapters. Well, most of the book really, with it all quickly descending into farce.
I understand that the point of this book was for women to own their lives and sexuality, and not feel the need to apologise for their choices. To ”not follow the herd" (hence The Cows title). It was trying to take a modern feminist stance but missed the mark. There was so much potential here to dig deeper about grief and the harm of shock media that makes news out of matters which aren’t newsworthy. It didn't help that the book was so long. It could have done with at least a hundred pages less. Make that two hundred. Then the ending was fast - super fast - and unbelievable. I mean, really??? It was all too convenient. As if Ms. O’Porter was herself getting bored with the story and wanted to tie up the loose ends as quickly as possible. I’d imagine this is the kind of book I would have lapped up in my twenties, but I have to admit to being more than a bit bored by it. Which is why it took me so many months to finish. It’s a shame as I expected more. I'm disappointed. I’ve enjoyed many of the shows she’s done on television, and was expecting that to filter through to her writing. Plus I'd recently bought another of her books to read, because at the time I still thought this book held some promise. Gulp.
2.5 - 3 lukewarm stars.
The story started well enough with Ms. O’Porter’s trademark style of humour, but it soon languished into you’ve - got - to - be - kidding - me territory with the situations the characters found themselves in due to their actions. I mean, seriously?
These situations were then discussed, re-hashed and the focus of several chapters. Well, most of the book really, with it all quickly descending into farce.
I understand that the point of this book was for women to own their lives and sexuality, and not feel the need to apologise for their choices. To ”not follow the herd" (hence The Cows title). It was trying to take a modern feminist stance but missed the mark. There was so much potential here to dig deeper about grief and the harm of shock media that makes news out of matters which aren’t newsworthy. It didn't help that the book was so long. It could have done with at least a hundred pages less. Make that two hundred. Then the ending was fast - super fast - and unbelievable. I mean, really??? It was all too convenient. As if Ms. O’Porter was herself getting bored with the story and wanted to tie up the loose ends as quickly as possible. I’d imagine this is the kind of book I would have lapped up in my twenties, but I have to admit to being more than a bit bored by it. Which is why it took me so many months to finish. It’s a shame as I expected more. I'm disappointed. I’ve enjoyed many of the shows she’s done on television, and was expecting that to filter through to her writing. Plus I'd recently bought another of her books to read, because at the time I still thought this book held some promise. Gulp.
2.5 - 3 lukewarm stars.
December 19, 2017
I thought this was awful. I didn't think it was very well written for a start and the story revolves largely around a woman masturbating on a train which is not what I expected and is not very clear from the blurb. There is an undercurrent of fatphobia which is disappointing and I also thought it was fairly cissexist as there are references to women only being women if they have wombs.
I feel like Dawn struggles to make coherent points and explores some of her mixed feelings to aspects of feminism through Cam's blog posts. For a book that is supposed to be feminist, it was pretty down on women in general and seemed to mostly pit them against each other. The plotline near the end of the book between Cam and Tara was not fully explored and was the only part of the book that I actually liked. It was very disappointing when this was then related to a man!
Overall, this might be a good book for someone who has never considered themselves a feminist in order to ease them in gently but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.
I feel like Dawn struggles to make coherent points and explores some of her mixed feelings to aspects of feminism through Cam's blog posts. For a book that is supposed to be feminist, it was pretty down on women in general and seemed to mostly pit them against each other. The plotline near the end of the book between Cam and Tara was not fully explored and was the only part of the book that I actually liked. It was very disappointing when this was then related to a man!
Overall, this might be a good book for someone who has never considered themselves a feminist in order to ease them in gently but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.
April 2, 2021
Wow - I need a minute to really appreciate how amazing Dawn O'Porter is. I absolutely loved So Lucky and I absolutely loved this one too!
Don't follow the herd! Don't be like everyone else, follow your own path and own it. I absolutely love that thought. Being my own person. Dawn O'Porter is an absolute inspiration to women, I didn't realise how much I needed to read these books until I read them.
Tara, Cam, Stella. Tara reached online fame due to a very intimate moment caught on video during a train ride home after a date. Cam has a blog with thousands of viewers and has reached her womanly peak, happy with herself and loving her blog/job. Stella lost her mother and twin, needs a huge operation and is desperate for a child, willing to trick her boss for his sperm to have a child.
I absolutely love how this comes together just like So Lucky did. This book is funny, thought provoking and really unites women. I absolutely loved it.
Don't follow the herd! Don't be like everyone else, follow your own path and own it. I absolutely love that thought. Being my own person. Dawn O'Porter is an absolute inspiration to women, I didn't realise how much I needed to read these books until I read them.
Tara, Cam, Stella. Tara reached online fame due to a very intimate moment caught on video during a train ride home after a date. Cam has a blog with thousands of viewers and has reached her womanly peak, happy with herself and loving her blog/job. Stella lost her mother and twin, needs a huge operation and is desperate for a child, willing to trick her boss for his sperm to have a child.
I absolutely love how this comes together just like So Lucky did. This book is funny, thought provoking and really unites women. I absolutely loved it.
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