Sunday, February 14, 2016

Book Review: Holy Cow by David Duchovny

Holy Cow by David Duchovny

Hardcover, 206 pages

Published February 2015 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Duchovy is known first and foremost as an actor, and certainly I am a fan. Lets face it he is alot more than an actor, he has degree in English from Yale, and was one paper away from being Doctor Duchovoy. He is musician, writer and director. He wrote and directed really good episodes of the X-files. He has directed films and I respect his output.

So his first book is a surreal satire of animal exploitation. As a fan of the message, the man's work, and him personally I was rooting for this book. I mean I have never met him but I always enjoyed listening to interviews with him. I am a animal rights person, and it seems like nothing could go wrong right?

This tongue and cheek book feels like a book Woody Allen would have written in the 70's. Sure I laughed and yes the message was made. Duchovny accurately portrays the insanity of a industry that turns living feeling beings into food.

So what went wrong? You have to have taste for surreal, and that is not the problem. The problem is that the book doesn't just break the fourth wall, it has not foruth wall like building half built on the set of a western. The book is funny at times, but the constant modern pop-culture references constantly took me out of the story. A author needs sink out of sight in a story, but Dochovy is always there. (notes about what the editor likes or doesn't like) Once was clever, but peppered through the text just gets old quick.

I like and respect Duchovny, and wanted to like and respect this book. Wanted to...

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