Cowkind

An American farm family endures the miseries of the Viet Nam war era, as observed by their sympathetic cows. Several mysteries elucidated: crop circles, cattle mutilations, God, and what the hell they think about while they're staring at us over the fence. I would really like to see a movie of this one. It's not 'heart-warming' or cute, and there are no children in it. Really a far better book than Watership Down. An original and brilliant performance than deserves far more publicity than it has gotten. Boo on the publishing industry!

When you first start out you think, "A book where cows talk? Naaah." By the third page, you believe it. Amazing! And I think the interplay between the humans and the animals really works well - it's not just that the animals are symbolic manifestations of the people, as is the case in many other books.

I just finished this novel and thought it was great! A comparison to _Animal Farm_ or _Babe_ only goes so far--the book is beautiful and sad, with an uplifting ending that touches on the draft, the environment, the perilous state of family farms in the US, and the relation of the farmer to the land, the animals, and his family. A book appropriate for adults and students. I've passed it on to several friends who all loved it.