Cow Country

By: Adrian Jones Pearson

Narrated by: Therese Plummer, LJ Ganser

When a down-on-his-luck educational administrator arrives at the makeshift bus shelter of Cow Eye Junction, he finds a drought-stricken town and its community college on the precipice of institutional ruin. Struggling to navigate this strange world of bloated calf scrota, orgiastic math instruction, and onrushing regional accreditors, Charlie must devise a plan to lead Cow Eye Community College through the perils of continuous improvement to the triumphant culmination of world history.

Idiosyncratic, wry, and ambitiously constructed, Cow Country is Adrian Jones Pearson's most American work yet, deftly blending the lunacies of contemporary academia with the tragic consequences of New World nation building. A must-listen for anyone who has ever worked at an institution of higher education or attempted to straddle partisan lines, this insightful novel offers a poetic requiem for the loss of our humanity - and our humanities.

©2014 Adrian Jones Pearson (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Should Be Categorized as Fantasy

There was no way that you could pick out when or where the story was set. I finally had to go with sometime in a universe not ours. There are way too many female teachers and minorities for it to have been in the 60's. The where is equally dubious.

Obviously, this community college is set in another Universe where the laws of biology, physics, and the US government do not apply.

Hoped for More...

This was a bizarre tale with odd pacing and little pay-off.

The first half is spent on what feels like every second of Charlie's first few days in Cow Eye, while the second barrels through the next several weeks, and at some points the timeline becomes completely muddled due to either a poorly executed literary device or the protagonist's deteriorating mental state. I couldn't tell. I found myself frequently wishing he'd get to the point, but then ultimately there wouldn't really be one.

The characters bounce unsuccessfully between "almost weird enough to be true" and "completely absurd," and I had a hard time figuring out exactly WHEN it was supposed to be set at times. Mongoloid? Negroid? Seriously?? The way things like the administration trying to address racial issues were portrayed are flat out bad, which is disappointing since the division between the meat-eaters and vegetarians is proof the author is capable of apt bits of satire of life in the Midwest.

It did have some moments that made me laugh aloud over Charlie's ridiculousness, but the ending was abrupt and unsatisfying.

The backwardness of educational administration

laugh out loud funny at parts but dull at others but enjoyable overall. unique in the age of teenage werewolves and remakes

An inside joke for academia

What would have made Cow Country better?

The main character was flat. A more interactive characterization, rather than employing a foil, may have made the story more interesting.

What was most disappointing about Adrian Jones Pearson’s story?

The plot was thin, based only on a series of caricatures of college stereotypes.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The main character was voiced as a bit of an idiot. The other characters were well represented.

Weird book

This book was weird. With no point, start, middle or end. It's story was muddled between the telling of the story and the jumping back and forth between personal conversations. It's was difficult to follow.

LONG book that didn’t need to be so long!

This book is humorous in a very dry, witty sort of way. It pokes fun at academia in general. The characters were very well developed, in fact too much time may have been spent as such! The Audible version is just short of 21 hours and I think it could have been done in 13 or 14 hours instead. It was just too long for not that much plot happening.

I received the Audible version of this book in exchange for an honest review and I do think that the narration enhanced the book.

I know there are many out there who absolutely love this book but I thought it was just okay. I guess it just wasn’t my type of humor and it was too slow paced.

Don't do it!

What disappointed you about Cow Country?

You may read the reviews and think: 'these people are probably not creative enough', or 'some readers can be so over-critical', or somthing along the lines of 'I'm going to give this a try anyway...'. Don't do it!

The performance/reading is FANTASTIC. A ton of other audiobooks would be SO MUCH BETTER with a narrative performance like this one. This is the ONLY reason I stuck it out and finished the book, and the only reason for a 2nd "overall" star.

The story is... well... "tedious" is the best word I can come up with, although "obnoxious", "pointless" and "exasperating" all come to mind as well. Every description takes too long. Every situation is over-explained, often repetitively. And every time you think the author is JUST ABOUT to reveal the whole point of the story... you are let down again. Honestly... just painful, and I pride myself on my patience.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Something less ponderous like War and Peace or more thoughtful like The Cat in the Hat.

What character would you cut from Cow Country?

Its tempting to say something sarcastic here, but I'll just stand by what I've already said.

Not for me

I'm sorry, this book has no point. I'm trying to get through it because I wasted a credit on the book., but I will be quiting listening to it. I'm half way through it. I dread starting it each time. Wish I could cet my credit & time back. i guess there is someone out there that would like it, but it's not me. Not sure if I'd give this author another try or not.

Could not finish.

I tried. Listened to over half of it but just couldn't finish. First book I've ever stopped reading before the end. Just couldn't waste any more time...

Hilarious satire about academia - very dry humor

I absolutely LOVED this book. It was so unique and was filled with great metaphors and descriptions, and it has become my new favorite. The characters were well developed, and this book was HILARIOUS! Granted, I think it takes a certain type of sense of humor to fully appreciate it, but my friends and I tend to have dry/deadpan senses of humor, and I know they would appreciate it, so I've been recommending it to all of them. The main character is a man who has "been many things, but never one thing entirely," who performs best while taking equal amounts of uppers and downs, and supports both sides of different issues/arguments so as not to offend one. The reviews on this book seem to be split between people who love it and people who hate it, but I am so glad that I was able to read/listen to this book because I am definitely one of the former opinion. I listened to the Audible audiobook, and I loved the narration. The main narrator had great expression, pacing, and character differentiation. If you enjoy satire and dry humor, I highly recommend this book. I'm already looking forward to listening to it again.