What a book! Totally loved it! It's not my usual genre (crime/thriller is where you'll usually find me) and it's the first book I've read by this author, but it won't be the last. I laughed, cried and even put my hands over my eyes at one point in embarrassment solidarity with one of the characters. The characters are so real and likeable I was immersed in their stories...and what stories they are!! I can't praise this book enough.

This is the second time in less than a week that Netgalley have emailed me about a book that is not my normal genre. However, I'm familiar with Dawn O'Porter. I've watched her documentaries, I've read her magazine articles, I've read her tweets, so I decided to try this book.

Usually I find Dawn very funny. Even her tweets are witty and the articles I have read by her are well written but I don't think she makes a good novelist. Some of the 'famous' people who read the book state it is 'excruciatingly funny'. Well god knows what book they were reading, but I didn't find much humour in this.

I will say I quite liked Dawn until she published her first novel and I read the Amazon reviews. Unfortunately for Dawn, someone left a very personal one star review that garnered a lot of attention and it was unfavourable to Dawn. Of course it was all alleged and nothing was proven but it tainted my opinion of her. I then noticed a few times on her twitter that she isn't very good at taking criticism so I doubt she will like this review!

The story deals with what goes on in social media. Abusive tweets, viral videos, blogging, trolling (is Ms O'Porter having a go at her own trolls?!). I found some aspects of the storyline far fetched.

I'm sure others will enjoy it but as it's not my normal genre, I didn't particularly enjoy it or the 'message' it's trying to get across.

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 on that accompanied this book sounded promising.

This book has changed my opinion on 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.

Enjoyable if slightly over the top read. Cam and Tara were my favourites, got bored easily of Stella. Very topical plotlines that seamlessly interweave between blogger, troll and the current viral sensation. This book will be trending in no time!

Just bloody brilliant!
What a book, could not put it down for 2 days. It was so current with bloggers and trolling etc it was also a story about being a woman today. Funny, cringey, sad and overall most importantly a really good read.

I really, really, really, wanted to like this book. I love Dawn O'Porter and her Column is the first thing I read in Glamour magazine every month. When I saw she was publishing a novel championing feminism I was really excited, and when I saw it on Netgalley I jumped at the chance.


I wasn't wholly disappointed don't get me wrong. It wasn't the worst book I've ever read, there was just too much going on.


The novel is split between 3 characters;

Tara is a documentary producer and a single mother of a 6 year old daughter, after a hot date in a bar she does something which is going to change her life forever.


Camilla (Cam) was one of the first people to treat her blog as a business. She's living the high life in her million pound Victorian flat with her 28 year old lover (Cam is 36) and her ability to write great feminist posts. Right now that involves becoming 'the face of childless women'.


Stella is having problems getting her life together, her mother and her twin sister died within a year of each other and now she's had some devastating news of her own. News that's made her just a little bit crazy.

The novel covers A LOT of issues. I kind of get why, I see why Dawn an avid feminist herself would want to write about absolutely everything. I know what that's like because when I start talking feminism I want to blurt it all out too. But that's unfortunately how this novel feels. Like Dawn is trying to cram every single feminist issue into one 400 page book.


Just a smidgen of what is covered in this book:

Women with younger lovers
Women having casual sex
Women not telling men their pregnant
Women mastrubating
Sexism in the workplace
Feminism in different age groups
Cancer
Crazy people who want babies so bad they create nefarious plans
The solidarity of female friendships
These subjects all matter don't get me wrong. They're all important subjects, they all need addressing but the flood of them all at once made this book boring, tedious and forced at times.


I felt like feminism was being rammed down my throat and that's coming from me as a feminist. This book felt like that angry bra burner who physically attacks men in the street. Not to ever tell an author how to write their book but this would have worked better as 3 serials. It doesn't work as a novel. It's just too far fetched.

Well of course I'm reviewing Dawn's latest book!
If you've seen past posts on here, you'll have seen my review of Dawn's previous book, Goose.

Tara works for a production company ran by a secretly gay boss, Adam and has a six year old daughter, Annie. When she goes on a date with Jamie, Stella's boss they hit it off and on her way home the texts get steamier between the two and so she accidentally ends up being filmed in public, indecently.

Stella's identical twin, Alice has died of ovarian cancer, her best friend has just announced that she's pregnant and Stella wishes she was pregnant and not newly dumped. She still wears her sister's clothes and even takes on her persona online on Tinder to find a man to have a one night stand with to get her wish of a baby before she has her mastectomy as her mum had breast cancer and carried the BRCA gene.

Cam writes a blog, an extremely popular one that can pay for her to live single in London. She has a younger lover by eight years she writes about as well as the fact she doesn't want children.

As all the drama ensues through out the book, Cam writes to stick up for Tara in all her media and going viral frenzy. Stella, who reads Cam's blog can't possibly understand how she can't not want children as it's her dream. We follow all their stories as they collide and there's hilarious moments ahead for sure! Also look out for the police officers names, truly made me laugh!

The book sheds light on dealing with various issues and the dangers of a videos going viral but finding friends in unexpected places. But seriously, it challenges the stereotypical gender role of a woman, to prove as the title suggests, we don't all have to be made to breed, we have our own opinions on life and women can be happy alone, married, have children or have none at all.
Another great book from Dawn, many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review the book for them!