Customer Reviews

The Book of the Dun Cow

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Wangerin has written a book that begs to be read aloud, but is a joy to read to yourself as well. His use of language is breathtaking -- evoking both a classic fairy tale and stylized character study. Do NOT let the fact that the main characters are talking animals throw you.

TBODC is fable about Chauntacleer the Rooster, his Coop (and the surrounding lands), and their battle against a monstrous, mythic evil. Both intimate and epic, the story of the animals' battle are filled with heartrending sadness and soulcleansing joy.

I would hard-pressed to label or categorize this book. Many have called it an allegory, and there ARE allegorical elements to it, but it is much more (or much different) from straight allegory. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person, and a skilled reader, but Wangerin layers his story with meanings and submeanings, many of which I am sure escaped me. I didn't care, though. The wonderful language and emotion of the story immersed me into Chauntacleer's world, and I could marvel at the depth without knowing exactly HOW deep it went.

If you're searching for a new fable that feels familiar but not predictable, one you can treaure and read aloud to friends and family, The Book of the Dun Cow is for you.

Before my review of the rest of the book I would like to spend a paragraph in praise of my favorite character from the book. Mundo Cani, if you are a dog person, will evoke such emotion from you that you will fall in love with him within bare lines. If you are not a dog person, and, in fact, hate all dogs, it might take as much as a few pages for you to fully enjoy and care for this humble and self-sacrificing character. Mundo Cani is worth the price of the book all by himself, and the depth of the other characters that play their parts in this beautiful story will simply spoil you for the flat and tasteless fare that many of us sometimes find we have accidentally become accustomed to.

As a reader, I regretfully admit, I am fairly easy to please. However, I am happy to amend that quality with a very critical nature when it comes to comparing newer or lesser-known writings with my established favorites among classics. Very few works, in my opinion, can stand rank file with the best of, to name a few, Lewis, Tolkien, and Peake. If anyone had told me before I read this Book of the Dun Cow, that it should surpass Watership Down, that I should stand in awe of a cow the way I stood for Galadriel, that I should fear maggots and a simple cockatrice more than any foul thing born in the darks of Mordor, that my mind should be as stirred by prose concerning a chicken coop as it was by the darkly beautiful language that told of the Castle Gormenghast, and that this same story should be imbued with meaning so as to rival or even surpass the great works of C.S. Lewis, I would have spit on their forehead, laughed in their face, and made a crude reference concerning a deficiency in their genetic background. As it is, I must swallow all of my pride and humbly apply to any readers of this review, that Wangerin has taken a barnyard where others have taken castles and great forests, and created characters of cows where others used tall elves and mysterious wizards, and, with these common instruments, has created an epic work of fantastic literature that can stand fairly beside any of these others' greatest works.

When I was 9 years old, my father read this book to me. It stayed with me. I am now 30 and after re-reading Watership Down last month I was reminded of this book, and of how good it was. Last weekend, I spent three days reading it to my new bride. We both cried. There are some people who chose to read this novel as some kind of radical religious parable. Those people are missing the point. It is a pure story of how everyone, everyday, fights against the urge to be the worst they could be; and how sometimes, with the right circumstance they become the best they can be. Without this hope, we are all alone and simply, ""marooned.''

The blurbs on the cover, and inside, compare this novel to Orwell's ANIMAL FARM, Tolkien's LORD OF THE RINGS and Adams' WATERSHIP DOWN - all of which are apt. The difference between this and Orwell's book - the most obvious jumping-off place of reference, with animals as characters - is, as another reviewer so correctly pointes out below, Wangerin has added the elements of spirituality and faith to the mix. I'm reminded on many of the works I've read by Frederick Buechner - although he uses human beings as his characters, I see many parallels between the gently gripping writing styles employed by Buechner and Wangerin.

Even though all of the characters in this novel are animals, the reader should be able to identify and empathize with them easily. The author has imbued them with the qualities one would expect to find in novels of the fantasy/adventure genre - they are brave and heroic and pure-hearted. Well, for the most part - what makes these characters most compelling is not their shining virtues (although there are many), but rather their `warts', their shortcomings, their thoughts and actions that are somewhat less than heroic, sometimes downright selfish and dishonorable and despicable. The inspiration lies in the fact that through their faith, and through the goodness that lies at the core of all creatures' hearts, they overcome these obstacles and manage to BE heroic when they are afraid, find the faith to BELIEVE their cause is just and that they have a chance to triumph, find the good within themselves to put aside the more petty instincts and simply DO THE RIGHT THING.

The story is a gripping one - a classic case of the ultimate battle between the forces of Good and Evil. Wangerin's prose flows along rather like a river, drawing the reader along for the ride - and it's a rewarding one. Now all I have to do is read the sequel.

Speaking of which...this novel was recommended to me (and loaned to me) by a dear friend - and after reading and experiencing it, I can easily see why she was drawn to it, why she returns to it (she tells me) again and again. This is a book filled with innocence and hope and positivism - qualities I see in abundance in her. Thanks, Dren...this was a great recommendation!

The Lord of the Rings is my favorite book. The Book of the Dun Cow and its sequel, The Book of Sorrows, come only slightly behind. Both contain courage, sorrow, humor, wonderful characterization, action and love. Both end with mixed feelings, the Dun Cow happier, Sorrows sadder. But both will consume your thoughts for days, months, years. They are nearly perfect books.

Despite its sometimes overtly Christian timbre, The Book of the Dun Cow is an elegantly moving and satisfying animal fable. Chauntecleer, the Rooster, is a complex protagonist who undertakes to rid his land of a heinous evil. Most of the characters are richly drawn, and the story is nicely paced. The most striking feature of the novel, however, is the language. From the sinister to the sublime, Wangerin paints a world and populates it with characters that are uniquely his own. While the novel fails to have the sharp bite of Animal Farm, the beauty and depth of Watership Down, or the power and staggering brilliance of Lord of the Rings (all comparisons from a quote on the jacket), it is nevertheless a fine novel in its own right.

"The Book of the Dun Cow" is easily the best fantasy book ever written, beating out even such great classics as "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Chronicles of Narnia."

Walter Wangerin Jr., a minister, uses animals to tell a tale of good versus evil. Unlike Animal Farm it does not carry a political message; rather, this is a spiritual one. It is well worth it to read and discover the essence of the greatest and most dangerous war there ever was--the war between Chaunticleer the rooster and Wyrm the serpent, which symbolizes the real war humans wage every day in the battle of good versus evil.

If you read just one book this year, this should be the one.

What Orwell's Animal Farm did for politics, Wangerin's Book of the Dun Cow does for religion. A previous reviewer commented on its place in the canon of animal myths, etc., but what he missed is the fact that this is a damn entertaining, don't-stop-turning-the-pages-until-the-fingers-are-blistered read filled with deeply flawed characters, believably-motivated action, and stunning language. Make sure you have the sequel/continuation The Book of Sorrows, handy. And, oddity of oddities, Wangerin has assisted in the creation of a musical theater piece based on The Book of the Dun Cow. It has yet to have a major production, but the workshop I saw indicated that his adapters are well on their way to helping this remarkable book reach a much wider audience

In Wangerin's book, like a surprizing number of the classic fantasies, the animals are the heroes, and represent the various human emotions and traits. Here, we have the old battle of good and evil, heavily run through with religious overtones. However, don't let this put you off, as the eternal message here is not of guilt or the Fall, but the heart of it all, faith. Our main character, Chantecleer the Rooster (a nod to Chaucer), ruler of the coop, and unwitting guardian of the World, finds faith, falters at a critical moment, then retrieves it again upon realizing that another has martyred himself in his stead. How all this occurs, you will have to read. And it is a powerful one, in a simple, allegorical language, almost a fable or narrative. This book finds itself on many 'classics' lists, and I can appreciate why.

This is the first book I ever read which, upon completion, I flipped to page one and started reading again. It centers on a rooster named "Chauntecleer" who's life revolves around keeping his coop in line. He is somewhat arrogant and pompous, but he takes his duty seriously, and his concern for the hens he "governs" is obvious. He is assisted by a masochistic dog whos presence provides humor while simultaneously invoking a deep sense of sympathy. Another rooster gives in to vanity and unwittingly looses the ultimate evil of the world. Chauntecleer and his allies must stop this evil, or the world is lost.

This brief synopsis does not even begin to do the book justice. The characters are vibrant and vivid. the story is engrossing, and even the most jaded fan will find the plot twists and imagery irrisitable. All I can say is read this book, you will not be disappointed.