3.5 stars. The summary paragraph for this title is a solid explanation, so I won't go into that. The author has a strong writing style, and developed her characters such that they were easy to visualize, bond with and wonder about. Mostly what kept me from giving it four stars was the long (drawn-out, I felt) science-fiction (time-travel, physics, etc.) elements. Going Bovine starts off solidly in the realistic-fiction area, and then dips and delves into the sci-fi, without ever really going entirely sci-fi. It's a picky thing, probably, but the hybridness is what kept me from really, really liking it. 
 Still, the characters will quickly grow on you, you will care about what happens to them, and maybe you'll like the philosophical questions the title raises. The ending (view spoiler)[ is very open-ended (at least I took it that way), and while I often do appreciate a non-predictable, non-everything-is-obviously-hunky-dory-now ending, I'm not sure how well it worked for me for this book. (hide spoiler)]