Vernon God Little

Vernon God Little

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Editorial Reviews

Fifteen-year-old Vernon Gregory Little is in trouble, and it has something to do with the recent massacre of 16 students at his high school. Soon, the quirky backwater of Martirio, barbecue capital of Texas, is flooded with wannabe CNN hacks, eager for a scapegoat.

The surprise winner of the 2003 Man Booker Prize, DBC Pierre's debut novel, Vernon God Little, makes few apologies in its darkly comedic portrait of Martirio, Texas, a town reeling in the aftermath of a horrific school shooting. Fifteen-year-old Vernon Little narrates the first-person story with a cynical twang and a four-letter barb for each of his diet-obsessed townsfolk. His mother, endlessly awaiting the delivery of a new refrigerator, seems to exist only to twist an emotional knife in his back; her friend, Palmyra, structures her life around the next meal at the Bar-B-Chew Barn; officer Vaine Gurie has Vernon convicted of the crime before she's begun the investigation; reporter Eulalio Ledesma hovers between a comforting father-figure and a sadistic Bond villain; and Jesus, his best friend in the world, is dead--a victim of the killings. As his life explodes before him, Vernon flees his home in pursuit of a tropical fantasy: a cabin on a beach in Mexico he once saw in the movie Against All Odds. But the police--and TV crews--are in hot pursuit.

Vernon God Little is a daring novel and demands a patient reader, not because it is challenging to read--Pierre's prose flows effortlessly, only occasionally slipping from the unmistakable voice of his hero--but because the book skates so precariously between the almost taboo subject of school violence and the literary gamesmanship of postmodern fiction. Yet, as the novel unfolds, Pierre's parodic version of American culture never crosses the line into caricature, even when it climaxes in a death-row reality TV show. And Vernon, whose cynicism and smart-ass "learnings" give way to a poignant curiosity about the meaning of life, becomes a fully human, profoundly sympathetic character. --Patrick O'Kelley

Customer Reviews

My Review on Vernon God Little

Reviewed by T. L. Horlacher, 2010-02-20

This book is a good read, but be prepaired for cuss words. It will hold your attention and make you sick to your stomach for the way he gets railroaded. How he trusts someone and they break that trust for their own gain.

Holden Caulfield meets Beavis

Reviewed by L. Kerr, 2010-01-10

OK, I read it.

When this novel won the Booker it got my attention. But then I saw most of the critics panned it (e.g. NY Times), so I put if off. Recently I decided the critics might be wrong so I read (suffered through) the whole book.

The author mixes Holden Caulfield and Beavis, and throws in pinches of Columbine and America the Great Satan. But that could have been an interesting combo. The reason this book blows is it's poorly written. For instance, in trying to ridicule Texan intellect, he has one if his characters mispronounce a big word. But then being so pleased with this great notion, he goes into malaprop overdrive and does it again and again. OK, it was slightly humorous the first time, but must we be beaten upon the head and shoulders?

And then there's the trial. No one says an author has to accurately portray a real trial (Kafka's "The Trial" is one of my favorite books, and that trial sure wasn't a model of verisimilitude). But this author didn't even do the minimum legal research to craft a decent parody.

I kept hoping that the critics were wrong and the Booker committee was right.

Not.

If you love to waste money, but this book.

Brilliant, hilarious...One of my all time favorites

Reviewed by James Kerr, 2009-12-15

Search the New York Times to read the two very different reviews of this book, one which says it is brilliant and inventive, and one which says it is cliched drivel. Both are right, in a way. I loved it. One of the few books I would reread, just for the wonderful prose. And it really does seem to get into the brain of a teen. A great xmas gift.

Okay book, but don't understand how it won the Booker prize...

Reviewed by Vivi, 2009-11-10

I couldn't sympathize with the main character and at times the writing was difficult to get through. I have really enjoyed other booker winners and runner ups, but i still don't understand how this won. I kept waiting for the great plot point and never reached it. The issue addressed was bold but badly delivered, though i did enjoy the humor in it. All in all, I would recommend others to give it a miss.

I confess. I like this book.

Reviewed by Jan Dierckx, 2009-10-15

When sixteen kids are shot on high school grounds, everyone looks for someone to blame. Meet Vernon Little, under arrest at the sheriff's office, a teenager wearing nothing but yesterday's underwear and his prized logo sneakers.
Moments after the shooter, his best buddy, turns the gun on himself, Vernon is pinned as an accomplice. Out for revenge are the townspeople, the cable news networks, and Deputy Vain Gurie, a woman whose zeal for the Pritikin diet is eclipsed only by her appetite for barbecued ribs from the Bar-B-Chew Barn. So Vernon does what any red-blooded American teenager would do: he takes of for Mexico.

I like this book because the author needs few words to characterize the 'white trash' background and to describe the feelings of Vernon who is about to be accused of murder.
If nothing else, this book reads like an engrossing mystery novel. One thing though: the novel doesn't ask much intellectual firepower to read it but is that so bad?