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Vernon God Little [Paperback]

DBC Pierre
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (155 customer reviews)


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Book Description

June 15, 2004
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 Vaine 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 off for Mexico.

Vernon God Little is a provocatively satirical, riotously funny look at violence, materialism, and the American media.


Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Pierre takes a freewheeling, irreverent look at teenage Sturm und Drang in his erratic, sometimes darkly comic debut novel about a Texas boy running from the law in the wake of a gory school shooting. Vernon Gregory Little is the 15-year-old protagonist, a nasty, sarcastic teenager accused of being an accessory to the murders committed by his friend Jesus Navarro in tiny Martirio, "the barbecue sauce capital of Texas." Vernon manages to make bail and avoid the media horde that descends on the town after the killings, but he's unable to get to the other gun-his father's-which he knows will tie him to the crime, despite his innocence. His flight path takes him first to Houston, where he unsuccessfully tries to hook up with gorgeous former schoolmate Taylor Figueroa; the crafty beauty, promised a media job by the evil Lally, who's also duped Vernon's mom, follows him to Mexico and efficiently betrays him. Most of the plotting feels like an excuse for Vernon's endless, sharply snide riffs on his small town and the unique excesses of America that helped spawn the killings. Unfortunately, Vernon's voice grows tiresome, his excesses make him rather unlikable and the over-the-top, gross-out humor is hit-or-miss. Pierre's wild energy offers entertaining satire as well as cringe-provoking scenes, and though he can write with incisive wit, this is a bumpy ride.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 300 pages
  • Publisher: Mariner Books; Reprint edition (June 15, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0156029987
  • ISBN-13: 978-0156029988
  • Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (155 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #876,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

I cannot find one thing good to say about this book, so I will conclude. Schmerguls  |  15 reviewers made a similar statement
The plot of the novel, unfortunately, is as predictable as the secondary characters. Stephanie Kreeger  |  14 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 53 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars All Voice November 17, 2003
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The strength of DBC Pierre's award-winning novel is in the voice of its narrator, Vernon Gregory Little, a fifteen year old oddball kid from Texas whose best friend Jesus went on a shooting rampage at school. Because Jesus killed himself at the scene, there's no one to take legal and emotional blame for the tragedy, so the police haul Vernon into the station for questioning. Through a series of mistakes and an adolescent distrust of authority, Vernon looks more and more guilty despite not being at the scene until after the massacre. Dogged by a slimy television repairman turned reporter, ignored by a mother who wants a new refrigerator more than a freed son, and supported by his mother's best friend whose answer to every tragedy is a trip to the Bar-B-Chew Barn, Vernon is left to his own, not-so-sophisticated devices.

This novel is funny in a grating way: the humor has a forced edge to it that sometimes works but often doesn't. Malapropisms abound and quickly get tiring, mostly because the narrator is not as ignorant as the garbled phrases suggest. The language is profane and sometimes clumsy, and Vernon's hormonally-charged psyche comes out in weak, meaningless descriptions, such as piano notes "tinkling in the background, soft as ovaries hitting oatmeal." With often biting satire, Pierre turns his eye to many facets of American society: the media, the judicial system, obsession with food, small town life, religion, psychiatry, families, adolescent angst. The scenes are over the top, which is perfect for satire, but Pierre never tackles the issues with any depth or fresh insight. Instead, this novel reads as a dark comic strip punctuated by profanity. It is ultimately more ambitious than it is successful. Even its thematic development of religious imagery is clumsy....

VERNON GOD LITTLE is a memorable book, told with a voice that is as distinctive as the best first-person narrators in fiction; however, a voice alone does not make a fine novel. I recommend this uneven book only for those who want to keep up on the latest prize-winners in fiction, and perhaps for those who liked A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES, a novel to which this is often compared. Read more ›

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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars "A Comedy In The Presence Of Death" & A Daring Novel! November 26, 2004
Format:Hardcover
"Vernon God Little," Mr. Pierre's first novel, won the 2003 Man Booker Prize, which is the most prestigious award for fiction in the UK. The novel is an example of satire at its best, biting, witty and at times, just plain funny. The humor, however, is very dark. Mr. Pierre's writing clearly demonstrates his contempt for the media, the US criminal justice system, capital punishment, and our contemporary culture's pandemic materialism. He takes on the seamier aspects of life in America, or more specifically, in a small town in central Texas, Martirio by name. Pierre's scathing indictment of the townspeople - their acquisitiveness; greed; mean-spirited gossip; fast food obsessions juxtaposed with their zeal for the latest fad diet; their dependence on television; and their pandering to mass media, an ever present post-tragedy intrusion into their daily lives - certainly paints a bleak picture of a community whose citizens come off poorly under duress.

At the center of the turmoil is 15-year-old Vernon Little, a 21st Century Holden Caulfield who is desperately trying to come of age, while the people of his town are determined to give him the death penalty. Vernon narrates the story in highly idiomatic but expressive English, chock-full of malaprops. He is under arrest and charged as the accomplice in a brutal school shooting where 16 students were murdered. He has become the town's "skate goat" in the aftermath of a Colombine-style massacre committed by his best friend, "Meskin" (Mexican) Jesus Navarro. Vernon ponders his friend's death, "He keeps secrets from me, like he never did before. He got weird." Vernon, who is a flawed teen, obsessed with his bowels but certainly innocent of any crime, describes himself: "....
... Read more ›
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32 of 41 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars The joke's on everyone November 4, 2003
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Vernon God Little is not a terrible novel; it tells an intermittently humorous story, written in the currently fashionable rambling style of first-person confession. It's just not a story that bears any resemblance to life in the US.

Sadly, it is painfully obvious that the novelist substituted watching imported US television for actual research. Instead of the Booker, the novel should win the Nebula, for bears as much resemblance to reality as does I, Robot. DBC Pierre - or rather, Peter Finley - can't even get the rhythm of the speech right, making supposedly redneck Vernon sound like a refugee from Manchester, UK.

For a satire to work, it must be grounded in the subject which it satirizes. Vernon God Little misses by a mile. And since the book is not strenuous to read - as long as you're familiar with four-letter Anglo-Saxon expletives, you'll get through the prose no time - it is the perfect comfort food for those who like to jump on media bandwagons in the hopes of puffing up their own pseudo-intellectual consequence, but who might find, oh say, Oryx and Crake or Middlesex a little daunting.

Above all, Vernon God Little is America for those living on distant shores so they can stop feeling vaguely anxious because their ancestors forgot to emigrate, or worse, emigrated to the wrong New World. Even sadder, for they should know better, the book confirms the worst stereotypes of "flyover country" for those smugly superior in the Greater Tri-State area or West Coast, for whom Texas is as exotic and unknown as Uganda.

There are far better recent books about teenage alienation, oblivious parents and feeble-minded authority figures - some even written by real American teenagers....

What's so amazing about the hoopla surrounding the book is that Finley is an admitted con artist/supposedly clean former junkie of the worst sort; the type who thought nothing of swindling his elderly American benefactor out of his home in Spain, leaving the man homeless and depressed. Congratulations to Finley for once more pulling off a terrific con, brillantly hoodwinking the British media (thankfully, the New York Times, among others, has seen through the smoke and mirrors on the other side of the Atlantic.)

But then, those who proclaim the Booker Emperor has New Clothes really only have themselves to blame. Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars This is not the actual book.
I read this book in high school and finally got around to buying it. I ordered this one but when it came , it was written like a play. It was not the actual book. Read more
Published 28 days ago by David
1.0 out of 5 stars Totally over-rated for a Booker Winner!
After reading this "comical" book I'm still looking for the funnies. It makes me very skeptical about reading another Booker Prize winners. Read more
Published 1 month ago by MEZZA
5.0 out of 5 stars Goofy good laughs and grabby beginning
Great writing. This is a page turner that kept my interest right to the end, because of quirky characters and unusual poin of view.
Published 3 months ago by Malone K Sinclaire
4.0 out of 5 stars Vernon GOOD Little!
Vernon God Little is a thoroughly enjoyable adventure through the mental and physical landscape of the bible-belt and the dark and mysterious badlands south of its border. Read more
Published 4 months ago by delsur83
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Book
This was ordered to give as a Christmas present. It arrived so quickly I couldn't believe it! Thanks very much.
Published 5 months ago by Helen Brown
2.0 out of 5 stars not impressed
Vernon God Little is the satiric debut novel of Australian writer Peter Warren Finlay (better known by his pen name DBC Pierre). Read more
Published 6 months ago by Stephanie Kreeger
5.0 out of 5 stars Like Catcher in the rye, only much funnier
Read this book on holidays on my Kindle. The problems with Kindles, people do not know what your are reading, so they had no way of knowing why I was laughing so much. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Donal O'Lochlainn
5.0 out of 5 stars Just Brilliant
Vernon God Little is a real to life story of a teenage boy caught in the dead end world of an unimportant town in southern Texas. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Brett Driscoll
5.0 out of 5 stars 'me ves y sufres'
I really enjoyed this novel; there's no question that Pierre took inspiration from 'Catcher in the Rye' (one of my favorite books) but managed to create an entirely original work. Read more
Published 11 months ago by sally tarbox
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
This was an awesome read, the characters were very interesting, some were awesome and others (villans) were people who you wanted to meet for the sole purpose of punching in the... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Alex
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