Customer Reviews

Vernon God Little

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

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. Pierre uses Vernon's friend's name Jesus frequently in a context that could confuse him with the Christian Messiah, and Vernon often talks about being nailed to a cross; these references fall heavily and without real meaning. (I find it intriguing that both last year's Man Booker Prize (The Life of Pi) and this 2003 winner rely on religious imagery to convey the plight of a naif.)

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.

This reminds me a lot of three books: MY FRACTURED LIFE (Rikki Lee Travolta), CATCHER IN THE RYE (JD Salinger), and THE OUTSIDERS (SE Hinton). If you enjoy these books I recommend you may like this one too. I found it to be excellent.

"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: "....lawless brown hair, the eyelashes of a camel, big ole puppy-dog features like God made me through a fu*ken magnifying glass. You know right away my movie's the one where I puke on my legs, and they send the nurse to interview me instead." Indeed, author Pierre's talent for giving Vernon a true adolescent voice, crude language along with some brilliant insights and a sense of honor, is part of what makes this novel so strong. Vernon is at once a hormone driven, alienated anti-hero, and at the same time quietly grief stricken and noble. As events surrounding the case become increasingly chaotic, Vernon unwittingly becomes the victim of a nefarious conspiracy. His eventual and unavoidable demise is chronicled here.

Author, DBC Pierre, (The "DBC" in his nom de plume stands for "Dirty But Clean"), aptly calls the novel, "A 21st Century Comedy in the Presence of Death. He is, in reality, a native-born Australian named Peter Finlay, who lived much of his early life in Mexico. Pierre effectively builds a sense of revulsion in the reader without using heavy-handed moralization. In fact he keeps us laughing through many a sick and twisted scenario. The author's narrative is uneven at times. There are moments of brilliance that fade into page after page describing the monotonous life of Martirio's citizens. The "redneck" dialogue and vernacular are colorful and believable, and Pierre's prose is often beautiful. He is a risk-taker and if you are willing to go along with him for the ride, it is certainly a wild one. The book's conclusion is a bit too facile and felt like a cop-out to me. However, the pluses far outweigh the minuses in this excellent and far-out novel.

If you are easily offended by criticism of life in Texas, or in America, especially when not written by an American - then this is not the book for you. Otherwise, enjoy!

JANA

Am I only only person who hated this novel with a passion? It was the worst piece of pretentious drivel that I have read since....? The novel is narrated by VGL who is a 15 year old who becomes a scapegoat for a school massacre carried out by his friend who killed himself at the scene.

Other reviewers have criticised the bad language. In fact that was one of the few things that didn't irritate me. You would expect this from the mouth of a rebellious teenager. The main problem was that I didn't seem to be listening to a young narrator but to the novelist being smart. At one point he observes an old man whose skin 'hangs down in his pockets...erosion caused from waves of diappointment' Oh please!

Apart from the writing the characters simply got on my nerves. I was struggling to find one likeable person. By the end I did not really care what happened to Vernon so long as it was over quickly.

I am in a minority. Others love this book - not least the 2003 Booker Judges! But we can't like everything.

DBC Pierre is an unusually talented wordsmith, with a keen sense for unique metaphors and similes. But his ability seems not to extend beyond such small-scale exercises. The novel is meandering, tedious and riddled with plot holes and improbable twists, and lacking in the kind of anecdotic detail that gives a story depth and texture. The topic is ambitious, grandiose even, but the treatment is amateurish and uninsightful. Finally, and most annoyingly, the allegedly Texan voice is utterly fake. It is incredibly ambitious for DBC Pierre to attempt to write in a vernacular that is not his own, and he fails miserably. The use of ridiculously quaint character names and homonymes is initially cute and works well, but overuse ultimately kills it.

Maybe one day we'll find out why this book won one of the most prestigious British literary prizes. Peter Finlay's ultimate scam?

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. Please Don't Kill the Freshman by Zoe Trope or Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chlobsky are novels that would not (and should not) receive literary prizes, but at least know their subject matter. And there are far better satires of American mores and manners out there. I've read Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut, Heller and Vonnegut are favorite authors of mine, and you, Mr. Finley, are no Heller or Vonnegut. As for shedding light on US school shootings, Michael Moore's documentary Bowling for Columbine provokes far more thought and reflection - and black humor - on the subject.

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.

I thought this was a good novel, at least as good as 'Oryx & Crake' and 'My Fractured Life.' I thought it was terrific. The comedy is very unordinary, don't let it slip by. It is a terrific 'what's happened to the world?' slant.

Don't bother reading this book, there are many much better out there.

The last Booker winner I read was "The God of Small Things", which I thought was brilliant. I read this book based on the stength of TGOST, and the rich potential for examining the disturbing school massacres that have occured in the US. If it hadn't won a Booker I would give it three stars, but never recommend it to anyone I respected.

Pierre's haphazard plot structure both comes from nowhere and is stunningly predictable. Elements that are not random flights of fancy make all the easy choices. The somewhat clever but barely plausible ending has a sickly sweet feel goodness to it. The kind of feeling brought on by overindulgence. Overall there is a lack of rigor. The story is all over the place and needs a few more edits to come together.

Pierre's lampooning of reality TV, the USA's justice system, and small town middle America is shallow. They are worthy subjects, but there is nothing new or even that funny about his treatment of them.

As an American who grew up in a rural area and both despises and respects the people there, this book rings hollow. There is a lack of real insight. It is obvious that author is just imagining what it might be like in those parts in order to draw his hackneyed characterizations. This dooms the feeble pricks of Pierre's satire to never cut through to a deeper understanding.

I wonder if the booker jury chose this book because of the polical relevance of it's topic. If so it was a nice thought.

Yes, this book, Vernon God Little, won the Man Booker Prize. And I usually love the books that win the Booker or Pulitzer. However, after only a few chapters, I find I cannot care about this character -- or any of the characters. Perhaps I should. I don't. As some other reviewers have indicated here, the continuous use of the "f" word in various forms is tiring. But that isn't the only problem; I don't care about the story. While some other readers have kept on reading and came to appreciate the book after initially disliking it, I would rather use my time reading some of the Booker Prize runners-up.

I must confess that I also did not enjoy "A Confederacy of Dunces" or "Catcher in the Rye," one a Pulitzer winner and the other a classic, and both have been compared with this novel. And "Vernon God Little" does have some fine writing, vividly expressed through the troubled mind of a fifteen-year-old boy -- humorously. And maybe that is the crux of my problem in trying to read this novel, that it is a dark comedy about the aftermath of the killing of school children. After Columbine, I'm not ready for this. I don't feel like laughing. Doubt I ever will. Not in this context. But who knows, maybe next year the Booker will go to a comedy about the aftermath of 9/11. If this book is funny, then that one ought to be a barrel of laughs.

The author of "Vernon God Little" is Australian-born, U.S.-Mexican raised DBC Pierre (DBC = Dirty But Clean), pen name for author Peter Finlay. Perhaps reading about him on some Booker-related web sites has affected my opinion of the book. I hope not. I try to be fair. The work should be judged on its own merit, though that is hard to do, having read about him.

I'm sure many will love this novel. And it may turn out to be an "important" book. But if you don't enjoy repetitive "f" words and other obscenities, plus dark humor, it might not be the book for you. Last year's remarkable Booker winner, Life of Pi, was also about a teenage boy trying to survive. But Pi was a noble young man you could care about.

'Vernon God Little' by DBC Pierre is a curious book, made even curiousier by winning the 2003 Booker Prize (British Commonwealth equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize). The story is about Vernon, a teenager in rural Texas, accused as the accomplice in a massacre at his high school. No one believes poor Vernon, and from his eyes it seems everyone around him is a bit loopy ... especially a Geraldo Rivera-wannabe reporter. While the story is anything but believable, the author deserves kudos for his very insightful study of one hapless, confused young man. The essence of Vernon is captured perfectly, often hilariously. This saves the book from being a very cheap shot at rural America and its youth.

I should add that people should NOT take 'Vernon Little God' personally. It is satire, and pure fiction. The book looks at the world from a introverted teenager, who seemingly sees the worst side of small town America. And the book is not anti-Texas. The author could have easily transported the setting to rural Canada or Australia.

Worthy of the Booker Prize? No, I thought 'Oryx & Crake' was better (..and I haven't even read the other four nominated books).

Bottom line: funny and at times insightful but its lack of depth and over-the-top storyline compromises for what could have been a great book.