Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre (c. 2003)

I just picked this up at the GoodWill for .89 and then when I got it home, realized it was on my topic for this month (1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die ~ added for the 2008 edition). The reviews seem to be love it or hate it. FYI: It also won the Man Booker Prize for 2003 (so it could be read for our prize winning category as well). It is about a high school boy who is wrongly accused of being an accomplice to a school shooting and the entire town is out to get him. Hence, he takes off for Mexico. So far, the kid is rather funny (and his observations about people spot on, but in a disquieting, darkly satirical way), but there is LOADS of profanity. So that might offend some ... but it's certainly nothing worse than I hear in Court each week.



Review to follow.

Carolyn
Admin

Review of Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre

This is kind of a hard book to review because it has such amazing strengths to make it a unique, at times profound, reading experience. However, it often gets mired in sophmoric, crude and (rather ill fitting) "humor" and a silly, unreal plot. The strengths are, without a doubt, the author's unusual and interesting use of description, language and characterization of events, people, American habits and obsessions. He sees the pathetic in us all, but also sees the good. There is just something wild and interesting about how he describes things. So it was easy and pretty fun to read. I also liked the characters for the most part, who were pretty real in their disappointments and foibles. What I thought was lacking was substance. This is a satirical novel that pokes fun at the media, judicial system and American pop culture, among many subjects. That's okay, some of it is funny, but it's too disjointed to really work with the story, what there is of one. I guess using the school shooting by his friend, where we are plunged during its aftermath, is just too serious a subject to be fodder to the satirical work the author was trying to accomplish. The whole story revolves around the erroneous assumption that our protagonist, Vernon Little, was an accomplice or co-conspirator to the crime(s). Everyone takes the wrong information and goes wild with it. Overall, I cannot say I did not like the book, but I cannot say I loved it either. I feel just rather mediocre about it. I don't think its Man Booker worthy, nor do I think it should have made the 1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die list. It's just pop fiction with a few bits of insight from an overall, very uniquely talented writer. It just left me with this feeling of wow, if this writer had a real plot/story, it'd be something special.

3 Stars out of 5