Vernon God Little (Paperback)

It's a bit like "Catcher In the Rye" updated for the 21st century, except it's slightly more off the wall, and I could never imagine Holden Caulfield, despite all his teen angst, suddenly finding himself on some mind-bending reality show on Death Row where viewers vote who's going to be the next one to meet ol' Sparky. Yes, I told you it was weird.

DBC Pierre came out of nowhere to land the Booker Prize last year. And like this novel - his first - he seems a bit weird and whacky, too.

I have to say that I was impressed with Pierre's turns of phrase, his clever way with words and his inventive use of language.

I think what I enjoyed most about "Vernon God Little" was the satire, the whole sending-up of small town America (although I've never been to Texas, reading this book is exactly what I imagine it to be like, images and impressions cobbled together from movies and TV shows).

This is closely followed by the narrator's voice. It's unique and, for the most part, rings true. Even though the aforementioned Holden Caulfied had "issues" and was alienated, his problems, his views, were tame by comparison. One gets the impression that Vernon Gregory Little DOESN'T HAVE A CLUE about how the world operates: he's naive and gullible; he's also highly manipulative and self-centred and he's just a tad sex-obsessed; but he also has a health problem that keeps him grounded in an endearing kind of self-conscious way.

The story itself, which reads a bit like a road movie, is not so much plot driven but character driven. Effectively it all happens in Vernon's head. And the whole premise of a school shooting, which puts Vernon on America's Most Wanted List, happens before the story even starts; you just get tiny "glimpses" of what actually happened on that fateful day, filtered through Vernon's eyes, towards the end of the book.

What I didn't like was the almost fantastical elements to it (especially Part V); they were riotiously funny but a little ridiculous and because of that the story didn't seem particularly believable. It also took me awhile to get into the flow of the book; I think this is a read-in-big-chunks type of story rather than one you can pick up and read for small, intermittent periods.

All in all, an interesting and somewhat intriguing novel, but unless you're an experienced "literary" type reader who doesn't mind bad language, quirky characterisation and experiemental story-telling, I'd say this one isn't for you.

The first difficulty I blundered across was the relentless voice of the main character, Vernon. This kid's language is hacked into harsh fragments of over-observed teen-speak; sometimes allegorical beyond the years of your average fifteen year old Mall-Rat. This was more like Henry Miller in 'Tropic of Cancer', but with an irksome Texan drawl.

I was then assaulted by the relentless introduction of the characters; a bloated band of widowed Harpies, a slimey selection of authority figures - all with disturbing ulterior motives, vacuous and unlikable fellow teens; all of these freaks were dealt out to me like a bad Poker hand. Oh, and did I mention that all of this was beset by the back-story of a shocking mass murder of sixteen schoolkids?
I wasn't enjoying myself at all. This was hard. This wasn't Homer Simpson saying: D'oh!

I read on, as the awful un-american events unfolded and became seedier and more hopeless. I began to sneer at the bleak nation that was so crudely mapped within the pages. I began to laugh at it.

I suppose that's where I sort of got it - acclimatized if you will. I was no longer on the side of slick, witty america and its throwaway one-liner, sanitized sit-com smugness. I was now snickering and smirking at the ludicrous land that poor Vernon Little was trapped in and was being savagely manipulated by.
I found the whole ghastly media circus, (ringmastered by the cartoonish 'Eulalio Ledesma' character) repulsive and quite hilarious. In the end I was enjoying myself, but I felt like I needed a good shower afterwards.

This is not the america I thought I knew, but I'm certain it's the america that most americans know - or would rather not know.
For that I would urge you to read this book. It's very horrible, it's very vulgar, it's very disturbing, it's very funny.