Vernon God Little in Reading 1001

Jan 08, 2013 F rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: usa, 2013

My flatmate told me to read this book as it was 'dynamite' apparently. I disagree.
I do not recommend. I did not enjoy.
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Oct 15, 2017 Karen rated it liked it

Shelves: booker-winners

The day after I started reading Vernon God Little a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers at a music festival in Las Vegas, causing multiple fatalities and injuries. It made reading this book about a (fictional) mass killing at a school inMartirio, Texas, especially thought-provoking because it opened up questions about the way in which society respond to such events.

In the aftermath of Las Vegas, the initial desire was to understand 鈥榃hat happened?鈥� and 鈥淗ow could this have happened?鈥� T The day after I started reading Vernon God Little a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers at a music festival in Las Vegas, causing multiple fatalities and injuries. It made reading this book about a (fictional) mass killing at a school inMartirio, Texas, especially thought-provoking because it opened up questions about the way in which society respond to such events.

In the aftermath of Las Vegas, the initial desire was to understand 鈥榃hat happened?鈥� and 鈥淗ow could this have happened?鈥� This was quickly replaced by questions of responsibility. 鈥榃ho is to blame?鈥� and 鈥淗ow could they have let this happen?鈥� asked people around the world. This need to identify the person or people responsible and bring them swiftly to account for their failings, is a response that has become all too common in a world which has in recent years experienced a multitude of calamities.

The 鈥榖lame culture鈥� is very evident in Vernon God Little. Jesus Navarro, a college student, shot and killed 16 students at his school before turning the gun on himself. His 15-year-old friend Vernon becomes the town鈥檚 scapegoat and is almost immediately charged as an accessory to the crime. As the book begins, Vernon has been taken into custody and is being questioned by police officers who are under pressure from an angry and grieving community to identify the guilty party. Vernon steadfastly maintains his innocence but his behaviour over the course of the following few months, simply acts as further evidence to the police and the news media that he is guilty. He flees to Mexico but is captured and put on trial as Texas鈥� most notorious serial killer. As a death row prisoner his fate will be decided in a Big Brother-style programme.

This is a story told from Vernon鈥檚 point of view. You鈥檇 think, given the subject matter, that this would be a fairly somber tale but actually it contains a surprising amount of humour. I don鈥檛 mean humour of the belly-aching, laugh out loud kind, but the type that has you wincing 鈥� if you鈥檝e ever watched eposides of the BBC sit com The Office (the original British version that is) you鈥檒l have an idea of what I mean. The behaviour of the central character is ludicrously funny but we also cringe at some of his antics. We laugh with Vernon and at him but often feel guilty about the latter because he鈥檚 in essence a nice kid whose been given a rough deal. His father disappeared some years previously and his mother is, well let鈥檚 be kind and say she鈥檚 not really there. Instead of protecting her son and doing her damnest to get him the best legal help possible, she goes all dewy-eyed about a video repairman who masquerades as a news reporter. 鈥淟ally鈥� Ledesma is clearly a sleaze who befriends Vernon only to further his own career but Vernon鈥檚 mother doesn鈥檛 see the damage this guy is doing to her son. Vernon isn鈥檛 well served by the girl he fancies 鈥� she leads him on then shops him in order to further her own aspirations to be a media personality 鈥� or by his mother鈥檚 friends. They鈥檙e more concerned with junk television and, perhaps aptly in a town nicknamed 鈥榯he barbecue-sauce capital of Texas鈥�, stuffing their faces with ribs and fried chicken. Vernon鈥檚 mother and her chums fret endlessly about whether he is getting enough to eat. Her closest friend Palmyra is a wonderful larger-than-life character who bellows at police officers when she finds they鈥檙e not feeding him enough:

So the door flies open. Pam wobbles in, bolt upright like she has books on her head. It鈥檚 on account of her center of gravity.

鈥榁ernie, you eatin rebs? What did you eat today?鈥�

鈥楤谤别补办蹿补蝉迟鈥�

鈥極 Lord, we better go by the Barn鈥�

Doesn鈥檛 matter what you tell her, she鈥檚 going by Bar-B-Chew Barn believe me.

Pam just molds into the car. Her soul鈥檚 already knotted over the choice of side-orders you can tell.

No-one in this novel really comes across in a positive light however; they鈥檙e either fat, stupid or conniving. In fact, Vernon God Little is rather scathing about American society in general, portraying it as full of slobbish incompetent law enforcers and gun-obsessed gullible citizens. Everything in this world can be turned into a form of entertainment 鈥� even the death penalty. One of the most chilling plot developments comes when Ledesma sells an idea to a television network for a Big Brother style series where viewers get to decide the fate of prisoners on death row. Prisoners are given coaching on how to act when the cameras are installed in their cells.

Internet viewers will be able to choose which cells to watch, and change camera angles and all. On regular TV there鈥檒l be edited highlights of the day鈥檚 action. Then the general public will vote by phone or internet. They鈥檒l vote for who should die next. The cuter we act, the more we entertain, the longer we might live.

I wish I could believe such an idea will never materialise outside the world of fiction. But then who could have imagined a program about a bunch of misfits who live together in a custom-built home under constant surveillance??

No wonder that at the end, Vernon wonders: 鈥淲hat kind of a life was that? A bunch of movies, and people talking about movies, and shows about people talking about movies.鈥�

So what did I make of this book? It was certainly an odd book. Frequently loopy, barmy and just plain whacky, it was a tale told with gusto and zest. But the initial novelty of this style wore off half way through and, as much as I was interested in its ideas, I just wanted to get to the end as quickly as possible. ...more

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Jun 23, 2012 Rosemary rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, ultimate-teen-guide

Quite ridiculous, a strange but enjoyable Booker-winning comedy of errors. I especially loved his Mom.

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Sep 19, 2011 Anita Pomerantz rated it liked it

Shelves: 1001-books

I'm giving it 3 stars though I'm torn because in some regards, I wanted to give it more. And in other regards, I wanted to give it less. So now it has all averaged out into mediocrity.

I must say when the folks tagged this book "humor", I guess they were referring to black humor. Because this book was definitely black. It's the story of a 15 year old boy who is wrongly accused of gunning down 16 classmates and his trials and tribulations as he attempts to convince others of his innocence.

The enti I'm giving it 3 stars though I'm torn because in some regards, I wanted to give it more. And in other regards, I wanted to give it less. So now it has all averaged out into mediocrity.

I must say when the folks tagged this book "humor", I guess they were referring to black humor. Because this book was definitely black. It's the story of a 15 year old boy who is wrongly accused of gunning down 16 classmates and his trials and tribulations as he attempts to convince others of his innocence.

The entire book is written in the first person and uses sort of this uneducated slang that also is rife with the f bombs. At first, the voice was sort of off putting, but there are passages that are absolutely brilliant in it as well. Pierre's metaphors and analogies are very, very fresh - - and that makes the book more interesting. They are also very raw.

The main character, Vernon, is extremely well developed, and you keep hoping against hope that he'll get out of the bind that he in . . .and Pierre just does NOT let you off the hook . . .I was very emotionally caught up in the notion that this innocent kid was being railroaded.

There's also deep social commentary on the role of the media in our society. And in this book, the media is four plus scary and powerful and also leading society into the dark depths of immorality.

The humor is very dark, but there's some very clever stuff . . .but not haa haa funny. More like ironic or sarcastic wit. The book even had an "unput downable" quality, but that really didn't kick in for me full force until the last 50 pages or so of the book. Ok, even as I write this, I'm thinking maybe I should give the book 4 stars, but I just have trouble handing out that extra star when I had to work so hard to grasp the language of the book and to really comprehend what was going on. This book just wasn't an easy read at all. And then, the language and the crassness and the rawness sort of combined to turn me off.

It's just not for the faint of heart.

All in all, if you are a literary reader looking for something fresh (this did win the Booker prize after all), yet challenging, I'd say go for it. If you are the type of reader who just wants to be entertained, then I'm afraid this won't be high on your list. ...more

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Sep 26, 2017 Tim Hickman rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned, signed, booker-prize, 1001-books-read

Foul, crazy, heartbreaking. Brimming with tacked-together, malapropism-filled, newly minted language. Vernon God Little is endlessly surprising, inventive and humorous (in humor's blackest tones). The last book that left me with this many unanswered questions was Junot Diaz' Oscar Wao and that is very high praise. ...more

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