Rating: 
Summary: holy over-rated
Review: DBC Pierre shot to the top of the literary world with a tantalizing history -- a repentant miscreant with a cute pseudonym (DBC stands for "Dirty But Clean," a testament to his trek through the twelve steps) who decided the only way to overcome the debts from his fraud-ridden past was to write a best-selling novel. It's a dream I myself have harboured, although my debts began and ended with OSAP. I never would have thought such a plan would actually work, though. And I am surprised that it worked for Pierre. Vernon God Little is a tale ripped from the headlines, the story of a kid involved in a school-shooting who either embodies or encounters every cliché you could imagine in such a situation. The small-town cops are bumbling media whores, the court-appointed shrink is a psycho, et cetera et cetera. Pierre borrows heavily from a number of sources -- A Clockwork Orange, The Incomparable Atuk -- and throws in large amounts of potty humour for good measure (and when I say large amounts, I mean there is hardly a page that doesn't mention excrement). I have to say, there are few things I find more boring than potty humour; it is generally a substitute for original thought. Doesn't take a lot of time and effort to scrawl "sh*t" across a page. More irritating still is the fakey dialect Pierre uses. It doesn't sound authentically like anything, and he drifts in an out of it like a bad actor who can't get into character without affecting a mixed-up French/Texan/German drawl. Let's not even get into the quaint'n'quirky names with which he adorns his characters, most of whom are completely interchangeable. I'm really quite surprised at the praised lavished on a novel which is, above all, boring. It took me a month to wade through this thing, a month in which I frequently cast it aside for other books. This is what gets Booker's attention these days? Maybe Booker's new corporate sponsor is influencing it's decisions? Who knows. But if this is all it takes to achieve critical and commercial success, I'd better hurry up and finish my own novel. I'll be a millionaire in no time.
Rating: 
Summary: lacks the courage of its convictions
Review: This just in--American culture is sensationalistic and image-driven! Want more? Many Americans are fat and eat lots of junk food! You don't say. What bugs me about the book is what bugs me about a lot of Europeans' visions of America--they seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that somehow we would never be able to understand Springer without their help. Gosh, tell me some more. (It reminds me of that Onion parody of Marilyn Manson, wandering through Ohio trying desperately to scare people.) That said, the satire is effectively corrosive for the first two-thirds of the book: despite the obviousness of his premise, Pierre creates a pervasive disgust at these manifestations of tabloid culture through sheer relentless overkill. Even though Vernon's voice falters irritatingly (he's a foul-mouthed Holden Caulfield, except when he sounds like a grad student in creative writing), it accrues pathos. But then the last section more or less totally overthrows the book's premise, trading in all that cynicism for a cheesy, happy-ending (for everyone who deserves it) resolution that is either evidence of extreme artistic cowardice (and, like the similarly lousy-ending Life of Pi, a suggestion that Booker Prize judges read only the first 100 pages of the novels they choose) or allegedly a satire of our own desire for happy endings, though there's not a single textual clue that would point to that reading. Martin Amis did all of this a lot better, with a more real, thorough, and documented disgust, 20 years ago in Money.
Rating: 
Summary: VERNON GOD LITTLE is anything but small
Review: Just because JD Salinger wrote a book about a disaffected teenager fifty years ago does not mean that he has claimed that territory all for himself. I despise the reviews of DBC Pierre's VERNON GOD LITTLE that discredit the novel simply because it too channels the voice of a confused, angry adolescent (see Laura Miller @ Salon.com). Do I desecrate sacred ground to suggest that VGL is a better novel? It won't ever make a high school reading list--the fast-track to "classic" status--but, in many ways, it's more alive and more inventive than Salinger's blueprint. This novel is rewarding on two levels: like CATCHER, it challenges the reader to see through the artiface of language to the character beneath; in VGL, however, the language itself is just as rich as the character and his plight. Those who read to the fifth section of the novel ("How My Summer Vacation Spent Me") will begin to better understand the method of Pierre's madness. VERNON GOD LITTLE challenges us to hold on through a firestorm of language and trusts its character to guide us to some new "learnings."
Rating: 
Summary: Too Superficial and Grating
Review: Even though I'd read that VERNON GOD LITTLE was a comedy, I didn't find much in it that was funny. To tell you the truth, the characterizations were so stereotypical that, if I were a Texan, I would be ashamed of this book. All the people live in trailers (or the equivalent) and eat ribs and none of them speak proper English. I've been to Texas, not for any extended period of time, to be sure, but long enough to know that the typical Texan doesn't live in a doublewide and spend all his or her time guzzling beer and barbecue. And another thing...the Texans I saw and spoke with might have had a twang, but they sure didn't go to the extremes that the Texans in VERNON GOD LITTLE do. Okay, I hated the characterizations and the dialogue, but that aside, VERNON GOD LITTLE does contain more than its share of comedy of the darkest kind in its plot. When Jesus Navarro, a Mexican boy, guns down sixteen high school kids, it is Vernon who must take the blame...even though he's innocent. What Vernon does and what those around him do, as well as the book's resolution (which is weak) do provide some excellent fodder for satire. Some of the scenes and set pieces are so very over-the-top and they certainly skewer much of "the American way." As good as some of the scenes are, there is a totally superficial quality to the book so it never achieves the lasting effect that really good satire does. Even though I couldn't stand most of the characters in VERNON GOD LITTLE, I do think there are touches of brilliance in Vernon, himself. He's every tragic, down-on-his-luck, seedy, conniving character rolled into one. The dialogue in VERNON GOD LITTLE was difficult for me to read. There was too much dialect that I was totally unfamiliar with and there was far too much profanity. Vernon does have a very distinctive voice, there is no doubting that, but it was a voice that I simply didn't care for at all. Most of the characters got on my nerves right away; Vernon eventually began to grate on them as well. I know people who loved the ending of VERNON GOD LITTLE and others who hated it. I thought it was rather weak. I'm not going to tell you if it was happy or sad, that would simply be revealing too much, but I am going to tell you that the ending left me totally unsatisfied. All I could do was shake my head and think, "What in the world was that!" VERNON GOD LITTLE shows that Pierre definitely has talent and he definitely has the brilliance to satirize. I just think he went a little too far with this book and, frankly, I found it offensive and I'm far from prudish. I would recommend this book only to people who love dark, gritty satire that centers around subjects that are usually taboo and filled with dialogue liberally laced with profanity. I could hardly stand to finish it. It certainly wasn't worthy of the Booker, in my opinion, but then, who am I to say?
Rating: 
Summary: Persistence pays off
Review: Like some other readers who struggled with this book, it took me a few chapters to understand why this novel had even made it to the Booker Prize selection list (nevermind actually winning it). I quickly found myself checking the author's name and title to ensure I had the right book... I didn't like any of it; the characters, the story, the language. And then something just happened, grabbed me right where I was ready to give up, and I was hooked. Vernon suddenly became interesting and human, likeable and heroic. DBC Pierre's style turns into an impressive ability to transcribe the weirdness of reality and the end itself is an unexpected gem.
Rating:
Summary: Well Recommended
Review: Based upon my recent selections of NOTES OF A SCANDAL, MY FRACTURED LIFE, and A MILLION LITTLE PIECES, VERNON GOD LITTLE came up as a recommendation and I gave it a shot. The recommendations Amazon.com provides can be right on target. I loved VERNON GOD LITTLE. It is impertinent enough to be fun without being offensive.
Rating:
Summary: Uneven and mildly frustrating.
Review: I had a really difficult time with this book. It appears that D.B.C. Pierre watched and re-watched every single episode of Jerry Springer to come up with the colorful array of characters in Vernon God Little. All the women are obese and nobody is very smart. People say thing like, "Ol' Keeters down tha road done made-up summa that thar stuff-" and so on. It just seemed to me that the author was writing directly from a stereotype and was deliberately trying to be offensive 90% of the time. The difference between good offensive (ie. Henry Miller) and bad offensive (i.e. this book) is how much of what's being written is truthful as opposed to an author faking/forcing it. I wasn't too impressed. Having said that, the tone of the novel changed dramatically half-way through the story: It looks as though Vernon Gregory Little is the one who's going to be taking all the heat for a recent shooting-spree at his school in Texas. Vernon flees to Mexico and by the time he's back home, nearly all of southern Texas' murders have been blamed on him. While Vernon was in Mexico, story mellowed out a little and Pierre took his time to describe the country in wonderful detail. And, back home, when Vernon's in jail and on trial, his reflections are more profound. All of this was way better reading than the white-trash/empty scenario that is the first-half of Vernon God Little. If you've got nothing else to read, by all means, pick this book up (just wait until paperback).
Rating:
Summary: First 80% Great
Review: This book was really good for the first 80%, then kind of trips up as it stumbles into some sort of anti-Texas, anti-death penalty message. Reminds me of how "The Tipping Point" was very insightful & then degenerated into an anti-smoking diatribe. I'm all for books conveying life lessons and universal truths but am disappointed when they become less universal and more political. Would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good yarn and appreciates humor, but you might want to look elsewhere if you don't like being preached to.
Rating:
Summary: You Will Love It
Review: I can't help but like this book. "Vernon God Little" has the lost angry boy thing going for it (ala Catcher in the Rye) but it is more than that. There is an irreverence and rebellion that straddles the line of drama and comedy, society commentary and escapist literature. Few authors can get away with that. Steve Martin did it very well with "Pleasure of My Company." Augusten Burroughs did an excellent job with "Running With Scissors." And, Rikki Lee Travolta did it to tremendous effect with "My Fractured Life." Outside of that, I'd be hard pressed to name a book that does it as well as "Vernon God Little." This is a book that can really be enjoyed.
Rating:
Summary: Some small towns are good, others are not--this one is not
Review: I am genuinely shocked at the negative reviews of this book. This book is very, very amusing, and also very touching, and at the same time a good, almost TV-mystery story and plotline. Plus, a happy ending. What is there not to love? Also, this book has no resemblence to Catcher in the Rye or the Outsiders, except for being about a teen boy who feels like a criminal. When people say it's funny, it's funny the same way a Chris Rock comedy special is funny: profane, sure, but the profanity is just incidental; and wryly observant of life. For instance, at one point he goes to meet someone, and this person sees him from a long distance away, coming around the corner. He says "I hate it when they spot you like twenty f---en miles away." He swore, but it is the casual, frustrated cursing. Also, some characters, like Vaine Gurie, are given descriptions that turn loving by the end. A lot of people reach fulfillment, people who behave very badly. But in the end, the narrator, Vernon, reconciles with everyone, in a nice little resolution. It's obvious that Pierre saw Against All Odds, and when Vernon mentions it it seems a little out of place, but it's okay. Pierre really has many, many memorable lines and observations, that make any shocking scenes recede like a speck among the very literary, postmodern passages, which are the heart of soul of this excellent book. This book reminded me of Tibor Fischer, with the constant smirking asides delivered to the reader, usually about the characters at hand in a scene. It is also a powerful exploration of how small town America can be the smuggest, most oblivious places on Earth, and even when you leave, they still upset you. Someone else commented that this book was "America-bashing"--no way! The bad guys get theirs in the end, the good guys win, the hero gets the girl, everyone receives blessings and good fortune. this novel, and Pierre, obviously love America. This book totally deserves Britain's highest literary honor.
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