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: Good energy..but..
Review: That's about the best thing I can say about this book. I like the first person narrative of a troubled teen with crazy thoughts pouring onto the page--but--the author offers no insight into the narrator. I couldn't get beyond his chatter and reach inside of him.(what's with the accents?) There's dark humor, which is fine and well, but nothing insightful comes out of it. While there is good energy here, I can't digest the casual and almost jaded attitude this story has about something as serious as spree killings by teens. Fine to satirize the media around these events, but give us some smart insights. This book pales in comparison to SIMON LAZARUS by M.A. Kirkwood--which bravely deals with masculine issues as seen through the eyes of a contemporary 18 year old male. And it, too, is wry, full of energy and smart as all hell. M.A.Kirkwood is an American author in the tradition of Salinger and Twain, yet the story is a universal one. SIMON LAZARUS makes up for the shallowness that's displayed in VERNON GOD LITTLE and actually, with all too many novels written by men today. SIMON LAZARUS delivers. Worth looking into.
Rating:
Summary: Glad it's over
Review: This was a struggle. At one point I was considering writing a short essay on "My feelings on not finishing books" rather than reviewing this, then at around two thirds through it picked up and became more event-driven and quite engaging and the ending almost made the whole book worthwhile. There's no doubt that DBC Pierre (an odd nom de plume, that one, it stands for Dirty But Clean, apparently) has created an important work, it's just hard to read.What put me off was the narrator, a teenaged Texan from a dysfunctional family, Vernon "Insert contrived literary device here" Little. It's told in a first-person confessional style through the eyes of this maladjusted kid during the aftermath of a high school shooting, capturing his confused, frenetic thoughts well. You're not meant to like him, you're meant to feel sorry for him, he has everyone and everything stacked against him from the start. I didn't like his speaking style and had trouble keeping a Texan accent going in my head. Trainspotting was easier to follow. Like Catcher in the Rye the closer you are in age to the protagonist, the more keenly you'll feel for him, but it's hard to empathise too much as for the most of the book, you're trying to work out his exact role in the school shootings. There's plenty to like once you get over the style of the book; the underlying dark humour, the critique of capital punishment, the grotesquely well-depicted supporting characters, you get a good impression of how the American media circus chews up lives, and there's plenty of room for musing on the nature of society and religion. It's a good book, about interesting subject matter and rightly won several prestigious awards, but takes too long to get going. I don't think I can recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: inside the mind of a teen
Review: Two pieces of advice: 1. If you have no love for dark comedy or sarcasm or the kind of wit an bravado in ventures such as Michael Moore's work, then you should probably steer clear of this book because you will find it more frustrating than rewarding. 2. If you find swearing offensive, take your reading eyes elsewhere.
Vernon God Little was fun for me and the strength of the title does not become apparent until the last two chapters of the book. I'm not much of a person to get hung up on titles, but it was a bit of a question rattling around in my while reading.
There's much talk about the book being a foray into satirical comedy pointed at the US. This is very true and very admirable in the book. Still, in reading the book I felt like I was reading a hip contemporary version of The Stranger, written in vernacular. This book was written by a man who was born in Australia, lived in Mexico and the US, and currently resides in Ireland. I can't help wondering if folks who aren't American by passport are better suited to telling the world about America. Interesting that the author seems closer to his characters than I would have imagined.
Rating:
Summary: great, rollicking read
Review: When all is said & done, this book has much more depth than one initially imagines. It's a fun, easy read & very thought-provoking.
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