Vernon God Little
Cast your mind back to 2003. Iraq was conquered, SARS was striking fear into Asia and I was handing in uni assignments in my pyjamas. All was not well in the world of books. Previously unknown author DBC Pierre won the Man Booker Prize with his first novel, Vernon God Little, sparking a literary uproar. I like that word, 'sparking'. Lazy journalists use it when they can't find any sources willing to sensationalise their stories, usually used along the lines of 'sparking health fears' or 'sparking community concerns'.
For some reason, this book stuck in my mind for all this time and only recently did I track it down and read it. Vernon God Little has since been made into a play and a movie is now in the works. Despite popular opinion, it seems that the world continues to turn even when I stop observing it.
Vernon God Little is the story of a teenager who survived a high school massacre caused by his best friend. The killer turned the gun on himself, leaving the redneck town hungry for someone else close to the tragedy to blame. Vernon sees that the townsfolk (aided by an opportunistic media presence) have already made up their minds about him, so he runs. Running solidifies Vernon's perceived guilt, and he is dragged back to town to face the music. It's a heap of cliches rolled into one: the over-analysing loner, trial by media, your sins are forgiven in Mexico, etc.
This book is split into several acts, each with several chapters to them. I hate that. Plays are wanky enough without wanky books trying to outwank them with wanky imitations. Acts and chapters mean little though as this is really a book of two halves. Unfortunately the first half is boring and slow, focusing on the backwardness of the town's residents and setting up the rise of the main antagonist.
The second half is much better. A glorious spurt of freedom is cut short by forces conspiring against Vernon, resulting in a farcical court case worthy of Boston Legal and an introspective account of life on death row. The book ends with unexpected revelations, not quite a deus ex machina but still hard to swallow considering that exercising common sense at any stage would have saved the main character from his seemingly predetermined troubles. There were sections of the second half that I could not put down, and that's always a good sign.
Is Vernon God Little worthy of the Booker Prize? No. Have I won any Booker Prizes lately? No. I've read a lot worse but there were times early on when I just didn't want to bother anymore, and it seems that I'm not alone. Still, it has its charms and I would recommend it to the right person. I give it three Hamburglars.
Interesting his middle name is God. I'm guessing that's down to his redneck, bible-belt, conservative parents, who probably weren't overly supportive of his "individuality"? It sounds pretty crazy, but guess who else was named with such zealotry? GG Allin, born Jesus Christ Allin, who's psychotically religious father believed he was more or less the 2nd coming. Of course, he grew up to be as much of an anti-christ as it's possible to become, eating his own shit on stage with the Murder Junkies and so forth. Quite a shame he died of an overdose instead of committing suicide on stage like he'd always claimed he would. His death was still fun times (Weekend At Bernie's style) though, check out that wiki entry for details!
I wonder if Pierre donated any of the book's earnings to the West Memphis Three... You don't even hear about those guys anymore.
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