Vernon God Little: a 21st century comedy in the presence of death

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The common thread of said dismissals is a denunciation of 'Vernon God Little' as a unrealistic portrayal of the tragedy of a school shooting, similar to the incident at Columbine High in Colorado some years ago. The uncommon yet supremely smart and tasteful thread of *my* argument to that is that 'Vernon God Little' is only barely about a school shooting. Someone cites Gus Van Sant's 'Elephant' as a vastly superior study of a tragedy. Well, yes, that is correct. Because 'Vernon' isn't a study of a tragedy at all. It is, however, a better overall piece of art than 'Elephant' because that movie was completely boring and had zero count 'em zero actual elephants in it. Or shootings, if I remember correctly. Sheriff Porkorney tosses his bone into the box, nodding to Gurie. 'Get it on record, then hold him.' He creaks out of the room. John Carey, Merton Professor of English Literature at University of Oxford and chairman of Man Booker judges in 2003, said: "Reading [Pierre's] book made me think of how the English language was in Shakespeare's day, enormously free and inventive and very idiomatic and full of poetry as well." [ citation needed]

Vernon God Little by D.B.C. Pierre | Goodreads

Unanimously, this novel categorized as a dark comedy. You know I'm in a kind of hating a dark story, while I like comedies. But now, I think that I just love the marriage of the two. While sometimes I think the imagination of Mr. Pierre came to wild (isn't it absurd that the people of America chose the one to be executed through SMS voting??? Oh my, I just can't stand it! Right, it is a satirical, dark, comic novel. But, I'm really disturbed by this American Idol parody!), the rest of his imagination, his invention on the use of English words, his playing with G in the middle name of Vernon Little (Vernon Go-to-hell Little, Vernon Godzilla Little, Vernon Gay Little, Vernon Gonzalez Little, etc) showed his genius.If you see lots of movies, you know this is the way people speak in real life. And Vernon has seen many, many movies. Come to think of it, his constant allusions to cinema and television sound far more like those of a 42-year-old author than a 15-year-old pothead, but who gives a ****? It's the same annoying inconsistency that has Vernon usually saying things like, "There ain't puke enough in the world for today," while sometimes observing, "We play into an anesthetic sleep, just conscious of life collapsing around us in grainy pieces." Cool. We publish a Literature Newsletter when we have news and features on UK and international literature, plus opportunities for the industry to share. How does Vernon change and mature over the course of the novel? How does your attitude toward him change? Did you ever think that he had been part of the shooting? This one moves around America's love for things that shoot - guns and cameras. I can admit satire on media trial had some brilliant elements and Vernon frequently makes some good observations but, in the end, it was more like a shadow of a real book.

Lone star | Books | The Guardian Lone star | Books | The Guardian

The Vernon God Little author talks Japanese samurais, Judge Judy and the rise of surveillance capitalism. The closest I can get is to say it's like 'Catcher In The Rye' if it had been written by Warren Ellis. Vernon's mother's best friend, Palmyra, is the only woman in their circle so fat that she makes Mrs Little feel good about herself: 'Mom's other friends are slimmer. They're not her best friends.' Acerbic notes like this are funny but isolating; because Vern's voice is so strong, so unanswerable, there is no room for a second opinion, for Eulalio Ledesma, or Vaine Gurie, or Oliver Goosens, or any of the other improbably named and ultimately rather pathetic characters to tell their side of the story. Least of all do we hear from Vern's dead best friend, Jesus.

And while some of the characters (like Vernon's mom) are meant to be too dense to be believed, this makes for often stultifying dialogue. Pierre was awarded the Booker Prize for fiction on 14 October 2003 for his novel Vernon God Little. I will attempt to make this review quite long, so that you will read a realistic account of the quality of this book before you read the boorish and thoughtless dismissals that abound below. What kind of portrait of the media does Lalo Ledesma depict? Is this a fair portrait, or a stereotype? Harriett Gilbert talks to the hugely acclaimed writer DBC Pierre about his best-selling first novel Vernon God Little. An absurdly humorous look at the misadventures of a Texas teen named Vernon Little whose best friend has just killed 16 of their classmates and himself. In the wake of the tragedy, the townspeople seek both answers and vengeance; because Vernon was the killer's closest friend, he becomes the focus of their fury.

Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre | Waterstones Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre | Waterstones

Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read. People seem to think that 'Vernon' was meant to be to the Columbine Massacre as 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' was to 9/11, or as the documentary 'Terminator 2' was to the coming robot rebellion. But it's not. What is the role of the media in Vernon God Little? Why do we never meet a real reporter, one who is not a fraud or an opportunist like Lally? How does the media spotlight shape Martirio”s reaction to the shootings? Do you think media coverage of tragedies and trials in recent years has gone too far? Has it had any positive effects?

Humor and mass murder make for strange bedfellows, and first-timer Pierre fails to find the tone that might harmonize them.

BBC World Service - World Book Club, DBC Pierre - Vernon God BBC World Service - World Book Club, DBC Pierre - Vernon God

DBC Pierre was born in South Australia in 1961 and grew up in Mexico. In 2003 he won the Booker Prize for his debut novel “Vernon God Little”. He lives in Cambridgeshire. Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn, wrote: "Read Vernon God Little not only for its dangerous relevance, but for the coruscating wit and raw vitality of its voice." [ citation needed] Vernon God Little is a provocatively satirical, riotously funny look at violence, materialism, and the American media. ( From the publisher.) What is the role of the media in Vernon God Little? Why do we never meet a real reporter, one who is not a fraud or an opportunist like Lally? How does the media spotlight shape Martirio's reaction to the shootings? Do you think media coverage of tragedies and trials in recent years has gone too far? Has it had any positive effects?

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Is the kind of cruelty shown by Jesus's classmates on the day of the shooting simply a fact of adolescent life, or is it a symptom of an unhealthy society? Do teenagers have a right to be free from teasing and harassment, or are they, as Charlotte Brewster suggests, naturally subject to the tyranny of the majority of their peers? Can the social persecution of Jesus be compared to the persecution of Vernon by media-influenced public opinion? An unexpectedly moving first novel ... Raucous and brooding, coarse and lyric, corrosive and sentimental in about equal measure.