corner corner Vernon God Little

Medium

Vernon God Little
by DBC Pierre | Literature & Fiction
Registered by AliceF of Coventry, Warwickshire United Kingdom on Thursday, July 20, 2006
Average 5 star rating by BookCrossing Members 

status (set by riverwillow): to be read


8 journalers for this copy...

Journal Entry 1 by AliceF from Coventry, Warwickshire United Kingdom on Thursday, July 20, 2006

9 out of 10

Posted today (on loan) to MeGeerts. 

Journal Entry 2 by MeGeerts from Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Friday, July 28, 2006

This book has not been rated.

Thank you so much for letting me borrow this. I've been looking forward to reading this. 

Journal Entry 3 by MeGeerts from Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Saturday, August 19, 2006

2 out of 10

I know this book has had rave reviews, but I guess I just didn't 'get' it.
For the first hunderd pages or so, I found it mostly annoying. It wasn't till half way that I began to get mildly interested and mildly amused. Unfortunatly it quickly went overboard again and the humour turned plain ridiculous and we were back at annoying. 

Journal Entry 4 by AliceF from Coventry, Warwickshire United Kingdom on Friday, August 25, 2006

This book has not been rated.

Rather than MeGeerts sending this straight back to me, it's going to travel a little bit first... So far, there is one person on this ring; ideally, the ring will start with Edinburgh people (as MeGeerts will be attending the meet there in October), so if any Edinburgh BookCrossers are interested, I shall insert their names ahead of this current one.

BOOK RING: This ring is currently open. Members are as follows (if you wish to join, please PM me and I will add you!):

  • rainbow3 (Edinburgh, UK)
  • RDWirral (Wirral, UK)
  • aubriel (Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK)
  • Pakasanelly (Colchester, Essex)
  • Heaven-Ali (Birmingham)
  • with riverwillow (Beckenham, Kent), since 30 June 2007


How it works:
  • If you wish to be added to the list, please PM me with your details.
  • You will be sending the book to the person who appears after you in the list, so you need to PM them to get their address!
  • It's not a race, but please read and send the book on as speedily as you can, other people are dying to read it too.
  • Please journal the book once you have received it (so we all know where it currently is) and again when you have read it (so we know what you thought of it!)
  • If you're the last person on the list (i.e. we run out of members) the book comes back to me until there are more interested parties...


Amazon.co.uk Review

If there's any justice, it is only a matter of time before the work of the curiously-named DBC Pierre becomes essential reading for anyone interested in cutting-edge writing today. Vernon God Little is a book that has a totally individual (and very quirky) identity, from a writer with a finger on the pulse of contemporary society (particularly its less comfortable aspects). Pierre is also a satirical writer in the vein of such talents as Terry Southern, and there is a manic quality to his work that makes the experience of reading him both disorienting and exhilarating. As a first novel, this is a remarkable achievement.

Teenager Vernon Gregory Little's life has been changed by the Columbine-style slaughter of a group of students at his high school. Soon his hole-in-the-wall town is blanketed under a media siege, and Vernon finds himself blamed for the killing (rather than the real culprit, a friend of Vernon's). Eulalio Ledesma is his particular nemesis, manipulating things so that Vernon becomes the fulcrum for the bizarre and vengeful impulses of the townspeople of Martirio. After a truly surrealistic set of events, Vernon finds himself heading for a fateful assignation in Mexico with the delectable Taylor Figueros (everyone in the book has names as odd as the author's).

By setting his novel in the barbecue-sauce capital of Central Texas, Pierre ensures that his narrative is going to be some distance from naturalistic writing. And as a scalpel-like satirical incision into the mores of contemporary America, reality TV and media hysteria, Vernon God Little often reads like a fractured modern-day take on such novels as John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. --Barry Forshaw


Note:

No guarantee anyone will enjoy this book, by the way... in terms of other BookCrossers, I've most often found this title mentioned (pretty much evenly) in either most loved or most hated lists. 

Journal Entry 5 by MeGeerts at Negociants, Lothian Street in Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom on Tuesday, October 10, 2006

This book has not been rated.

Released 5 yrs ago (10/11/2006 UTC) at Negociants, Lothian Street in Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

BC meet-up.
I have this book on loan, so if anyone picks this up, please return it to me when you're done. 

Journal Entry 6 by rainbow3 from Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom on Wednesday, October 11, 2006

This book has not been rated.

OK - Here's my note of interest – I picked this up at the Edinburgh Bookcrossing meeting a few minutes ago so I will pop this to the top of my TBR pile as I have no other Book RING or RAY books at the moment. I was swithering but Bookfrogster's been so enthusiastic about this in the past, and was again tonite I thought I would pick it up. Thanks AliceF for the chance to read this. 

Journal Entry 7 by rainbow3 from Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom on Wednesday, December 13, 2006

8 out of 10

I did think this amusing, cleverly written, ironic, and prophetically scary, I was on the edge of my seat – often – squirming at the cascade of injustice’s piled upon the fateful head of Vernon Gregory Little. Feel I raced though it so fast I still have some questions, time to retrace my steps and check up on a few points. I enjoyed the desert dry humour but rarely, unlike some reviewers felt like guffawing, so frequently was I tensing instead, preparing for events to slide into some ever more unrecoverable place. I loved Vernon’s optimistic outlook balanced as it was by an intriguing side-order of pragmatism, and thank God for that ending! Once I got my breath back I could see how much I had enjoyed this. 

Journal Entry 8 by rainbow3 at Negociants, Lothian Street in Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom on Wednesday, December 13, 2006

This book has not been rated.

Released 5 yrs ago (12/13/2006 UTC) at Negociants, Lothian Street in Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Controlled release & Apologies: I read this the month I picked it up but have been unable to make the last few BC Meetings in Edinburgh. I am planning releasing this (back into the hands of MeGreerts as i though this was the plan) at the Edinburgh Bookcrossers Meet-up, in our regular café restaurant on Bristo Square on Wednesday the 13th of December. I am wondering if instead I was supposed to post this off to the next on the list hum... hopefully I shall find out tonight. 

Journal Entry 9 by MeGeerts from Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Thursday, December 14, 2006

This book has not been rated.

The book is back with me :D
Will send on as soon as I get RDWirral's address. 

Journal Entry 10 by RDWirral from New Ferry, Merseyside United Kingdom on Friday, December 22, 2006

This book has not been rated.

This arrived yesterday - has been bumped near the top of a queue!!! 

Journal Entry 11 by RDWirral from New Ferry, Merseyside United Kingdom on Wednesday, February 07, 2007

This book has not been rated.

I have tried and tried to get into this book and just can't - I think I should move it on now as it isnt fair on others who are waiting. PMing Aubriel for her address. 

Journal Entry 12 by RDWirral from New Ferry, Merseyside United Kingdom on Thursday, March 01, 2007

This book has not been rated.

Now on its way to aubriel - apologies for the delay 

Journal Entry 13 by aubriel from Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom on Monday, March 05, 2007

This book has not been rated.

Arrived safely. I should get to this pretty soon as I haven't anything ahead of it to read right now. 

Journal Entry 14 by wingBookAmblerwing from Colchester, Essex United Kingdom on Wednesday, May 02, 2007

This book has not been rated.

Arrived safely today, thank you Aubriel and AliceF! Just in time to read over the bank holiday weekend :o)

I heard it was in the top ten books (or was it the top book?) most likely to be abandoned! I hope it's not that bad, cos I rarely give up on a book! 

Journal Entry 15 by wingBookAmblerwing from Colchester, Essex United Kingdom on Wednesday, May 23, 2007

4 out of 10

The first third of this book was a real struggle; in fact I would have given up on it if it hadn’t been a bookring. (So thanks to AliceF for that. And I mean that in a broadening horizons way!) One particular annoyance is that I’m learning to speed-read, but found all the ‘f’ words, Texan dialect (or was it just the alien viewpoint of an American fifteen year old yob?) so hard to follow that I was probably reading slower than my original ‘normal’ speed. We were not amused!

However, having persisted in making two chapters a day (always a bad sign if I have to make myself read a quota) I got to like VGL’s ‘learnings’ at least!

The final Act was much easier (he’d given up ‘cussing’ which helped no end :-) and I could finally see why some people really enjoyed the book. It even began to tickle my sense of humour! But too little, too late, so only four stars.

I won’t be in a rush to read any more DBC Pierre!

Posted to Heaven-Ali yesterday. 

Journal Entry 16 by wingHeaven-Aliwing from Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Thursday, May 24, 2007

This book has not been rated.

Arrived today - thanks : ) I will get to it soon. 

Journal Entry 17 by wingHeaven-Aliwing from Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Wednesday, May 30, 2007

This book has not been rated.

This book came on holiday to Norfolk with me. I actually finished it three days ago, but only happened upon internet access today.

I actually really enjoyed this book. I can see that some people haven't enjoyed it at all. I did think it was very well written, with an irreverent, but very authentic narrative voice. Vernon Little was for me a character I couldn't help but like. The last third of the book was certainly unputdownable.

Thanks for sharing Alice : )

I will be sending it on in a few days. 

Journal Entry 18 by wingHeaven-Aliwing at to a bookcrosser in sent by mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Saturday, June 09, 2007

This book has not been rated.

Released 4 yrs ago (6/9/2007 UTC) at to a bookcrosser in sent by mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

off to Riverwillow 

Journal Entry 19 by riverwillow from Beckenham, Kent United Kingdom on Sunday, July 01, 2007

This book has not been rated.

I collected this yesterday from the sorting office, I am hoping to get this read and back on the move soon as I am really looking forward to reading this one soon. 



remove ads?

Are you sure you want to delete this item? It cannot be undone.