Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2003, and listed on the '1001 Books to Read Before You Die' list. This debut novel by a British author is best summed up in the Sunday Herald's review (quoted at the front of the book):
"Martirio is a familiar place. it's the media-fevered small town populated by kooks, bed-wetters and panty-sniffers familiar from the fiction of, among others, Tom Wolfe, Kurt Vonnegut and Chuck Palahniuk. If anything, Pierre's take on life in Hicksville is a little more rancid, his farce a little more broad... Pierre's verbal fizz and spiked humour mark him out for further attention."

Bought from a charity bookshop in Tunbridge Wells, September 2009.

This book features swearing, cruelty, greed, gluttony, fraud, jealousy, false friendship and one-upmanship: the downside of American society. There certainly wasn't much laughter or joy to relieve the story. Halfway through, it struck me that the back cover and pages of press citations in the front of the book do not mention the elephant in the room, the high-school massacre. As the book progressed, I realised that this was a good thing, as the book doesn't really cover that at all, nor seek to do so; it is more an indictment of trial by media and the persecution of somebody who appears to the world guilty, without trial. I suspect that I would have given up on this book if it hadn't been a 1001 book and a Man Booker Winner. As it is, I felt that the last third of the book showed DBC Pierre's talent more than the rest (leaving me to wonder if the Man Booker jury hadn't read just the beginning and the end!). I suppose it is quite an achievement to try to write in the style of a teenager from Texas if you are British, but that doesn't necessarily make it well-written. Perhaps when he writes in his own voice, I will appreciate his style more.

To be given to one of my English teacher friends.

This book has been released as part of the following BookCrossing challenges:
- The Ultimate Challenge - read and release books, with extra points for a monthly theme
- Reduce Mount TBR (To Be Read) - read and release books on the TBR list since before June 2010. My reading goal is 75 books.
- Pages Read Challenge - read a self-set target number of pages in 2011. My goal is 25,000.
- 2011 Movie Books Challenge
- Set It Yourself Challenge
- 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think you may have to have a rather twisted sense of humour to fully appreciate it though! The reviews make comparisons with Trainspotting, the Simpsons and the Office, all of which I love. So if you like those you will love this book. It is very easy to read and the storyline is exciting. It is a book that older teenagers would probably enjoy too.