Vernon God Little

by DBC Pierre

Overview

Hailed by the critics and lauded by readers for its riotously funny and scathing portrayal of America in an age of trial by media, materialism, and violence, Vernon God Little was an international sensation when it was first published in 2003 and awarded the prestigious Man Booker Prize.

The memorable portrait of America is seen through the eyes of a wry, young, protagonist. Fifteen-year-old Vernon narrates the story with a cynical twang and a four-letter barb for each of his townsfolk, a medley of characters. With a plot involving a school shooting and death-row reality TV shows, Pierre’s effortless prose and dialogue combine to form a novel of postmodern gamesmanship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802170958
Publisher:	Canongate U.S.
Publication date:	08/14/2012
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.56(w) x 8.04(h) x 0.78(d)

About the Author

DBC Pierre was born in 1961 in Reynella, Australia. Brought up in Mexico and the UK, he now lives in Ireland. He worked previously as a designer and an internationally published cartoonist, but is now devoting himself to writing. His debut novel, Vernon God Little - a dark satire set in the aftermath of a Texas high school massacre - was the winner of the 2003 Man Booker Prize for Fiction and was adapted for stage. His second novel, Ludmila's Broken English, was published in 2006.

Hometown:

Ireland

Date of Birth:

1961

Place of Birth:

Reynella, Australia

Editorial Reviews

…a dangerous, smart, ridiculous, and very funny first novel…Pierre renders adolescence brilliantly, capturing with seeming effortlessness the bright, contradictory hormone rush of teenage life.
—The New York Times Book Review

Sam Sifton

…[An] unexpectedly moving first novel…Pierre has a flawless ear for adolescent-boy speech.
—The New Yorker

Joyce Carol Oates

If Huckleberry Finn were set on the Mexican-American border and written by the creators of South Park, it might read something like this.

San Francisco Chronicle

In a just world, this ridiculously funny first novel would come free with every television set . . . Not since reading John Kennedy O'Toole's masterpiece, A Confederacy of Dunces . . . have I laughed so much or felt such sheer delight at the discovery of a wholly fresh comic voice . . . this novel reads like a modern day fairytale

Mail on Sunday

A showpiece of superb comic writing . . . Out of the detritus of a morally bankrupt society, Pierre has fashioned a work of comic art

Sunday Telegraph

A showpiece of superb comic writing . . . Out of the detritus of a morally bankrupt society, Pierre has fashioned a work of comic art

Sunday Telegraph

"An unexpectedly moving first novel ... Raucous and brooding, coarse and lyric, corrosive and sentimental in about equal measure."

The New Yorker - Joyce Carol Oates

"Pierre renders adolescence brilliantly, capturing with seeming effortlessness the bright, contradictory hormone rush of teenage life."

The New York Times Book Review

"Read [this book] not only for its dangerous relevance, but for the coruscating wit and raw vitality of its voice."

Jonathan Lethem