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Reader's Paradise

Vernon God Little

19 years ago

We've just read DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little for my reading group, but unfortunately only four members turned up, one of whom had given up after 35 pages (and spent the ENTIRE discussion telling us how difficult she'd found the language and how amazed she was that I enjoyed the novel).

Anyone here read it? Apparently it is one of the most frequently bought & abandoned current reads.

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Comments (2)

martin_z
19 years ago
Doesn't surprise me.

It won the Booker a few years ago. I remember watching the TV for the award program; there were a bunch of experts discussing the short-list. It was noticeable that they were all quite kind when all the other books were mentioned, but the atmosphere became positively animated when they started to talk about Vernon God Little - it was clear that every one of them had really liked it. When they were asked which they wanted to win and which they expected to win, all of them gave another book which they expected to win, but they all said that VGL was their favourite. And the judges agreed with them.

So I went out and got it. Well, whatever it was that the judges had seen completely passed me by. I wouldn't have said that there was anything difficult in the language - I just thought it was all very forced and very unfunny. If it weren't for the fact that all these people had admired it, I probably would have abandoned it myself.

Obviously, Anyanka, you enjoyed it....
anyanka
Original Author
19 years ago
I assumed you'd read it, Martin - you read all the Booker winners, don't you? And yes, I thoroughly enjoyed it, couldn't put it down towards the end as I had to find out what they'd do to him [spoiler awareness in action]. I also loved the quality of the writing; in between all the swearing there were some beautiful passages, such as:

...his mind's clumsy too; the certainty of our kid logic got washed away, leaving pebbles of anger and doubt that crack together with each new wave of emotion.

I did not find the book laugh-out-loud funny, but while the satire is a bit heavy-handed in places, it certainly made me grin quite a lot.
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