Written from the perspective of Jesus’ best friend; Vernon Little: a fifteen year old, bitter and foul mouthed Texan, DBC Pierre creates a phenomenally well characterised first person narration. The writing style encapsulates the thoughts of a cynical, backwater Texan teenager; using equal parts colloquial phrasing such as, ‘His eyes crinkle like barbed wire snagged with horsehair’ and simple ‘cussing’. It’s not a subtle style and it may offend some readers (as would the frequent daydreams about girl’s ‘tangs’) but it’s not supposed to be; one wouldn’t expect a teenage boy’s mind to be so. Vernon’s narration is thoroughly entertaining, unique enough to be engaging whilst being genuine enough to keep the book grounded to its realistic setting.
The ordinariness of the setting is a key element within the novel. Banal sub-plots such as Vernon’s Mother waiting for a fridge to be delivered or Vernon’s new Nikes juxtapose with the exceptional basis of the plot; a school shooting Vern is wrongly accused of aiding. It leads to an interesting dynamic where the main antagonists aren’t the police or the courts but the sleazy guy sleeping with his mum or his mum’s annoying friends. One would think this would rob the text of its dramatic potential but by keeping this realistic edge to his conflicts Vernon is further characterised as just some unlucky kid. For example, at one stage Vernon wants to hide some evidence which would falsely incriminate him. He can’t, however because, his mother and her new beau want him to work at a church cake stand, to bring in some money and show he can be responsible. This takes place whilst he’s on bail for sixteen counts of murder. It’s paradoxically totally absurd that they would make him do this and yet, as anyone who’s been badgered by their parents to get a job knows, it’s a recognisable problem.
There are two main effects of the realism in Vernon God Little. Firstly, it makes it very easy to empathise with Vernon. Few people know about the problems of being chased by the police, most can understand what it’s like to be embarrassed by their mum. Secondly, whilst school shootings and child abuse are considered rare, they’re certainly real issues and by ensuring that the book is realistic it proves to be sensitive towards these issues. The actual shooting for example is never described, it happened before the story starts and Vernon wasn’t even there to see it. By not exploiting these issues for shock value, but rather skirting around them, Pierre delivers an intelligent look at the potential causes and effects these acts can have in a way that isn’t didactic.
However, whilst the narration, plot and underlying themes are all engaging the book isn’t flawless. The novel is divided into five acts. The first two are brilliant; grounded in his home town they give Pierre the best opportunities to develop Vernon as a character. The plot in these parts is firmly tied into Vernon’s actions. The third act breaks from this with an escape to Mexico which, whilst different, isn’t bad. Vernon stops being so bitter and mostly just enjoys being out of his town. In fact, if Vernon returned to being an angst-ridden cynic after this act it would function as an excellent break. However he does not. In acts four and five, he stops swearing, holds back on his more sordid imagery because he has ‘grown up’. It makes his narration less unique and less interesting. This isn’t good characterisation. He hasn’t developed during the narrative, he’s developed off page and we’re explicitly told when and why it’s happened. Vernon changing so much, so fast (for the reader, in the book it had been six months) cheapens him as a character. Explicitly being told that his character has changed reminds you that he is just a character. In addition in these two acts Vernon is relatively impotent, incapable of affecting the story. This is partly intentional, as it demonstrates how the paradigm of Vernon’s story has been shaped by people in positions of power, primarily by the media. Whilst an interesting way of dealing with this issue, it isn’t exciting, it’s just bleak. Finally, the actual ending is far too perfect. Every plotline is summed up consecutively. Again, it reminds you that you’re reading fiction. Strangely whilst the rest of book keeps so doggedly to being realistic, the finale reneges on everything that went before it by being too fanciful.
These faults aside it is still a fascinating book written from a novel perspective. The issues it deals with are important and relatively fresh ground for a work of fiction. Vernon God Little is a brilliant novel, that’s certainly worth reading, especially to someone who wants to see first person narration done right. You may want to skip the last chapter though.
-Matthew Christopher
A good account of the novel, Matthew, that makes some interesting points, especially about Vernon's supposed 'character development', which, like you, I find quite clumsily handled. I remain to be convinced about the 'realism' you find in the text (especially since you need wholly to dismiss the ending -- to the point of instructing people not to read it! -- in order to make that reading fit). But good work.
ReplyDeleteAt times it's a little contradctory: you start by saying that the school shooting is the 'starting point' of the novel; then later say it isn't ('The actual shooting for example is never described, it happened before the story starts and Vernon wasn’t even there to see it'). And I'd like to have seen more specific analysis of the distinctive voice in which the novel is written: more by way of quotation from the text itself.