Vernon God Little
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3.8 • 6 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
In the town jail of Martirio – the barbecue sauce capital of Central Texas – sits fifteen-year-old Vernon Little, dressed only in New Jack trainers and underpants. He is in trouble.
His friend Jesus has just blown away sixteen of his classmates before turning the gun on himself. And Vernon, as his only buddy, has become the focus of the town’s need for vengeance.
The news of the tragedy has resulted in the quirky backwater being flooded with wannabe CNN hacks all-too-keen to claim their fifteen minutes and lay the blame for the killings at Vernon’s feet. In particular Eulalio Ledesma, who begins manipulating matters so that Vernon becomes the centre for the bizarre and vengeful impulses of the townspeople of Martirio.
But Vernon is sure he’ll be ok. “Why do movies end happy? Because they imitate life. You know it, I know it.”
Peopled by a cast of grotesques, freaks, coldblooded chattering housewives (who are all mysteriously, recently widowed), and one very special adolescent with an unfortunate talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Vernon God Little is riotously funny and puts lust for vengeance, materialism, and trial by media squarely in the dock. It also heralds the arrival of one of the most exciting and acclaimed voices in contemporary fiction, who with this debut novel illustrates that in modern times innocence and basic humanity may not be enough.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Perry takes a freewheeling, irreverent look at teenage Sturm und Drang in his erratic, sometimes darkly comic debut novel about a Texas boy running from the law in the wake of a gory school shooting. Vernon Gregory Little is the 15-year-old protagonist, a nasty, sarcastic teenager accused of being an accessory to the murders committed by his friend Jesus Navarro in tiny Martirio, "the barbecue sauce capital of Texas." Vernon manages to make bail and avoid the media horde that descends on the town after the killings, but he's unable to get to the other gun his father's which he knows will tie him to the crime, despite his innocence. His flight path takes him first to Houston, where he unsuccessfully tries to hook up with gorgeous former schoolmate Taylor Figueroa; the crafty beauty, promised a media job by the evil Lally, who's also duped Vernon's mom, follows him to Mexico and efficiently betrays him. Most of the plotting feels like an excuse for Vernon's endless, sharply snide riffs on his small town and the unique excesses of America that helped spawn the killings. Unfortunately, Vernon's voice grows tiresome, his excesses make him rather unlikable and the over-the-top, gross-out humor is hit-or-miss. Perry's wild energy offers entertaining satire as well as cringe-provoking scenes, and though he can write with incisive wit, this is a bumpy ride.
