Man Booker Prize Competition

You have received the book, you have read it and now here is your chance to win more fabulous writing. How? Very simple. Just let us know:

What did reading Vernon God Little stir in you?

Write 100 – 150 words about your thoughts, impressions, ideas that you got from the book  for a chance to win one of 6 sets of the 2011 Man Booker Shortlist.

The books in this year’s shortlist are:

Just put  your thoughts in an email and send it to ihull@hull.ac.uk

For each faculty there will be one winner to be announced on the 2nd of November.

Prizes courtesy of the Booker Prize Foundation.

Nik Machen, English Language and Literature, Scarborough Campus

Vernon’s rare style of narrative and language matches the confused perspective with which he finds himself, he seem obsessed with panties and excrement as metaphors –which are hilarious –  for the world in chaos around him. As a reader I found that although Vernon is telling me his story, I’m almost carried away with the rest of the Texan media circus, wanting to see how Vernon isn’t innocent of all he is accused and yet I find him likable; a dangerous trait in a runaway from the legal system. I can’t help rooting for him in his court case and his on-going war with Lally, I rejoice in Taylor getting her comeuppance in the form of a bullet, thinking “That’s karma for ya” which raises more questions of my own perspective than Vernon Little’s; turning the reading experience on its head ‘like a shit taken backwards’ as one might say.

by: William David Lobley, University of Hull, Scarborough Campus

To me, Vernon God Little highlighted many of the ironies, injustices, and trivialities encountered through life. But mostly, it stirred memories of being fifteen years old; feeling that your insecurities and emotions are weaknesses and that no matter what, you’re going to get it wrong, because frankly, no one truly understands. Depressing as this sounds, I found relating back to my fifteen year old self liberating and refreshing, reminding me how things aren’t all bad and how things really do change. (Annoyingly, this means I have to admit that every relative who said ‘…It’ll all get better, you’ll look back and laugh…’ was right.)

I especially related to Vernon’s “knife in the back” analogy, symbolising the effect and power that is held by parents over a teenager as they have the ability to seemingly “twist the knife” at will. Every teenager comes to learn, as Vernon did, and as did I, that this is just your conscience. One of many gifts given by your parents, letting you know they really do care; Vernon God Little and his “learning’s” stirred in me the memories of the moment I realised that, just maybe, the whole world wasn’t against me after all.

By David J Gray:

Vernon God Little: What did it stir up in me?
Vernon God Little’s title character became a best friend figure within the first ten minutes of reading. His nature and mannerisms are laced with brutal hilarity, aspiring qualities in a young man. His descriptions of other characters make the novel endlessly funny and in a way easier to take his point of view. A feeling of jealousy was also felt whilst reading, his brilliantly precise put-downs and jives were executed like a boy with hindsight; I wish I was as quick. It is however his social entrapment of ostracism that makes me yearn to read more. Vernon cannot escape his label of murderer (or at least accessory to murder) and his knowledge that he is innocent keeps him from shame. Most people at some point in their lives have been able to relate to this, at least on a lesser scale, where though everyone may believe you are somehow in the wrong, you know you are innocent and so stand tall. Personally, most emotion is felt for his descriptions of feeling toward other people, especially his mother. Vernon appears to feel he has the world’s weight on his shoulders; he does not have pity for himself but the effect other people’s views are having on his loved ones. I think we all like to keep things away from our parents to keep them away from worry, Vernon can’t. Vernon God Little “stirs up” then feelings of sentimentality towards worse parts of life while still delivering an assurance along with it that we are neither alone in these experiences, nor are they ever-present. Things will always get better.

Shirley Sze (Hull York Medial School)

Reading Vernon God Little let me see the world in a totally new but unique perspective through a disaffected 15 year old teenager. It is quite fascinating to explore Venon’s skewed view on issues like good and evil, cause and effect and wealth and poverty. The complex happenings around him might explain the development of such views. He lives in Martirio — a place full of gossip, a place where no one seem devastated by the school massacre, a place where money means everything, a place where everyone assumes that he was part of his best friends’s nefarious plot to murder 16 of his classmates. He didn’t have any support from his family. His father disappeared all of a sudden. His mom mastered the art of victimhood and passive aggression. She does everything to ruin his son’s public image. There is nobody to listen to his story. Everything works against him.  People around him are all greedy and evil-minded. TV reporter, Eulalio Ledesma betrayed him; a psychiatrist tried to abuse him, the jailer taunted him and the media wanted to convict him.  He wanted to escape, but he has no money. All these make Vernon confused about the world. He is not the troubled adolescent! He has a warm soul and sometimes he thinks in a much more mature way than any ordinary 15 year olds would have. Despite suffering from his mother’s acts, he loves and cares for her. He even noticed the false laughs of the attorneys and questioned if they were born to the profession. Vernon just isn’t intelligent and mature enough to find his way out!

The minds of teenagers are complex and are especially hard to grasp.  Adolescents are the hardest patients to me. Their thoughts are shaped by a lot of factors including their friends, family, school, physical health, neighbourhood, media, socio-economic status, etc. That’s why they are fragile and are prone to falling into traps. Teenagers take up smoking, excessive drinking, recreational drug abuse and early sexual activities as a way of coping with stress in life. They want to prove that they can do certain things,  that they are ‘adults’ and that they are normal. Dealing with the psychological and social aspects when giving treatment or health advice to teenagers is especially important. The optimal treatment for a patient is to treat one as a ‘whole’ person. To do that, doctors must take the time to explore their minds. Otherwise, we will just be treating the body but ignoring the soul, won’t we?