Point of View

Vernon God Little is told in the first person present tense by an insightful teenager trapped by circumstances. He appears to know well the person(s) to whom he spills his innermost feelings and often caustic, filthy observations about his family, his mother's friends, his classmates, many of whom he has seen murdered at school, and the police, legal, medical, media, and penal personnel who control his existence after he is taken into custody and charged with murder. Vernon tells it like he sees it, through a filter of music, television, and film and with a scatological verve, until a prison psychiatrist suggests he clean up his language. Vernon appears to be talking with another young person, one attune to popular culture and the events he is discussing, merely filling him/her in on details from his unique vantage point. That person is likely not from...