Really, this is just far too easy.

The sneering voice, the pointed jabs at all the obvious targets of rural Americana, and the edgy, so-called "topical" subject matter. Truly, though, this has very little of substance to say, and it does so in the most simplistic and basic way imaginable.

I can only assume that the voice seemed "fresh" to whoever bestowed the Booker Prize upon it, but in reality, it presents an almost entirely one-dimensional viewpoint.

This book is precisely the reason for my growing distaste for satire being used as a pretext for anything and everything to occur, with little or no regard for the narrative logic or the development of characters. (Gary Shteyngart, take note.)

There is only one somewhat interesting character in the entire book, but she is unceremoniously dropped from the story early on. Only to reappear later, "redeemed" by nothing more remarkable than the sudden onset of puberty and the resulting physical attractiveness.

It's a rather disappointing and lackluster effort that fails to truly engage or offer any real depth or insight.

I was completely ready not to have any affection for this book. The reason being all the comparisons made to A Confederacy of Dunces, a book that I truly detest. However, to my surprise, I really liked this one. Vernon was confronted by an actual group of dunces instead of those from his imagination. As a result, he was a far more likable loser. The language used and the absurd characters often made me burst out laughing.

Moreover, I even took pleasure in the somewhat unbelievable ending. My sister also had a liking for it. But most of the other members of the book club despised it. So, be cautious as it doesn't have a universal charm. It seems that people's opinions on this book can vary greatly. Some might find it highly entertaining and engaging, while others might not be able to appreciate its unique qualities.

Nevertheless, for me, it was a pleasant read that managed to overcome my initial prejudices based on the comparisons to a book I disliked.

I'm not going to rate this book, since I only read ten pages of it.

But you can surely infer my rating when I tell you that those ten pages were enough for me to decide I didn't want to read any more.

It's quite interesting that in the most popular review here on Goodreads for this book, there is a quote from the small section that I read. The reviewer uses this quote as an illustration of how great the book is. However, I remember reading that quote and thinking, 'If I read one more thing as stupid or as foul as this, I'm done.' And sure enough, either on the same page or the next one, we're presented with the incredibly hammy sheriff and his 'offices' (orifices) speech. It was not only stupid and foul but, even worse, it was unfunny humor.

I think the best thing I can say for this book was that it telegraphed its intention early enough. So, I could bail on it without wasting more than the ten minutes or so it took to read the first chapter.

This saved me from potentially spending a lot more time on a book that clearly wasn't going to be to my taste.

Perhaps others might find something redeeming in it, but for me, those initial pages were a big turn-off.