Rating: 
Summary: Park Avenue and the Bronx, a love story.
Review: Pivotal in the characterization of this book is the accuracy in which every thought, action and even accent is described. The author leaves absolutely no margin for your imagination to alter the experience of the story. This is why you are living the satirical story of Mr. Wolfe portraying New York by its essentials: power, racial issues and money. That's all there is to it.Sherman McCoy, whom you are given ample opportunity to hate, but really cannot hate completely, finds out that life is extremely fragile when you have everything everybody else wants. One misstep, or in his case one wrong turn in his pricey Mercedes, shows him literally and figuratively a more colorful New York than he has ever seen. Being terrified even on the 'safest' streets of New York, the Bronx appears before him like the nightmare he never had, accompanied by his mistress with the southern accent, Maria. Trying desperately to return to safe Manhattan, he is involved in a hit-and-run which is the start of a series of events that change his entire world. The mighty must fall, as seen from the Bronx. Justice must be done, seen from the assistant DA (who in fact has other motives). Headlines must scream, as seen from the press. All want a piece of McCoy, all want power, all want money. Everybody who reads this book cannot deny finding many truths in it, about America, about wealth and about life all intertwined in an exiting story. Herein we find the strength of storytelling of Tom Wolfe. Read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: 80s commentary
Review: The frank story delivered by Wolfe has a powerful message that rings true in today's society, it was just a little long - 700 pages (I often found my self sifting through meaningless paragraphs). Sherman McCoy, who is a rich Wallstreet aristocrat, runs over a Bronx city hoodlum after being threatened. It is a commentary of 1980s society, and can be extended into the present time. Materialism, egotism, hypocrisy...even the middle-class assistant D.A., Kramer, is subject to these human flaws as he uses the case for personal gain and glory, as does the DA in his re-election. McCoy sums up a major point in the book in saying to his lawyer, "Your self -- I don't know how to explain it, but if, God forbid, anything like this ever happens to you, you'll know what I mean. Your self...is other people, all the people you're tied to, and it's only a thread." Of course, if this thread is cut, like it is for McCoy, what becomes of that "self?" Wolfe's story becomes a Greek tragedy on the major flaw of humans -- finding their identity in people, possessions, and power.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of great descriptive writing, not much else.
Review: The subject of The Bonfire of the Vanities is Tom Wolfe's creative and perfectly illustrative descriptive writing. For example, the author refers, in one scene, to a character wearing a "'F--k You' necktie." The main enjoyment in crawling through this 700-page beast, is awaiting each next colorfully described scene.
The marketing for this novel, and the aura that surrounds it, bills Bonfire as capturing the 80s. There were some period elements such as the media-circus of hot lawsuits. It also had scenes, such as the McCoy's offices for bond-trading, that felt 80s. But you can more efficiently immerse into that period by watching Network and Wall Street. Plus, the scenes with aristocrat McCoy and hotshot Assistant D.A. Kramer, were written in a style that reminded me of film from the 50s.
The transformation of Sherman McCoy is not well-developed. When it arrives it comes as a shock.
There is engaging drama and interesting plot, but nothing occurs of great significance. Only at one point, when a character describes an Edgar Allen Poe poem, does the novel rise above the milieu of its multiple intersecting plotlines.
The book is a large investment of your time. Do great descriptions and fun plots make it worth it? I think so, but only minimally so.
Rating: 
Summary: uhh..?
Review: This book is so incredibly overrated its sickening. its mainstream tripe for the philistine reader of our age. But I give this 2 stars instead of one, only because I suppose it will be good treadmill exercise for the reader that doesn't read much and wants to make themselves feel literate.
Rating:
Summary: It could have been a contender
Review: This formulaic novel is fast-moving (except for Chapter 15.) It also provides insights on human nature and the sociology of New York City, circa 1987.
Unfortunately, the plot breaks down near the end, in Chapter 31. The riot scene in the courtroom seems unrealistic, as does Sherman McCoy's too sudden transformation from petrified Wall Street elite to a guy ready to take on everyone in the Bronx.
The story, which progresses steadily and surely through the first 30 chapters, comes to a too easily wrought end with the equivalent of a roaring car chase rather than by bringing all of the strands of the story together at trial.
At the risk of seeming vain, and although still following the formulaic structure, I believe Wolfe would have been better served by the following outline for an ending:
The case goes to trial ... Kramer argues the State's case ... Maria Ruskin testifies against McCoy ... Roland Auburn testifies against McCoy ... Killian plays the tapes ... Judge Kovitsky discovers that Killian and McCoy have tried to get a crucial tape of a conversation between Ruskin and McCoy into evidence despite knowing it was illegally made ... Peter Fallow makes headline news of all of this and Reverend Bacon states that vindication is at hand ... just when all seems lost for McCoy,
Henry Lamb awakens from his coma, and being the honest, college-bound kid he is, testifies that Ruskin and Auburn lied about how he got hurt ... the rest of the newspapers and TV stations
in NYC jump on this news, crucifying Fallow's reporting, Bacon's posturing, and Kramer's baseless prosecution ... now comes the verdict: not guilty ... Maria Ruskin is convicted of perjury and perhaps it looks like she'll lose her fortune gained from marrying the geriatric and now-deceased Arthur Ruskin ... Auburn is also convicted of perjury, his plea deal is cooked and he is sent to Rikers for all of his prior offenses ... Fallow is fired and finished in journalism: he returns to England to rot in his alcoholic stew ... Kramer keeps the job he so hated before taking on the McCoy case, never again the star in the D.A.'s office and with even less of a chance of getting a job like the high-paying kind in a Wall Street firm he so envies; Kramer's nascent affair isn't discovered, but the girl with brown lipstick won't have anything more to do with him ... McCoy no longer must fear being thrown into Rikers, but his marriage is destroyed; McCoy's ability to regain his former stature on Wall Street and look at life from the point-of-view of an American aristocrat is irreparably compromised; McCoy's 8-year-old daughter is really the only one who still believes in him just as much as in the days when he thought himself a Master of the Universe ... can there really be any winners after The Bonfire of the Vanities?
As it is, Wolfe's novel is surely more than passable entertainment, but misses the mark as one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century because of its formulaic structure and subpar ending.
Rating: 
Summary: The Great American Novel
Review: Tom Wolfe was once asked if the novel is dead. He replied that it's not quite dead, but it's on life support. He thinks the biggest problem with modern novels is that the novelists don't bother to do adequate research on their subject. How can one write a novel about India, for example, if one has never been to India? In Bonfire of the Vanities, Wolfe has done the research and has created an exact representation of modern city life in America, complete with politically self-serving DAs, civil rights demagogues, and pompous gold-coast dandies. Wolfe is obviously a keen observer of detail. This skill combined with his mastery of the reportorial style of writing make for a great novel, and a great expose' of the hustlers and opportunists that use the system for their own self-interest. I think of him as a modern-day Sinclair Lewis, who once said that he never passed judgement one way or another, he just reported what he observed. Since most of us have probably never been in a high-rise apartment on Park Avenue or a housing project in the Bronx, it's interesting to read Wolfe's detailed descriptions down to the type of wallpaper and table centerpieces. All of this works to pull the reader into the scene, the only excess possibly being his proclivity for over-reporting clothing styles. Wolfe shows his love of clothing by using esoteric terms that probably have no meaning to the average reader. Wolfe's scenes are so realistic the reader can imagine himself being in the action. I felt Sherman's fear in the Bronx jail cell. I felt his shame when lying to his wife about his relationship with Maria. The characters and dialog are so real, even though the reader may not live in that social milieu he can identify with the situation. The action moves at a rapid pace. Wolfe doesn't get bogged down with excessive narrative. He lets the characters speak for themselves--truly the mark of a great novelist. I love the way Wolfe has the Brits comment on Americans. It's refreshing to see ourselves from another perspective. How funny it is to hear Peter Fallow complain about our "ridiculous country" and our lack of social graces, all the while sponging off of rich Americans at every opportunity. This book is timeless. I read it for the second time recently and found it as enjoyable as the first. At the end I felt myself wishing for several more chapters. Bonfire of the Vanities should always stand as one of the best examples of American literature by one of our greatest writers.
Rating:
Summary: What a Cake!
Review: Using Wolfe's cake analogy, this book is one hell of a serving of a multi-layered cake. It is funny, farcical, tragic, satiric and informative. We are giving the wonderful New York landscape at its panoramic best, even to its underbelly in The Bronx Courthouse. Sherman Mc.Coy becomes a victim of vicious circumstance, not only that we are given a glimpse into the machinations and manipulations of those who take advantage of his unfortunate position. It is a morality tale, but one is left wondering what Sherman, a Master of the Universe, invite this upon himself: basically not listening to his better instinct of immediately reporting an accident to the police. He had become blinded by his love in an extra-marital relationship. A real treat to read.
Rating:
Summary: Wildly Entertaining Social Commentary
Review: What a great book! I loved it. Wolfe expertly paints the struggle between socio-economic factions, including racial and economic unrest, among various neighborhoods and burroughs of 1980s New York City. Get a glimpse of Park Avenue luxury , inner city slumming, and working class struggles to make ends meet, and what happens when the paths of all three come crashing together.
Wolfe does an excellent job at exposing the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of all his characters without coming right out and creating a villain of anyone, proving that none of us are our worst deeds--nor our best.
Tragic and severe at times, at others hilarious and outrageous, but always astute in his powers of observation, Wolfe has created one of the must-reads for contemporary American culture.
The conclusion robs the book of 5-star status.
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