A Man in Full

Rating:
Summary: A Most unputdownable novel
Review: Trying to write my humble review of a book like this is like describing New York City in 25 words or less. So I won't even try. What I will do, however, is give you an idea of the sheer scope of this story by saying that, after a third of the novel, I found myself thinking, "There's no WAY he can wrap this thing up in a mere 750 pages". Actually, that's the problem; he doesn't. The novel sails along merrily until near the very end, at which point the whole story is neatly wrapped up in a few brief pages. One can practically hear the publishers lamenting "Could you please finish now, Mr. Wolfe," looking at their watches and bank books. The ending is so sadly rushed. A Man In Full, but not a novel in full.

If you're looking for the best Wolfe novel, try Bonfire Of the Vanities. But if what you're after is a delightful time reading brilliantly written prose, and are more interested in the journey than the destination, then you can't do any better.

I'll never be able to get the image of horse breeding out of my head...

Rating:
Summary: A Man Too Full of Himself
Review: By the time I had ploughed through the 774 pages of Wolfe's most recent novel, I was a reader as beat up by the author as his character Charlie Croker was by life. Bludgeoned by a poor and unnecessary--and way, way too long--imitation of Bonfire of the Vanities, I could barely hold up the hand me down hardcover copy I had committed to finishing, and which had ceased to be interesting before page 200. I think the author lost interest in his work, too, and left it devoid of his usual imaginative and original touch. Wolfe's The Right Stuff is one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century in America and earned him his rightful place as one of our best writers and chroniclers of 20th century life.Bonfire of the Vanities did not disappoint, either. But A Man in Full reads like Bonfire with the names and places changed, and too many phrases (e.g.checkbooks "hemhorraging money") resurrected to no good purpose. His Dickensian approach to naming characters veers wildly off, as well. Peepgass, Nackers, Tick to name a few. The worst was when he reincarnated Elihu Yale as a police captain in Atlanta. Oh -- and his turn as a rap artist fell flat. More than anything, this book needed a strong editor. Instead, I suspect, it got the kid gloves treatment by someone too dazzled by the great man to tell him the truth. And all the reviewers who should have known better just kept insisting that the emperor was wearing a marvelous (white?) suit of clothes. So sad. Come back and push the envelope once again, Mr. Wolfe.

Rating:
Summary: What is the definition of a man?
Review: This book is going to upset some people. Wolfe's latest novel is partially a commentary on our times (a la Bonfire of the Vanities), but more so an attempt to discover the meaning of manhood in this post-modern, "liberated" age. Accessible to a wide range of readers, with strongly defined characters, "A Man in Full" provides a searing look at modern America, its values, morals, and beliefs. Despite the book's immense size, it is never boring, and is full of dry wit and clever, often angry prose.

The story revolves principally around the changing concept of manhood, and the forces that have altered it for both the better and worse. What does it mean to be a man in this day and age? For some it is the heavy machismo of sexual conquest; others it is the power of business and money; for others, it is honor and family. The book's main protagonists struggle constantly with their self-images. For Charlie Croker, the novel's principal character, it is the uprooting of his world after a full-fledged financial disaster robs him of his raison d'etre--what he perceives as the root of his existence--money and power. Much of the plot revolves around him, yet there is a sense that he is merely a representative character--symbolizing what is wrong with American manhood. There are few, if any, redemptive qualities within him. Redemption--in both the social and spiritual sense--is left to another character, Conrad Hensley. The novel features other characters, as well, who struggle against defining themselves in terms of race and class and sexuality, while others use those same standards to give meaning to their lives.

At the heart of the book (although he is not the principal character, he is, ultimately, the book's hero) we have Conrad Hensley, whose own world has been changed by his refusal to plead guilty to a crime he did not commit. In Hensley we have a fine example of a modern man's quest to find himself, his manhood, values, and faith. Raised by hippie-ish parents to deride all "bourgeois values" like honor, success, respect, and family, he finds himself seeking those very things to fill the hole in his being. He takes dreadful, dead-end jobs to support his own family; he remains true to his wife, and he works hard to be a good husband and father.

But for the sake of honor he refuses to plead guilty to aggravated assault in exchange for probation, and is sentenced to two years in jail. While in prison he begins to ask questions about his existence, searching for a faith he has never known. He errantly receives a book on Stoicism, and this seemingly innocuous event changes him forever. He begins to see a more complete version of himself, not as a Stoic--which, as Wolfe seems to say, is the type of thinking that has helped wreck our society--but in a way, as the man he's always been--loyal, honorable, and trustworthy. In Stoicism he finds stability, but also sees in its values the kind of selfishness and dis-attachment that has helped undermine the essence of both his country and his gender.

Ultimately, he finds redemption when he heads home, to the stability of family and the very values he was taught to hate. Is that Wolfe's definition of "a man in full?"--the substance of what a man should be? When viewed against the alternative male values in our society (sexual conquest, selfishness, power-seeking; all portrayed--through various other characters--in all their ugly emptiness) one sees that the values held by Hensley might be the ideal for men, and could ultimately be beneficial for society. Some may see this as a socially conservative viewpoint, but it's far deeper than that, a more classical definition of manhood bereft of the destructive and hedonistic tendencies of modern times and the more sexist beliefs of some past ideals--"liberation" in the truest sense of the word. Wolfe casts modern America as a kind of Neo-Rome, a place of shifting and empty values, of selfishness and vague, nebulous spirituality. In powerful, sometimes angry words, Wolfe--as strong a social critic as any novelist, akin to Dickens in his droll observations of his world--gives us a view of an America that has become more democratized, more free and "liberated," even as it criticizes, destroys, and undermines the very values and beliefs that define and sustain that selfsame, tenuous democracy. A brilliant, memorable novel.

Rating:
Summary: Wolfe's last novel, may he rest in peace
Review: I have never read Wolfe's other novels, so i don't have to compare it to what many seem to think are his better ones. A Man in Full is a take on American life, particularly in the south to this day. It revolves around an old Southerner named Charley Croker (picture Tom Wolfe himself) who just hasn't quite gotten with the 90's. Even his gorgeous trophy wife (who's about half his age) notices. He's a bit bigoted in how he perceives society (not extreme, though sort of). He owns numerous things, a big house, a multi-million dollar company, and a Georgia plantation. Though he doesn't consider himself racist, all of his workers on the plantation are black and he sees himself as their savior (otherwise they'd be on the streets). He also makes it clear he's against homosexuality. Anyways, lately he's been in financial trouble, as a bank whom he's in serious debt to(due to a failed business venture)threatens to foreclose on him if he doesn't pay up. This is unbelievable to Charley, who's lived a life of luxury and can't picture himself giving it up. Meanwhile, a young black lawyer name Roger White II (people call him Roger Too White because of his elite education and interests include opera.)who represents Fareek Fanon ("the cannon"), an on the rise black football player at a Georgian University sees a way to deal with Charley by offering him a way out(Roger's friends with the mayor). It seems that Fareek's been accused of raping a young rich popular white girl(daughter of a businessman who's close to Charley).The rumors are floating on campus and outside as well, and if the story breaks out, the city could be torn apart. This of course, the mayor doesn't want. Meanwhile, a young man who works for Charley's factory in San Francisco is layed off. He was already strapped on his wage and now his life spirals downward.
The book itself is a yin and yang when it comes to character. Wolfe gets motivations right and the characters thoughts. There is something missing though. Sometimes his portrayal of things seem one sides or biased, as if only scratching the surface. Concepts he deals with are hiphop culture, and how it fits into how black youth's lives, and asian communities, specifically in California. An example of this would be some of the immigrant characters who always seem to speak terrible English. However, an interesting issue is how Roger looks at the young black youths at their "freaknic" parties. He looks down on them, believing himself to be more African b/c he's more in tune with his roots than these ignorant youths. But then, is he just jealous? The book also shows Tom Wolfe's inside knowledge of Southern culture and how Atlanta is striving to become an international city, on par with New York. The book is a package of modern America itself summarized and bundled together. Not a masterpiece but recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Conrad Hensley, Conrad Hensley, Conrad Hensley!
Review: Though I haven't had time to read all 805 previous reviews, my brief survey of them alerted me to the surprising fact that most readers took Charlie Croker, the big Atlanta businessman, to be the protagonist of this book. And if you think that, then no wonder if you're not satisfied with the story! Perhaps, in some barebones technical literary sense, Charlie Croker is the main character of the book. He is introduced on the first page; he gets more column inches, or whatever the equivalent is in book format; he is rich, powerful, important, and a large part of the storyline revolves around the changes in his fortune and the way he copes with them, or fails to. But if you let those things fool you into thinking that A Man in Full is primarily "about" Charlie Croker, then you have not only missed the whole point of the story, but made yourself an example of the very commentary Wolfe is trying to drive home.

The true protagonist - or I should better say, the hero (and most certainly the referent of the title) - of this book is Conrad Hensley, the underdog family man who works in one of Croker's frozen food warehouses, undergoes a long series of unlikely adventures, and accidentally discovers the ancient Stoic religion, which becomes his salvation. The whole point of Stoicism is that it doesn't matter who you are socially, what you have, or what people think of you. All that really matters is what you alone can control: your own emotional/mental/spiritual state. Happiness lies in not letting yourself be controlled by externals. Let go of your attachments to them - accept that they are beyond your control - and nothing can touch you. This is what it means to be a true man, and in the book it is Conrad, not Croker, who achieves this ideal. Croker and the whole Atlanta scene are just there for contrast (false power and glory vs. Conrad's true greatness), to provide an arena for Wolfe to make some of his secondary points about the failings of our society, and as an endpoint for the karma (for lack of a better word) which Conrad achieves by taking his spiritual fate into his own hands under the guidance of Epictetus and Zeus.

Towards the end of the book, Wolfe evens points this out, to make sure you can't miss it. Two of the other characters are reading a newspaper story about Croker's equanimity in the face of his creditors, under Conrad's guidance, invoking the protection of Zeus. Conrad, his home health aide, is briefly mentioned in the story. The characters shake their heads at how an impressionable young man could be taken in by Croker's crazy new beliefs; they're unable to imagine that the humble nobody, rather than the mover and shaker, could be the instigator of anything that creative and unusual. If you are criticizing A Man in Full because it's not a very good story about Charlie Croker, et al., you are making the same mistake - even after Wolfe drew it out for you like that at the end of the book! Perhaps a small part of this misunderstanding can be laid at Wolfe's feet: maybe he drew the Atlanta high society a little TOO larger than life, with a little too much florid detail. Maybe. Or maybe what he's trying to criticize is, sadly, too deeply engrained in our collective consciousness to be undermined by even such a great work of art as this.

Rating:
Summary: Too many low points
Review: I felt like I was being dictated to. Reread the chapter where two men (the mayor and the lawyer) who have grown up together tour their city. The mayor explains building, history, and neighborhoods to his long-time friend. If someone did that to me in my hometown I would lose it. Wolfe has some really funny sections, but the overexplanations and obviously tacked on commentaries irked.

Rating:
Summary: You can do better
Review: As a rookie to Tom Wolfe, I was excited to see what all the hype was about. I bought this book on the recommendation of several friends and was excited to begin. Wolfe does an excellent job of defining the characters and portraying life in Atlanta. I believe he hit the nail on the head with the race issues, "high society" and political scene. The two stories throughout the book, Charlie's and Conrad's, were inevitably going to meet in the end but the big question was "how". The answer is a farce!! Wolfe does a great job setting up the ending but I guess like many things in Atlanta (like the Falcons and the Braves) he Blows it in the end. If you are reading this book waiting to see how Charlie and Conrad "escape" from their situations and dilemmas, you WILL be disappointed. Without giving away the ending, I will use a comparison. It would be like watching a great suspense movie and right at the beginning of the final confrontation, the movie ends with the words "and they lived happily ever after".

Rating:
Summary: A Man in Full
Review: I was enthralled with this novel, which seemed to have everything going: full-dimensional characters, twisting plot-lines, attention to detail, and Mr. Wolfe's outstanding prose. But ultimately, I was left feeling absolutely betrayed and cheated by the ridiculous and contrived ending concocted by Mr. Wolfe. It makes no sense to invest this much time and energy into developing characters "in full," only to subject them to a fate right out of Mad Magazine or National Lampoon. One can only conclude that Mr. Wolfe, like his protagonist, lacked the energy and/or interest to resolve the "tornados" spinning in Mr. Croker's mind and simply left everything a mess for others to sort out. In the final analysis, you will be disappointed with this novel.

Rating:
Summary: Don McClean's American Pie in the shape of a novel
Review: "Nobody captures the zeitgeist like Tom Wolfe". That is the analysis drawn by some reviewer when "A Man in Full" was released. To capture the feeling of the times is a goal that many writers aspire to and one that many fail at. So it is hardly a minor compliment that these reviewers, who shall remain unnamed, gives to Wolfe and his latest novel. But is it accurate?

Wolfe's main preoccupation in his last two novels, the other being the Bonfire of the Vanities, is that of racial tension and conflict. In America, one must hasten to add. His tools in portraying present-day US consists of class juxtaposition (In "Bonfire..." it is the Upper East Side vs The Bronx, In "A Man..." it is Atlanta's Buckhead vs. English Avenue) and the, often highly coincidental, clash between representatives from each side. If every Wolfe novel had a subtitle, Shakespeare-style, "A reversal of fortune" would be suitable for a good deal of Wolfe's work.

Wolfe doesn't reflect what's going on in America. At least not the way a conventional mirror would. Wolfe's reflection is more reminiscent of a Fun-house style wobbly imitation of the real word. "Larger than life" is a phrase that was invented to describe Wolfe's writing. In "A Man...", the character blow-ups consist of Cap'm Charlie Croker, a narrow minded self-made Southern type who'd give Jerry Jones a run for his money; Fareek "The Cannon" Fannon, a hotshot football player from "da" bad side of town; Conrad Hensley, a laid-off factory -employee of Croker's, and Roger "Too" White, a legal counsel running errands to the city's colored mayor who's in turn fishing for votes in time for the upcoming election. The risk an author always takes when he strives for "larger-than-life" is to create stereotypes, where stereotypes based on prejudice represents the least desirable. Wolfe generally steers clear of this trap but, strangely, still leaves the reader with a sense of having seen it all before. Perhaps people are really like this in the Southern part of the US or perhaps there just have been one too many artistic works prior to "A Man..." that have captured the Southern struggle of trying to keep up with the northern, more cosmopolitan cities whilst at the same time struggling to rid itself of century old Colonial tension.

Another flaw of "A Man..." is its liberal use of "deus ex-machinae". What starts off as coincidence ends up bordering on the unbelievable. The way some people end up in each other's life in this novel is just a little too implausible. The novel is in some ways intended to be a paraphrasing of the ancient Greek mythology, where hubris was punished and semi-Gods were dethroned and crowned, but whereas Wolfe was fairly subtle in his usage of Goethe's "Faust" in "Bonfire", he is boisterous to the point of annoying in his newly found fascination of Zeus et al in "A Man..". This is where the novel most closely resembles Don McLean's 70's-hit about the death of Buddy Holly, "American Pie". There are so many intricate and ambitious references to current and classical culture that the listener, and in "A Man's" case the reader, ends up not feeling enlightened (as is the case of, for instance, the zeitgeist-capturing literature of Don DeLillo) or even impressed (as is the case in some of Dylan's best work), but instead with intellectual indigestion. Perhaps, then, that is what being good at capturing zeitgeist is all about. Using the tools of the society that one is striving to depict. And what is a better representation of America today than "bigger is better" or "all-you-can-eat"?

Rating:
Summary: Sumptuous offering
Review: I always enjoyed Tom Wolfe's novel. And I liked the way he wrote his novel. Tom developed the characters separately but gradually, and as always, their lives would cross path eventually and thus, a finale with a twist. With Tom's novel, there was always the essential social commentary, highlighting a marked contrast between those who lived on the verge of bread-line, and those who lived excessively & decadently; the touchy issue about race, sex; the ugly side of politics that never seemed to serve the interest of the people who voted the politicians into their office but rather, to satisfy & to quench the thirst of politicians for power & greed. This summary is too simplistic of Tom Wolfe's offering but enthusiastic readers would be bewitched by his almost too perfect narratives. I couldn't resist putting the novel down until the very last words were savoured. Definitely a feast to be had. Highly recommended.