Rating: 
Summary: One star for the first page...
Review: John Cheever once said the only kind of book he could read was one in which he could "get past the first page."I saw southern gentlefolk riding to hounds or something and I completely withered. I think some books are best left un-read and un-reviewed by Yankees; Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is another. I'm going to leave y'all to your own devices, cause you just lose this Boston girl with the first whiff of mint julep and horse manure.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time with this one
Review: I was so disappointed with this book...with the characters, the plot, the setting, the length. By the time I finished it, I was angry that I'd wasted my time reading it. What a yawn.
Rating: 
Summary: A really enjoyable read
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I don't know what people are whining about, this book threads through a great many stories, covering many different backgrounds with research and depth. It's more than just interesting, it's captivating and contains alot of grit in an un-put-down-able tale of suffering and triumph.
Rating: 
Summary: shakespeare?
Review: Interesting here the wide variance of praise and scorn. I'm on the "thumbs down" side; just short of throwing Wolfe to the lions though. On the positive side this book entertains and keeps your attention with a gripping interesting, if somewhat warped storyline. On the other hand we also have here juvenile writing (Roger Too White); a plot too often upset by unfathomable contrivance (the earthquake); and page after page of descriptions of inanimate objects. I would like to present a reading list to those of you who gave this book 5 stars, but I will muffle at this point.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time
Review: I read the whole book hoping it would get better. Usually I'll read a book quickly but this was a book that was easy to put down. I thought about not finishing it but figured it HAD to get better. I shouldn't have bothered. The ending was horrible and I can't recommend this book at all.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book You Ever Read? Puh-leese!
Review: Anyone who says this is the best book they've ever read hasn't read enough books. I truly can't remember the last book I read that I thought was worse than this one. I prefer shorter novels with well-drawn characters. I prefer authors who actually want their readers to use their imaginations and do some thinking on their own. For example, Ian McEwan or J.M. Coetzee or Penelope Fitzgerald or Alice McDermott or Amy Bloom or Magnus Mills or Tim Winton or Graham Swift. Read something shortlisted for the Booker Prize if you want thoughtful, provocative literature. Tom Wolfe can't hold a candle to any of these authors. The Right Stuff was well done. The Bonfire of the Vanities was superficial, but entertaining. A Man in Full was none of these. Just another example of media-driven, overblown hype.
Rating:
Summary: I thought Wolfe was supposed to be this good writer.
Review: I was under the impression Tom Wolfe was a good writer; indeed, the book was recommended by a friend and Wolfe wrote the popular Bonfire of the Vanities. So I happily shelled out 12 dollars (Cdn) for a little entertainment. It turns out that Wolfe can't write. He's not witty, concise, or funny and in order for him to bring a scene to life he has to resort to pages of tedious description. His characters are implausible and unlikable, and the situations he puts them in are silly. For example, he has a manual labourer look for white collar work which the labourer can't get because labour has made his fingers too big to type. It's not a funny bit and it's not a good metaphor. Distrust anyone who says this is a good book; their taste is suspect. Save your money.
Rating:
Summary: A Man in Full
Review: The best book I've read in years. A classic saga of a man who had everything and did'nt respect what he had. Perfect!
Rating: 
Summary: A Man in Full
Review: As my mother says, Tom Wolfe tells a good story, and this crack at it is as 'full' a story as any of his. The reader is met right at the outset by Cap'n Charlie Croker, a Southern good ol' boy whose real estate fumbles have finally landed him in trouble with the banks. The tale weaves through Charlie's head; full of what it is to be a 'self-made' man, a second marriage to a trophy wife half his age, the owner of a huge plantation outside of Atlanta, a frozen-foods industry, and numerous other ventures. His tale is enriched by the secondary stories of his first wife, a recently laid-off freezer packer who worked at one of his plants in California and finds himself in a penal mess, the disaster of a bank work-out manager who plans and ties his own rise to riches through Charlie's failures, and a host of other characters. The plots are juicy, the characters feel real, and the ending is a rather unexpected and hilarious turn of events that will leave the reader satisfied. No one gets exactly what (s)he wants or expects, but everyone gets what is coming to them in a gratifying sort of way. This is the kind of book that is perfect for the beach or a long airplane flight.
Rating:
Summary: Where's the Beef?
Review: Lotta bun, some condiments, but no meat! Page after page of entertaining foreplay, but no climax and definitely no after-glow.
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