Rating: 
Summary: A fun read
Review: Have you ever read a book that when you put it down you feel sad and a little empty because the story had to end? This is definetly not that kind of book but it was fun to read. Some of his characterizations of people and events were incomparable. Being from Hawaii I took particular interest in Five-Oh. The pidgin dialogue was amazingly accurate. I was impressed with how well he handled it. It is very difficult to write pidgin accurately. Overall, it was a pleasant diversion but the ending was pretty weak.
Rating: 
Summary: Great...most of the way.
Review: Okay, the ending stinks, most agree and granted, there is some repetition to the language. And the plot contrivances that propel Conrad into Charlie Croaker's life are beyond absurd. (Truly, the Conrad character should have been cut altogether and used for another book.)BUT...there is a power AND a sensitivity to this book that is rarely seen these days. Power, as in the mating scene between two one-ton beasts, played out before horrified, spellbound guests as post-dinner entertainment...heart-pumping and hilarious! Then the limo ride with the mayor; you can almost FEEL the social downhill cruise from the pristine lawns of Buckhead to the grim, crackhead existence of Southeast Atlanta. Sensitivity, as in the treatment of Peepgass or Wiz, whose world-class educations can't mask their lacking The Right Stuff. Or of the black professional dilemma; i.e., aspiring to success (before whites) while trying not to alienate oneself from the poverty-stricken inner city. (As a black man, I have never encountered a white person who was remotely interested in the subject, never mind one who captured its subtleties so deftly.) Southerners who complain about TW's Southerner treatment should refrain from being so sensitive. I have seen many remarks indicating the characters are caricatures, but I can tell you, as a Yankee, every time I travel to Georgia/Alabama, I run smack into redneck yahoos and blonde bimbos just like these. And each time they travel to the northeast, I'm sure they run into uptight, smug, sumbitches just like me. The differences between us are merely differences; they're what give life-and books-color and character. Wolfe's writing forces you to look in the mirror (honestly) and see yourself as others see you. So enjoy A Man in Full, despite its obvious shortcomings. The 80% right overwhelms the 20% wrong.
Rating: 
Summary: An American classic.
Review: Makes my list of top 5 books I have ever read - and I read a lot. Especially insightful if you live in the Souteast U.S. Should be required reading for all Freshman English Lit classes. Not only a great drama, but really great insights into some parts of our society that don't get talked about very much - both high and low. But, if you don't like to think or be challenged don't bother with this one.
Rating:
Summary: I Want To Be A Stoic and Use Da Mouth!
Review: I liked "boys with breasts," "hurricane hair," and especially "Usin' da mouth!" I got really aggravated . . . with all the . . . ellipses in places that . . . didn't make . . . sense. I agree with the reviewer a few days back who complained that most of the women characters were one-dimensional bitches -- I noticed it, too. But overall I loved this book.
Rating:
Summary: Myraid of characters that interweave into a complex story...
Review: Amazing how the author weaved all the characters together into a fascinating story. I really had a sense of what was important to each character. The insights into rich Atlanta, black Atlanta, prision life in CA were engrossing. Loved how the ex-wife noticed that the perfect body type for a woman today is a "boy with breasts". I felt the final chapter should have been expanded so the ramifications to all the characters could have been more extensively detailed.
Rating:
Summary: Clever, funny and observant
Review: Mr Wolfe is a great observer and better than most professionals at judging human character. If you enjoy reading a sophisticated book laced with a writer's skill at crafting humor. This book is for you.
Rating:
Summary: CHARLIE CROAKER'S GONNA RIDE AGAIN!
Review: You just *know* Charlie's gonna make another few million in his entirely new field, so I left the book a happy reader. Glad I read the book before seeing the Reader's reviews, or I just don't know if I would have bought it. Amazon has a major resource in it's customer's reviews. They pull no punches, and I pay a lot of attention to them. Example: "The Pilot's Wife" Oprah's pick or not, the reader's hated it and steered me clear. My only objection was the spiritual override. I cannot fathom Epictetuis in a revival tent. Stoicism is for the dedicated few, hard to imagine this philosophy achieving best-sellerdom.
Rating: 
Summary: You pretentious little man!
Review: He should have just called it "shanks akimbo" and gotten it over with. Mr. Wolfe used this unusual phrase more times than he did "a man in full". He even included it in a rap song. Now, I'm not exactly a rap afficianado, but I doubt that particular phrase has ever been used in a rap song, or ever will be. Maybe he just thought it made him sound more intelligent. It served only to pull me out of the story, over and over again. I know that Mr. Wolfe has produced much better works than this. His research is painstaking in some areas, nonexistent in others (shooting quail with buckshot?). Oh yeah, and we get the accent thing (thang). I know that I personally spend enormous amounts of time worrying about whether or not people in New York will think I'm provincial. Please! Quick--someone get this man an editor!
Rating:
Summary: Wolfe Wimps on Women Characters
Review: Yup, this is a great read, but rarely have I found a book so lacking in development of its women characters. The sterotypes are in full, one-note force: grasping, greedy, harpy-like women LOVE to tear their men down, while happily emptying their wallets. At the other extreme, and this saves the book and makes it the compulsive page-turner it is, the male characters are diverse, whole, and beautifully portrayed. Like many other customers, I too found the last chapter to be a disappointment...Wolfe obviously had a deadline to meet, or just ran out of juice.
Rating:
Summary: Great writing style and characters substitute for no plot
Review: Without a doubt, TW writes some of the best social commentary and can develop characters with the best of them. Here, the character development and subplots are so well done that it hides the fact that the book really didn't have a story to tell (plot). The end was a real flop and steers the book dangerourly close to much ado about nothing. However, even though I felt cheated by the ending, the first 90% of the book kept me entertained so I can't demote this work too much.
| 
