Rating: 
Summary: A Man in Full is excellent
Review: One of the best books ever written
Rating:
Summary: Am I in the minority? I loved it!
Review: With the average being only 3 1/2 stars, I figured I better add my 2 cents and try to up the ratings average. I'm glad I didn't read these negative reviews before reading the book or I might not have cracked open the binding. Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I loved this book, even more so than Bonfire of the Vanities, which is one of my all-time favorite novels. And I thought the ending was fine (anything is better than the amazingly disappointing ending of "Hannibal," which I also recently read). I'm a native Southerner and didn't find the book insulting - I thought it was genius. I hope Wolfe has another epic in him like this, because I'll be waiting for it.
Rating:
Summary: A Wolfe in Full
Review: This length of this book belies the amount of time for its reading; its actually fast reading because of the compelling psychological thinking of its five or six main characters. I was absolutly fascinated by how Wolfe weaves the process of his characters' train of thoughts with their surroundings. Their emotions, motives and energies seem to push up through their dialogue and form into words with Wolfe's organic writing style. I agree that Wolfe is a lot like Dreiser; I get the same "holding-my-heart-in-my-mouth" feeling that I get when I used to read Dreiser. This book is absolutely a great hand-shaking read.And Wolfe even makes a cameo apperance in the book, I believe, in the form of one his characters!
Rating:
Summary: A book I will recommend
Review: I loved this book and I read it in less than a week. This is the first Tom Wolfe book I have read and I look forward to reading his other books. The characters in the book were wonderful. I feel the ending was perfect for the story.
Rating: 
Summary: The ending - - an excalamation point for a bad book!
Review: As a native Georgian, I was anxious to read this book. I was interested through the beginning of the book, no doubt enticed by the Charlie's dealings with his bank as I am a banker. Even though the bank discussions interested me, I found it a bit far-fetched and unlikely. I believe the book was a let down, however, I forged on and read (sometimes rushing through pages--especially the Conrad chapters) the whole book. I truly have a hard time understanding how Wolfe ended the book as if he had one minute to think up an ending. He did a pretty good job of setting the reader up for the ending, yet he fumbled miserably. I can not honestly recommend to anyone to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Smugness Requires Accuracy
Review: . Dear Mr. Wolf: . I have just read A Man in Full, and I have a few suggestions that may assist you in maintaining your smug superiority - which requires accuracy in order to avoid looking like a fool. These are admittedly small things, but God or the Devil will be found in the details, what?In your attempt to pillory southern dialect (usually pretty good in the subject work), you are inconsistent in some areas. For instance, you have a southerner saying, "...a court a law." Now the first a is to be pronounced as itself, while the second a is to be pronounced as uv, or ah, the southernism for OF. This is a real stretch and amounts to plain old lazyness. You are consistent in this inconsistency. You should have written it as "a court uv law." Especially so since consistency is the hobgobblin of little minds - thus, you should be the king of consistency. Now, since you claim to know so much of the south, it would have been pleasing for you to have displayed your alleged superiority in other details as well. For instance, even little school children in the south know there's no such thing as buckshot shells for a .410 shotgun. Neither do you shoot quail with buckshot in a gun that WILL shoot buckshot. You'd have nothing left but guts, feathers, and feet. Buckshot is for large game: hogs and deer - um - I mean hawgs and dare. Birds are hunted with - gasp! - birdshot. What a leap! Further, and again as any little school child down here (dyown heh) knows, live oak trees don't come into "full leaf" in the spring. This is due to the fact that live oaks are so named because they DON'T shed their leaves in the fall, thus they don't ever (evah) come into full leaf; they just stay that way (jes stay thataway) yeah roun'. As for the conclusion to this yarn: what happened? Did you become bored with your own story tellin'? Cap'm Charlie was, after all, the pivot of this story and, in the end, when you were ostensibly tying up all the loose ends, you sort of (sorta) let us all down with what can only be called a watery ending; about as satisfying as kissing your sister through a screen door. You created more loose ends than you tied up. Mebbe you should have taken a nap before writing your conclusion. The names you've given to various characters in this book are truly funny. But PEEPGAS? Why be so subtle? Why didn't you just go all the way and name this guy LITTLEFART? In for a penny, in for a pound. Finally, I find it amazing that in a story that calls attention to supposed southern racial bigotry, you engage in unrestrained stereotyping of the south, its language, its customs, and its people - which is of course bigoted itself. Having said all that, I must say however that you wove a pretty good yarn. I'd recommend your book to my friends - with a few caveats. And I'd recommend to you to make a more determined effort to get the details right, or at least get yourself another editor. After all, if you're going to publically display such smug superiority and condescension you really do need to base it on something a litle less gossamer than a breezy conceit. When you can't represent basic facts accurately, you just come off looking like a pompous fool. . With Warm Personal Regards, Frank Tyrrell .
Rating: 
Summary: Millenial Dickens
Review: I disagree with some of the reviewers comments about the ending. It makes sense. Especially if we compare it to the works that most closely resemble Wolfe's novel. Think of David Copperfield or Pickwick Papers and then blend it with Bonfire of the Vanities and you have "A Man In Full". A great novel. And once you get past the first 400 pages or so, very entertaining. I doubt the book will be a classic, but certainly it is a thorough bred satire of American culture teetering on the brink of the next millenium. Two thumbs up.
Rating:
Summary: mostly good
Review: Don't read the epilogue, and you'll like "Man in Full" a lot better. As for the Southern question, I'm and born-and-bred Southerner myself, and I have no beef with Wolfe's depiction. He skewered us the same way he skewered New Yorkers, and I would expect no less. Overall, it's a gripping tale with a stupid ending.
Rating:
Summary: A veh good read
Review: Tom Wolfe has written a fine and readable plot with honest observations that few would have the courage to say aloud. Yes, it had a hasty and questionable ending; but I nevertheless found this novel lots of fun. And I defy any Yankee not to read the great dialect transcriptions aloud! Also, my thanks to TW for his latest additions into American Descriptive Language: "Boys with breasts" and "this week's restaurant of the century" are right on target.
Rating:
Summary: excellent book, great ending!!
Review: I don't understand why everyone is complaining about the length or the ending. I thought it was a terrific entertaining read, and I wanted it to go on. It seemed too short to me. And the ending was unexpected and so, to me, perfect.
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