A Man in Full

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Summary: Brilliant satire about Southern life and life in America.
Review: "A Man in Full" is Tom Wolfe's brilliant satire about life in the South at the end of the millenium. He captures vacuous Southern society, the conflicts between Blacks and Whites, what it feels like to be a middle-aged wife who is dumped for a young chick and the sex charged life in our prisons. Wonderful characters such as Charlie Croker, the original Georgia Cracker, Roger Too White, lawyer and friend of Atlanta's mayor and about 45 others. You'll enjoy the way this story develops and how the plot twists and turns.

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Summary: Great characters, dissapointing ending
Review: Like many of my friends who read this epic, we loved the characters, especially Charlie and Conrad. Wolfe made them and others come alive, warts and all, on the pages. The storyline was engaging and never tiring despite the book's length. Until the final chapter. It stunk. I got the feeling that Wolfe had spent all of this time developing these great characters and decided to just end the book before it went on for another few hundred pages. A wrriter with his genius is capable of a better, more believable ending. However, if you can look past this one flaw, you should enjoy A Man in Full.

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Summary: be a part of the 90s - get your matelasse counterpane NOW
Review: We already saw most of this story on Dallas in the 80s , sans the racial insights, with Jimmy Baker borrowed for the finale and Sue Ellen was torid. Only one small heart's desire of mine possibly qualifies me for membership in the decade, if Mr. Wolfe is its defining chronicler. And, that desire is mentioned at least 4 times as THE signature ornament of the standard luxury mansion bedroom, and the attic room occupied by the Stoic --- the matelasse counterpane. Maybe I could relate to the story, reclaim my rightful place as a member of the decade and the century, if only I had one of those things, or some dear friends from prison or from the billionaires' club. I got this book as a Christmas present and saved it to savor in summer. What a waste of 3 days! Florid prose, cartoon scenery, thin characters and no payoff of a decent end for the pain of slogging through the bazillion or so words.

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Summary: Like 'Bonfire', It Runs Out of Puff
Review: I agree totally with A.Reader from Boston. Wolfe spends ages building his novel with some brilliant set-pieces and very believable characters and grostesques, but seems to lose interest at the end. The ending of 'Bonfire' was rushed and slap-dash, which was a great shame, and I felt similarly short-changed with this latest one. Why bother taking such great pains to construct a novel of such epic scope, then change style ? The ending reads like a synopsis sent to the publisher, still waitiong to be fleshed out. I couldn't wait for Charlie's last big speech, but rather than a tumultuous, crash, bang, wallop I got an apologetic peep. Ah well. 90% extremely enjoyable, 10% wet fart.

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Summary: Entertaining, but doesn't measure up to earlier works
Review: I absolutely loved The Bonfire of the Vanities, have reread it more than once....and so I was eager to read Tom Wolfe's newest offering. However, I'll have to say that, on balance, I was somewhat disappointed in A Man in Full. There's no doubt that Wolfe is a fine writer, but that only makes this book's weaknesses the more frustrating. A litle more discipline on Wolfe's part and some really good editing could've made it a far better work. Some may find the character of Charlie Croker a bit caricaturish, but I have known a couple of "Charlies", as I suspect most Southerners have. (I didn't find him nearly as sympathetic a character, though, as Sherman in "Bonfire".) This book held my attention well enough, and I would certainly recommend it to others as an entertaining piece of fiction; and, yes, I will be inclined to buy the next novel Tom Wolfe writes (might have a look at other readers' comments beforehand, though). But A Man in Full could've definitely benefitted from some more work by both author and editor. I was particularly annoyed by the "deus ex machina" manner in which Conrad left the jail. But my biggest frustration with the book is its ending: too cheap, neat and easy.....and the epilogue scenario just didn't work for me, in terms of the character of Charlie. Oh well, I think I'll hunt up my copy of Bonfire of the Vanities and revisit it again; don't think I'll be inclined to do that with A Man in Full.

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Summary: A real page turner, but a weak ending (no spoilers)
Review: I really enjoyed the characters and Tom Wolfe's descriptions of "rich" vs. "poor" society (and Atlanta) are wonderful. (Ok, perhaps a bit too politically correct, but still fun to read.)

I was thoroughly engrossed in the novel, but the ending was really weak. I felt that the whole story was building to something, but the ending was too abrupt and weak.

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Summary: 742 Pages of Insight
Review: Tom Wolfe manages to ecompass the full spectrum of America in this fictional masterpiece. The characters, from real estate tycoon to prison inmate, are brought to life through their trials and tribulations. Wolfe's exceptional ability to portray the thoughts of his characters in a thouroughly convincing manner is startling. It is hard not relate one's own life and observations to at least one of the characters in his novel. From Americans' obsession with fitness clubs to their endless pursuit of the ultimately questionable ends of the "American Dream," Wolfe weaves a tapestry of American Society as intricate as any that adorned Charlie Croaker's walls.

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Summary: Tom Wolfe IS part of the problem
Review: What a strange mix of keen observation, sharp social polaroids and self-indulgent tripe! Although I read it avidly, I can't quite feel good about this book, about getting sucked into the narrative, about believing, at times, that his portrait of late 20th century America was starkly on-the money, because in the end, for all the "brutal truth" along the way, it goes nowhere.

Indeed it is mostly money, and what it buys, or fear of poverty, of sinking, that animates all the characters. And who among us can deny the terror of the abyss that most of us are only two or three paychecks away from? What other values does our culture offer? Here Mr. Wolfe is on-target. Considering how complex our world is, reducing most human motives to worries about what restaurants you can afford to dine in, and what car you drive, is not even astute.

This is like the popular literature that, to this day, 140 years after "The Origin of Species" and a century after Social Darwinism, still manages to make the "innovative discovery" that Man is "just" an animal. Mr. Wolfe, however, is a little more specialized, more tuned into tailored suits, the mystique of big money, and owning or not owning Rolexes and Mont Blanc pens. The photograph on the hard-back dust Jacket, with the author dressed in such dashing style, says it all. My donating $30 to feed Mr Wolfe's cultivated appetites was perhaps the thing I felt worst about.

Hey, more power to ya, Tom, when there is so much to be made in peddling little truths. But let's be honest here, this is the best-seller book business, and not literature.

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Summary: Three Cheers for Tom Wolfe!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. How refreshing to read something that has an actual plot, interesting, fully-developed characters, and a well-developed setting. I especially enjoyed learning about The Stoics, and Epictetus in particular. The ending? Some reviewers on amazon have complained that it's not entirely believable. Imagine a hard-nosed businessman like Charlie Croker giving up everything he has at the behest of a 23-year-old kid and a book on The Stoics! But why not? My willing suspension of disbelief was not entirely strained. This is a well-written, interesting novel. Receommended.

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Summary: Overcome Your Stalled Thinking About Materialistic Values
Review: Tom Wolfe has done something that rarely happens, writing a moralistic tale from looking at the lives of some of the most undesirable people you hope you will never meet. Yet he makes you think that these people can be redeemed, so the message is an uplifting one. My main quibble with the book is that the morality could use a little more spiritual uplift, and less of an existentialist one. Tom Wolfe is masterful at descriptions of his main character, Charles Croker, through extensive development -- something that rarely happens in today's action and romance dominated fiction. Although many will dislike the story, the plot, and the characters, think of how the Russians probably viewed Dostoyevsky (The Idiot, The Possessed, etc.) or the French viewed Les Miserables. Yet we come to see the universal in these from the distance of time and space. I think the universal is deeply present in A Man in Full, and this book will be an important measure of the 1990s in the United States. I also think that those who are overly concerned about their material comforts, strivings, and balance sheets can learn a lot from thinking about themselves as they read this book. If you don't find a little of yourself here, you may not be looking hard enough.