Rating: Summary: a Man indeed Review: This is what literature should be about. Mr. Wolfe takes you by the hand, you can relax, lay back and know you are going to be entertained. Superb! The end left me puzzeled though. Suddenly mr. Wolfe was gone; his work was done. A must read if you want to know LIFE!!! Compare this to The Great Story Tellers (e.g. Dostojevsky!)
Rating: Summary: A Masterpiece of Modern American Fiction Review: Tom Wolfe's latest novel is a gripping portrayal of life in American life in the 1990's. Characters span the entire strata of American society. They allow us enlightening glimpses into worlds some of us may never otherwise see. Descriptions of characters and thier psyches are often cruel at the same time they are warm. This makes for an extremely powerful work that will completely pull you in and modify many of your current perceptions of the world if you let it.Furthermore, Wolfe's signature "wordiness" makes for a refreshing departure from the majority of contemporary American fiction which often aims to create a feeling of extremely fastpaced action by through minamalisms more appropriate for a 30 second TV advertisement than for a true work of literature. All said, A Man in Full is a masterpiece up there with those of Dickens and Twain.
Rating: Summary: Beats sleeping pills anytime Review: A Man in Full is a Book in Dull. I firmly believe that without the name Tom Wolfe on the cover, it would not have been published, it wouldn't have even found a literary agent. I didn't care for the characters and the story bored me to death-I used the novel to put me to sleep for two months, that's how long it took me to finish it. The sparkle and brilliance of his earlier work is completely missing here. Having written the above, now I confess that Tom Wolfe is my favorite author, and the two best books I've ever read were written by him: The Bonfire of the Vanities, and the much older The Right Stuff. Tremendous pity. No star given by this reviewer.
Rating: Summary: Great Good Fun With Insight Review: I realy enjoyed the book. The ending was somewhat weak, but the story was lots of fun and quite insightful about what makes people tick in the late 20th Century. I had some commercial foreclosure lawyers read the book, and they LOVED the scenes where the bankers were bringing the main character, a profligate, egomaniacal real estate developer, to his knees. They said it was a realistic characature of some of the real estate developers they have dealt with personally. It wasn't quite Bonfires, but that book so defined an era that it is doubtful that any author could pull that off twice.
Rating: Summary: This is a major, compelling work of art. Review: This novel has the scope of the really great novels of this millenium, such as War & Peace, etc. A compelling social commentary of modern, secular USA
Rating: Summary: Well worth waiting for! Review: Tom Wolfe is a superb writer, and this book is an outstanding example of just that! His descriptive prose, as well as his phraseology, make this book a page-turner that you cannot stop reading. It must be swallowed in huge gulps on the first read, and savored on all of the succeeding times. I felt that the ending was weak, compared to the rest of the book, but will continue rereading it in any case.
Rating: Summary: An Absolute Master Review: This book is not exactly what one would expect from an author resting on his laurels. Several hundred pages are necessarily devoted to developing characters that are simply hilarious. The plot is complex. Wolfe baits the reader, suggesting that some great irony or insight will be the reward for patiently reading the first 600 pages. In the end, the promise is fulfilled. Perhaps Wolfe was in a literary "zone?" This book is like a car from the late 1950s. It is big and powerful.
Rating: Summary: Tom Wolfe is like Mark McGwire, launching another HR ! Review: As with his last novel Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe shows us that he is truly the Mark McGwire of present day novelists; taking us places we never thought we'd go to. A Man In full is a wonderfull slice of 1999 from the eyes of an expert photographer. He shows you the HIGHS and the LOWS, the WINNERS and the LOSERS, and paints you a tremendously vivid picture (eye candy) all the while. Charlie Croker is every bit a worthwhile follow up to Sherman the lead character in Bonfire. Buy the book, it's the perfect beach entertainment !
Rating: Summary: Fantastic first 727 pages, until the EPILOGUE . . . Review: What a wonderful read at first. The way Wolfe develops his characters makes you feel as if you know them and understand them. I especially like the way he starts the novel with four separate chapters dealing with each of the main ingredients to the novel. You really do not know how they will all fit into the mix until about three quarters of the way through the novel. And, as many of these other review have stated, the end comes. I did feel a bit cheated. It's almost as if Wolfe got tired of writing this book and said, "Okay, need a quick, snappy ending. Ah, here it is in twenty pages." TWENTY PAGES OUT OF 747 TO END A NOVEL OF THIS MAGNITUDE?!? WHAT ARE YOU NUTS?!? I would still recommend reading this book, but you might not want to read the epilogue.
Rating: Summary: It's not everyday Review: that you read a book that comes together quite so well as this, Don Dellios' Underworld was better though, I guess because it was of a more serious nature, and went together less well making it ring truer somehow. Mr. Wolfe certainly has a talent there is no doubt about it, I especially like the way he brings you in on these little bits of down the road language throughout the book....Rodger Too White, boys with breasts, hubba ho, .anyways,.fine stuff.
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