Rating: 
Summary: A Great Book and a Lousy Ending--Who Cares, It was Worth IT
Review: I actually rationed this book to myself so I wouldn't finish it too soon. I loved it. A hard act to follow. Too bad the ending Stunk. Like did Wolfe have a plane to catch or what? But the book was so good, and so I forgive him. I never wanted it to end!
Rating: 
Summary: big book; big disappointment
Review: This book is exactly what one would expect from an author resting on his laurels. Several hundred pages are (unnecessarily) devoted to developing characters that are simply stereotypes. The plot is complex, but to what purpose? Wolfe baits the reader, suggesting that some great irony or insight will be the reward for patiently reading the first 600 pages. But in the end, the plot is cut short. Perhaps Wolfe was in a hurry to bring this book to market for the hoiliday season? This book is like a car from the late 1970s. It looks big and powerful, but it turns out to be heavy, slow and wasteful.
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Summary: I have loaned this book to five (5) friends.
Review: One of the best books i have read all year! I loved the caracters and the plot. The chapters that detailed jailhouse attitude struck a nerve. If you are a visual reader, this book might hurt.
Rating: 
Summary: I Felt Short-Changed At The End
Review: The first 650-700 pages of this book were wonderful, 4.5 stars. However, it seems as though Wolfe just got tired of the whole thing and wrote the last two or three chapters in one sitting, just in time for the Christmas season. As another reviewer commented, another 200 pages of thoughtful character and plot development would have made this an outstanding work.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not Wolfe's best
Review: "Bonfire" was a better book. "Full" is often redundant, long and drawn out. I much prefer faster pace. If you're interested in something totally different, I would highly recommend a novel I've found to be the surprise read of the year, Glen Kleier's "The Last Day." Literally, I could not put it down. "Last Day" has one of the most suspenseful plots and powerful endings I've ever encountered in literature, and that's saying quite a lot. It's one of those word-of-mouth books that came to me as a recommendation from a good friend, and I'd like to pass along the favor with my strong endorsement.
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Summary: only thing missing was an ending to match a great story
Review: I know 742 pages is a bit of a long read, however, I would have rather read a book whose ending was 200 pages or so longer and matched its build-up, then read a book that speeds through the press conference, and Croker's decision to give up everything. It just seemed like Mr. Wolfe spent such an arduous time building up the character of Charlie Croker as this beast of a materialistic man, and then whirls to an about-face after converting to the religion of "stoicism." Overall, good book, - entertaining, worth reading, I would have, however, prefered a more elaborate ending.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but contrived
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book, although the way the central characters are drawn together is so unbelieveable that it almost made me stop reading. And the ending is quite a stretch of the imagination. The author doesn't seem to have as good a grasp on his characters as he did in Bonfire of the Vanities, which I think is a much better book. Still, I enjoyed much of it and would recommend it to anyone who wants a long book to just be mostly entertained by and willing to suspend some belief in the credibility of the story.
Rating:
Summary: Almost Historic
Review: Moments ago, I finished Wolfe's latest work of fiction, a book filled with great characters, wonderful narrative, and many--many--pages.After reading the last three chapters just this hour, appears that the author decided to write "only" a great book. This was discouraging because......... If Wolfe had turned the last three chapters into 200 more pages of well-developed plot lines and logical conclusions, this work could have been THE GREATEST NOVEL IN AMERICAN LITERARY HISTORY. Who cares about the National Book Award when you can own history????
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Summary: A rollicking romp through the South with great characters
Review: A fast-moving, fun book, with the delicious detail Tom Wolfe is known for. Bigger-than-life characters, provoking speculation for who might play the roles in the movie.
Rating:
Summary: I really liked this book
Review: Wolfe has convinced me that he really knows something about Atlanta. He knows the names of every shopping center, office building, neighborhood and major road in the metro area! I enjoy details. My main rave for the book is the ending. For all the detail Wolfe provides in the first 700 pages, the most critical events of the novel occur in the last twenty. The reader is just left amazed. It is as if Wolfe just wrote to page 700, then got inspired and decided to wrap it up with the biggest literary bang possible. I couldn't have dreamed of a better ending. Fortunately, Wolfe is a literary lion. I still think it was a fun novel and an easy read, and certainly great literature. If you expect interesting characters, high literature, and a few laughs, you won't be dissappointed.
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