Rating: 
Summary: The ending was different than the rest of the book.
Review: The story kept me interested throughout the book. The lives of the characters were detailed and I was interested and felt for the people involved. However, when the ending dumped off Charlie and Conrad as Evangelists and focused on Roger Too White and the Mayor, I felt as though I was missing something. Charlie and Conrad must have fallen off the face of the earth because the final part was all about the others. If Mr. Wolfe got us to care about his characters, he should not leave us hanging as to what happened. I did not think that Conrad would have turned himself in so easily to the authorities in CA.
Rating: 
Summary: Not his Masterpiece but...
Review: Must be tough to sit down at the keyboard and try to top Bonfire of the Vanities and Right Stuff. Man in Full isn't painted on the broad canvas that made Bonfire so exellent. Feels like Wolfe just kept developing plot until suddenly an editor said, "hey Tom, how about wrapping this thing up?" Every issue resolved in 70 pages or so and then the epilogue. He's still a great stylist though and the book is worth reading for that alone.
Rating: 
Summary: A lofty attempt that sometimes misses the mark
Review: Generally I think Wolfe wrote an interesting, but not great novel. Some of the characters are well drawn, particularly the two progtagonists, Conrad and Charlie. The description of Conrad's worst day gives us an interesting baseline on which we can follow his character development throughout his subsequent experiences. Others figures are despressingly two-dimensional - especially the women, who seem to be primarily motivated by how purchasing power and age. Worst of all is Charlie's wife; I don't understand any of her motivation least of all why she has a child. Some of the scenes are brilliantly written, such as Charlie picking up the snake and the weekend with the "liberal Jews". Unfortunately, these gems are interspersed with verbose descriptions of everything from clothing, house decor, horse mating and jailhouse talk. The ending is the single biggest disappointment. All loose ends quickly get resolved, everyone lives happily ever after. This is what you would expect from a TV mini-series. This novel really could have used some editing in the mid sections and a (dare I say) a lengthier, more thoughtful ending.
Rating:
Summary: A page turner but hardly great "literature"
Review: I have enjoyed much of Wolfe's earlier work, but found this one to be a little disappointing at the end. It is a real page turner, and would make a good paperback to take on a long plane flight, but don't look here for great literature or insight. Comparisons to Dickens are ridiculous, in my view. There were many scenes that were entertaining - the prison escape, for example - and I was not put off by the "unreality" of the Stoic plotline. The main characters are amusingly drawn. However, the intersection of the two plotlines (California and Atlanta) is pretty strained, and the book really ends with a thud (like Bonfire). Given all the hype this book has attracted (and which, I confess, made me get the book for Christmas), I think that Wolfe is getting the last laugh at those who are treating this as some sort of literature or great work. Give me a break! Treat it like a trashy Harold Robbins book and you won't be disappointed - if you are looking for an "important book" look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: A Man Is Full Of It
Review: Really a page-turner, but the themes are reprehensible: the exultation of materialism; women are parasites; testosterone defines self-worth. These themes are so pervasive throughout the book, their unquestioned presence undermines the characters' discovery of the stoic philosophy.
Rating:
Summary: An exceptional characterization of late 20th century America
Review: I am dumbfounded by the overly critical nature of some of other readers reviews of what is another Tom Wolfe masterpiece. Many appear to fail to grasp the book's central premise, of the intersection of two men: One who has nothing but his character, and another who has everything except his character, kept me engaged throughout. Having lived in Contra Costa County and worked a large bank like the mythical PlannersBanc, my perspective is that the attention to detail was spot on. Without boring the reader with unnecessary accounting and technospeak, Wolfe captures the essence of how many American businessmen and bankers view the world. The multi-page setting of the scene for Chapter 2's workout sessions placed the reader precisely in the room. I've been in workout sessions, and while Wolfe's is an exaggeration of my experience, I have no doubt that many workouts have been that ugly. The minor inaccuracies (e.g., El Cerrito is rarely as warm as Wolfe describes, nor is it on the approach to Oakland International Airport; there is no bay near San Francisco named "East Bay") did not distract from the picture painted. No doubt he was off a bit on Atlanta, too, but like most readers I couldn't notice. While I, too, was unsatisfied with the anticlimatic ending, the "spark of Zeus" nevertheless prevailed throughout this classic.
Rating:
Summary: Weak finish
Review: While I thought Wolfe's descriptions of his characters were overdone, how many times does one have read about Charlie's manliness and the size of his chest, I found the story very intriguing. I couldn't wait to see how the story ended, but when it did I was very disappointed. The book went downhill after the final press conference. I thought Charlie's actions were completely out of character, even if he had undergone this new spiritual awakening. After spending hundreds of pages setting up the plot how could he tie everything up so nicely in a 10 page conversation between two characters?
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as Bonfire, but still a great book.
Review: Wolfe comes through again with a superb novel that is hilarious and a great commentary on the 90's. He understands human nature so well and really studies/researches what he is writing about. The book may also expand your vocabulary, e.g., euchre, puissance, obstreperous and many more.As with Bonfire Of The Vanities, most of the characters are based real people or combined personalities which makes it a fun read.
Rating: 
Summary: He tried but his writing ruined a good story.
Review: I didn't find it funny. The story could have been told in one-third the pages. The early development of Charlie Croker was perfect but wasn't sustained as the descriptions of his behavior as attempts to define his personality became repetitive. To anyone who has known someone like that (or lived in Georgia), who he was became qukckly apparent. The possible humor in his becoming an evangelist was without impact because by the time it was revealed, the reader's thought was only, "when is this thing going to end?". My enjoyment of the book was ruined by many factual errors. For example Gulfstream have always numbered their successive models with Roman Numerals (Gulfstream V, not Gulfstream 5). He should have invented his own airplane and called it the "Big time flyer" or some such. The story concept was very good but the reader was so overburdened with page after page of unrelated words that the humor in, and potential of, the story was lost.
Rating:
Summary: Wolfe's latest is brilliant and worth the wait
Review: As he did in Bonfire, Wolfe captures the many faces and the contemporary social/cultural scene of a diverse city in an insightful and highly entertaining style. While a good story line, it is the social commentary that rises to the surface through each character, setting and scene that makes Wolfe's works so exceptional, significant and real. It is his use of characters, language, timing and structure that make his works so damn funny and frightfully telling at the same time. As an Atlanta native, I feel Wolfe did justice to both the complexity and unique flavor of the city which--as most from Atlanta would agree--indeed has a rich character all its own.
| 
