Rating: 
Summary: I didn't find the ending that bad!
Review: Many readers seem to hate the ending a lot. But I actually liked it better than BONFIRE's. Tom Wolfe is not for everybody. There are some very dramatic turns, but all in all his storyline and characters are far too realistic to form a typical novel where every sentence needs a purpose, every other page has a crafted plot twist, and everything gets wrapped up nicely at the end. I think he did a fairly good job with what happened to the numerous characters. But the real enjoyment of the book is relishing the descriptions, the dialogue, the satire, and everything else that makes Tom Wolfe's writing so special. Two or three more pages on Croker at the very end, and a bigger role for his ex-wife, and I would have given this book five stars. (Doesn't the Concourse carry her name? Just a thought.)
Rating: 
Summary: The fastest 700+ page read you'll ever make.
Review: What Wolfe has done is slice through our culture, exposing the rotten core of it which exists in so many places. At the same time, he allows us to see that the heroic can come from the least likely sources. The tale isn't one full of easy vengeance, not even just desserts. Still, I couldn't help but smile when things somehow work out for the cast of down on their luck players. Does that say something about us as well, that we feel for people who really haven't earned the right?Wolfe exposes so much of our cultural malaise with his dead-on accounts of life in prison, the work-out room at Plannersbanc, even the living room of the snake-bitten warehouse worker Conrad Hensley. But there remains this oh so American optimism when it's all said and done. Like the unbridled lust of the stud race hourse, our desire to forgive, to re-invent ourselves and to find the good in nearly anyone who is suffering will not be held in check. We may not be pretty according to Wolfe, but deep down we're alright. So is this book.
Rating:
Summary: An intense,visual voyage
Review: Wolfe draws the reader into the story with his attention to detail, a vivid use of repetitive phrases and a dramatic flair for larger than life characters. The work reads like non-fiction. It is very plausable. You are taken to Turpntine, the 29,000 acre quail farm of protagonist Charlie Coker, an aging real estate developer with a debt load even larger than his taste for big buildings, expensive jet planes and a uniquely southern plantation. Coker is the Archie Bunker of Atlanta in the 90's. Wolfe weaves race relations, the plight of one of the "little people" he employs, lenders once falling over themselves to make Charlie his next loan who now treat him as a deadbeat and a host of other issues into a delightful, realistic and dramatic literary success.
Rating:
Summary: What can I say that hasn't been said already...
Review: I liked this book, but am not proud of it. Mr. Wolfe is certainly erudite, and he certainly spent enough time in Atlanta to become sufficiently possessed of the Tara vernaculor, but Good Lord, 760 pages?!? Ironically, the chapter I liked the best was somewhere in the mid-two digit range, when Mr. Croaker goes through the pseudo-workout in the PlannersBanc conference room with a stale danish in front of him. The remainder of the book was certainly entertaining, but this "fiction by the pound" phenomenon has GOT to stop. Mr. Wolfe's publishers should also reduce his royalties by 1% for every instance that "tout le monde" or a derivation of that phrase appears in this massive tome (especially considering it sounds less clever here than in _Bonfire_). I found the Conrad story distracting rather than additive, and I too felt cheated by the ending (but then again, so too did I feel cheated by _Bonfire_'s ending). By the way, the comparisons to _Bonfire_ might not be entirely fair, but if Mr. Wolfe is going to spend 11 years rewriting his last effort and surrounding it with azaleas and dogwood trees, he ought not be surprised.
Rating:
Summary: quick read,entertaining and current
Review: major inconsistency: p.54 speaks of a 5000 foot concrete runway... p81 the landing strip was an alley of asphalt... Mr. Wolfe, there is a.difference.
Rating:
Summary: a good read,..a true novel with shades of dickens.
Review: Many will criticise Wolfe for the book's ending or his failure to develop his female characters. However in my opinion these are flaws we must live with . Yes, this masterpiece is flawed, but it is still a very good read. Wolfe has a great eye and a great ear, hence many of his descriptions and his portrayal of various modern American English dialects [Oakland,Hawaian pidjin,Black Atlantan,"Below the Gnat Line Craker" etc] are a pure joy . Reading this I couldn't help thinking of much of Dickens' work ["Hard Times,"Our Mutual Friend " and "A Christmas Carol" all spring to mind] and Thackeray's "Vanity Fair". Tom Wolfe has made a bold attempt to paint the big picture. So what if he misses a few details? Let's just pray Hollywood doesn't miscast the screenplay as much as it did with "Bonfire of the Vanities". How about casting Nick Nolte as Charlie, Roger Guenvere Smith as Roger Too White and "the dark haired one" from "Friends" as Serena for starters ?
Rating: 
Summary: great character development; weak ending
Review: The book has wonderful "Wolf" descriptions and character development. Story is 700 pages of character development and 15 pages of wrap up. VERY disappointing ending with such a awesome build-up. SPN
Rating:
Summary: A Whirlwind of Fun
Review: This is the first Tom Wolfe book I've ever read, I'm ashamed to say. This will definitely not be the last. It was an incredible book throughout, the description of prison life was riveting, and I often found myself howling with laughter. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: interesting but overlong tale
Review: kept my attention, though.. . until the disappointing epilogue . . . very well-written book . . . some of the passages nearly take your breath away. . . if you liked bonfire of the vanities, by wolfe, you'll like this; if you did not read bonfire, read it now! (i preferred that book to this one, though i must warn you--the film was terrible!)
Rating:
Summary: the audio version compels the listener to buy the book
Review: I love audio books because, being a serious bibliophile, I find that life gets in the way of reading. Hence, being able to listen to the book in my car makes such a great use of time. I am humbled by David Ogden Stiers' incredible ability to speak in so many voices. I actually forgot that it was not Charlie Croker speaking. Roger TooWhite's dilemmas came so eloquently to the listener as he spoke with the mayor that it was like watching a play with many talented actors performing. I will watch for more books read by this marvelously gifted man. The book itself was wonderful, and I am beginning to read it now. I know that even as I read the words, having heard it read by David Ogden Stiers will enhance each and every character.
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