A Man in Full

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Summary: Tom Wolfe is our greatest living writer
Review: Truly a book for everyone. Fans of stories like The Triumph and the Glory or The Testament will like this book. People who liked The Reader or Memoirs of a Geisha will like this book. People who liked Stones From the River or The Pilot's Wife will like this book. Readers who enjoy the Oprah books will LOVE this book. It has everything one could ask of a book. A vast range and scope of human emotion and experience is encapsulated into this novel, in a very eloquent manner. Don't miss A Man in Full, it is unforgettable.

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Summary: Epic
Review: Great read--funny, thought-provoking. Not a novel for the casual reader, because you will actually have to think and read at the same time.

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Summary: I respond to certain criticisms
Review: John Updike was right, my work really isn't literature

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Summary: Not literature
Review: John Updike is right, (an incidently it's rather irresponsible to obviscate his meaning with an out of context quote such as appear on the A Man In Full Page) Tom Wolf's writing is most descidedly not literature-- rather it is journalism masquerading as art. The popularity of books like A Man In Full, I think, stems from how little they challenge people-- that is we can read these books and feal literate because we understand them, where as legitmiate writing is too challenging, and makes us feel that we are not up to its requirrements.

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Summary: Not the world I live in!
Review: Several reviewers have said that this book is a great commentary on the modern world, or at least modern America. Well, maybe it's a great commentary on modern Atlanta, but I doubt even that. Race is such a big issue in this book, I feel like I'm reading something that takes place in the nineteeth century. The city where I live, Seattle, WA, is nothing like the Atlanta of this book, or the southern California of this book. I doubt the real life Atlanta and So Cal are anything like this book either. The only good thing about this book is the prose, which is good enough to earn it three stars, but Tom Wolfe is not the "peerless observer" that the critics claim he is. Maybe it has something to do with his age, and maybe people his age reading this book see the world the same way he does, and that's why they think he is such a great observer of modern society, but anyone under 60 reading this book will see that it is not even close to an accurate portrayal of modern society.

And I know that Wolfe is supposed to be a satirist, but this book doesn't even succeed as a satire, because the cardinal rule of satire is that whatever you're satirizing must be true! Again, I have never been to Atlanta, but I have heard that it is a very modern, sophisticated city. The Atlanta in this book is not. All the people in this book remind me of the characters in The Great Gatsby (which, by the way, is an example satire done well, and is also a book that Wolfe seems to "borrow" from an awful lot).

Wolfe is a peerless observer just about as much as Charlie Croker is a man in full (which isn't much at all, for those of you who haven't read it).

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece in Full
Review: In as much as I feel lucky to have read the book, I envy those who have not just yet. This is a book to be read again (and again), yet nothing beats the first time where with each page, Wolfe impresses as much as he surprises the reader with his boundless talent and all-encompassing accumen. Wolfe is an ingenious writer who pushes the envelope, taking the spoken word a level above than what I thought was possible. A dense, panchromatic cross-section of today's America at its best (and worst), through the eyes and pen of one of its best authors.

Rating:
Summary: Full Until The End
Review: Tom Wolfe has delivered an excellent, quality work of fiction in almost every sense. His prose is magnificent, with sweeping descriptions picking up details the same way a skilled cinematographer gets both the forest and all the trees into the frame. His characters ring true at every turn. Their actions are never inconsistent. He has skillfully woven the intricate subplots to bring them all together at an ultimate moment. My only criticism of Mr. Wolfe's work has to do with the ending of the book. I often judge a good reads final merits on how complete I feel the story is after I close the back cover. Do I give out a big sigh and say to myself, "Yup. That did it." Unfortunately, with this book I was left with a feeling that Mr. Wolfe hurried up his ending so he could make it to print in time for some deadline, and with nagging questions. Most of my questions concerned the fate of Conrad, whom I saw as the true protagonist in the work. The epilogue was an extremely foreshortened denoument and conclusion to an otherwise extremetly well thought out drama. Other than that one relatively minor disappointment, I have thoroughly enjoyed the read, and found it well worth the money spent.

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Summary: Faith, Justice and Charlie Croker
Review: Once again, Wolfe puts together a wonderful yarn. This book is great commentary on our world today. All its characters are fascinating and very believable. This is a page turn. A few sections (the prison ones) were hard to read - you wish they would just end. But once again, Tom Wolfe delivers a superb fiction book.

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Summary: This Really Is The Right Stuff
Review: I was prompted to write my own review after reading the others on this page, because - to my amazement - none of these readers appear to have understood what the book really is about. Oh, you could read it as an exploration of racial, class, gender and other social issues if that's how your mind works, but you'd be missing the wood for the trees if you did. This book is really about what it means to be a man in our constrained, technologized, over-regulated fin-de-siècle world. I suspect the author agrees with me; that's why he called his book A Man In Full.

The title is also a boast, and Wolfe makes good on it; his protagonist, Charlie Croker, is given to us in full, from the sweat-saddlebags under his armpits to the testosterone-clogged workings of his mind. This is characterization of the finest order; professional reviewers have compared Wolfe's abilities in this regard with those of Charles Dickens, which may be paying Dickens something of a compliment. The other characters in the book, especially the men, are almost as richly presented.

This is one of the finest novels I have read by a contemporary author. I recommend it highly to anyone who likes the kind of novel I enjoy. My favourite writers, if it helps, are Martin Amis, William Boyd, Conrad, Isak Dinesen, Nabokov and Tolstoy.

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Summary: Stars for the Writing Not the Plot
Review: Wolfe doesn't disappoint as far as his ability to seduce readers with his words and understanding of a place. However, the plot was a bit overwrought. I am one of the people who feel this book was a little long and most of the characters not developed enough (strange for such a long book). But you can't beat his writing style. That's what kept me engaged.