Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful page-turner
Review: Found this book fantastic to read. Although initially you wonder how the characters in the initial chapters correlate, consequently they begin to blend together more, and more. Excellent twists and turns - you can't put it down, although you have to eventually since it is by no means a short book.
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated, but barely worth reading
Review: First of all, I am still about 100 pages away from finishing the book, so maybe the ending is so profound that it would make me like the book a lot more, but I doubt it based on the reviews I've read on this site, which often say that the ending is pretty weak.Anyway, when I bought the paperback of this book, I read all the quotes on the back cover and inside that call Wolfe a genius and one of the greatest American writers of all time, and I was ready to read an absolute masterpiece. What I've read so far is not a masterpiece at all, it is just an average book. For a book that is 800 pages long, it is suprisingly low on content. The story is pretty boring and I don't really care about what happens to any of the characters or how the story, if there even is one, turns out. The chapters about the character named Conrad are absurd and so far (about 660 pages in) don't seem to have anything to do with the rest of the book. I could go on for a while listing things about this book that don't impress me, but I won't. The book's strongest point is the quality of the writing itself, but I'd rather read a novel with a excellent story and good writing than a novel with a mediocre story and excellent writing. By the way, I'm 17 years old and haven't read a whole lot of books in my life, so if this book was really the masterpiece that the critics seem to think it is, then it should have impressed me a lot more. Don't put this book high on your To Read list. Read it if you like reading for the sake of reading and can get through an 800 page novel in a week or two, but don't waste more than two weeks of your reading time on it.
Rating: 
Summary: An obviously frantic attempt to release a long overdue book
Review: I so anticipated Tom Wolfe's new book that I bought a copy for both myself and my Father. Regrettably, it turned out to be one of the worst gifts that I've given in recent years. With few exceptions, Tom Wolfe's jounalistic and fiction works have been some of the most engaging, entertaining, and worthwhile mass market books that I've read. A Man in Full is a disappointing departure from Wolfe's usual quality. On it's own, A Man in Full might have been a decent, though far from perfect, read. Unfortunately, when compared to Bonfire of the Vanities, and a comparison is unavoidable, it's a disaster. Despite the 10+ year interval between Wolfe's writing of the two books, it seems as if Wolfe was unable to come up with anything new. A Man in Full is essentially a poorly executed copy of everything that was wonderful and original in Bonfire of the Vanities. The styles (as expected) are almost identical, the motivations and personalities of the characters are a far too obvious one-to-one mapping, and while the story is admittedly somewhat different, the endings are not. Bonfire was truly a great work of fiction but A Man in Full is anything but. This is one of the few Tom Wolfe books that I don't recommend. Stick with The Right Stuff, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Wolfe was and is a great journalist, but it's clear that The Bonfire of the Vanities is his one and only great work of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: tedious
Review: I tried, I really tried to read this boring, self- indulgent, deadly tedious book, but I just couldn't get past the 200th page (and that was pushing it). The only thing about the book that was on the positive side was it helped me fall directly to sleep. Plus what's the deal with his obvious strong dislike of women past 40? He's no prize himself. I think Mr. Wolfe should take a break from writing and maybe try another profession. Yuck.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, well researched, deep and coherent story
Review: The author has a gift for creating very different but believable characters. Everything is well researched and ties together...by the time you're finished, you'll want to see Atlanta and Turpemtine. You'll even want to read the same book one of the main characters is reading!
Rating:
Summary: A Powerfully Entertaining Read, Guarantee
Review: I am a prolific and voracious reader, usually reading five, six or more books a month, fiction and nonfiction alike. But for the last year, I have not been able to completely read one single book. Absolutely nothing interested me enough to get past the first few chapters of any book. Then I bought Wolfe's A Man in Full and practically ate the whole thing in a few days, all 787 pages. I simply COULD NOT put it down. Yes, I expected an ending with more impact, but even with the lukewarm ending, the book was a powerfully entertaining read. Wolfe has a wonderful manner of portraying American society through satire. I high recommend this book to anyone who has Reader's Block, or desires a different read from the norm or just for the helluvit. You'll laugh yer arse off, shake yer head in wonder and be sorry it all ended... Guarantee.
Rating:
Summary: I could hardly put it down!
Review: I can agree with some of the other erudite critics here that maybe the ending, the epilogue, was a tad flat, but probably only because it ended too abruptly. The first 700 pages or so were GREAT! I loved practically every minute of it! Wolfe is wonderful . . . still!
Rating:
Summary: A new book attempted in an old style
Review: The style of Tom Wolfe's earlier books, that is. This book attempts to reignite The Bonfire of the Vanities by changing the venue to Atlanta and the franchise to land development. But the same style of exaggerated, onomatopoetic, galloping prose no longer works well coming from this writer. It is the kind of prose better suited to an earlier, younger, more muscular and testosterone-engulfed Wolfe. He is no longer in firm command of this style, and, further, by its own very success it seems to have fallen into a parodistic swamp. Respectfully, I believe it is time for Mr. Wolfe to consider a new approach to writing, one that would fit better with his current level of ability. Fewer words perhaps? More efficiently placed? I really can't say, but this book does not work as it might have twelve years ago. Think of Michelangelo's Pieta, done in youth, and Unbound Slaves, done in age. Both are great works. Michelangelo, working in stone, could no longer physically wring a David from Carrara marble. But he could make the suggestion of humans struggling to free themselves from the rock. For a writer, since the physical exertion is small, one may be encouraged to continue to write as one might have done years ago. But the effort, at least in this case, no longer brings forth the same result. Sometimes, eloquence begs silence. I cannot recommend this book to anyone who loved Bonfire or The Right Stuff. It's long and tedious, and the ending is disappointing. This is not to say that the book doesn't have its moments. It's just that we expect a stream of such moments from Mr. Wolfe, and instead we find a few clear pools in a long, muddy road.
Rating:
Summary: A fun read
Review: Have you ever read a book that when you put it down you feel sad and a little empty because the story had to end? This is definetly not that kind of book but it was fun to read. Some of his characterizations of people and events were incomparable. Being from Hawaii I took particular interest in Five-Oh. The pidgin dialogue was amazingly accurate. I was impressed with how well he handled it. It is very difficult to write pidgin accurately. Overall, it was a pleasant diversion but the ending was pretty weak.
Rating: 
Summary: Great...most of the way.
Review: Okay, the ending stinks, most agree and granted, there is some repetition to the language. And the plot contrivances that propel Conrad into Charlie Croaker's life are beyond absurd. (Truly, the Conrad character should have been cut altogether and used for another book.) BUT...there is a power AND a sensitivity to this book that is rarely seen these days. Power, as in the mating scene between two one-ton beasts, played out before horrified, spellbound guests as post-dinner entertainment...heart-pumping and hilarious! Then the limo ride with the mayor; you can almost FEEL the social downhill cruise from the pristine lawns of Buckhead to the grim, crackhead existence of Southeast Atlanta. Sensitivity, as in the treatment of Peepgass or Wiz, whose world-class educations can't mask their lacking The Right Stuff. Or of the black professional dilemma; i.e., aspiring to success (before whites) while trying not to alienate oneself from the poverty-stricken inner city. (As a black man, I have never encountered a white person who was remotely interested in the subject, never mind one who captured its subtleties so deftly.) Southerners who complain about TW's Southerner treatment should refrain from being so sensitive. I have seen many remarks indicating the characters are caricatures, but I can tell you, as a Yankee, every time I travel to Georgia/Alabama, I run smack into redneck yahoos and blonde bimbos just like these. And each time they travel to the northeast, I'm sure they run into uptight, smug, sumbitches just like me. The differences between us are merely differences; they're what give life-and books-color and character. Wolfe's writing forces you to look in the mirror (honestly) and see yourself as others see you. So enjoy A Man in Full, despite its obvious shortcomings. The 80% right overwhelms the 20% wrong.
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