Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining but lacking
Review: This book gave observations and insights into different levels of the Atlanta social structure. The novel read easily but never had me thinking beyond superficial levels. The cast of characters is too wide for Wolfe to explore deeply. The novel's faults far outweigh the positive points.What I found particularly bothersome was Wolfe's portrayal of younger generations. He wrote with a woefully misunderstanding tone towards those below college graduation age. He came across as an old cronie. What I also didn't like was his comparisons of young attractive women to 'boys with breasts'. I don't see it that way. My guess is that it is Wolfe's observation about a change in the feminin ideal of beauty from voluptuoust towards slender and athletic (hence scenes in aerobics classes). Once again, this is Wolfe coming across as old. Had the book been a slower more demanding read, I would have closed the book never to finish. The finish was anti-climatic.
Rating: 
Summary: strangely absorbing
Review: I'm surprised at several of the amazon reviews that seem to have taken reading this book as if it were a chore. Yes, it's long, but I, for one, found it strangely absorbing. Do not be afraid of long books. Wolfe engages in an impressive cast of characters and takes time to develop many of them. His narrative flow is superb. I enjoyed not only the plot and the characters, but the writing style as well. The author has a certain way with the English language that is captivating, and concepts like "boys with breasts" (aka today's skin-n-bones models), "saddlebags" and "hubba ho" can be both though-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny. Wolfe has a unique sense of humor, considering he routinely does things off-beat like naming a black maid "Auntie Bella" (antebellum?). Wolfe seems to love his characters (even the unsympathetic ones) and takes readers along for a wild ride with characters like Roger Too White (a "beige brother" lawyer and Morehouse grad), Serena Crocker (a money-chasing second wife), Martha Crocker (a bitter first wife), Raymond Peepgrass (a money-chasing bank geek after the first wife), and Conrad Hensley (a bitter blue-collar worker reborn in prison). The antihero main character, however, will blow you away. Charlie Crocker is as much tall tale as real man. A real-estate giant in Atlanta, as well as an ex-football great, Charlie teeters on the brink of bankruptcy and personal ruin. At times like watching a train wreck, one never knows exactly what to think of Charlie -- he can be both sympathetic and unsympathetic to the extreme. Wolfe seems to have a "take it or leave it" quirkiness that will engage some readers to the fullest and turn off others completely. Yes, you might have to sift through some of the author's annoying habits, like describing IN GREAT DETAIL every item of clothing every character is wearing at any given moment, but the experience of reading this book on the whole was very satisfying. I was left frustrated at the end, in fact, because I had no one to discuss the book with afterward. It really leaves a residue on the reader and begs to be thought of long after the last page has been turned.
Rating: 
Summary: The Glass is Half "Full"
Review: I suspect that Tom Wolfe is one of those writers who you either love his work, or you hate it. This being my first foray into his books, I loved "A Man in Full". My motivations for picking up this book were not pure: I'd read an article about the apparent feud between Wolfe and John Irving and decided to read both. Being that the book was 787 pages, I figured I would settle in for a long, dull book, but "A Man in Full" was fast-paced, funny, and a pleasure to read. This was one of those rare books where I went to bed reading, and woke up wanting to read more. Wolfe's writing style is unique (some might say just outright BAD), but I found it very easy to read. Moreover, I was really interested in finding out what would happen to the central characters, and how the seemingly separate story lines would all come together. As much as I loved this book there are a couple of things that keep it from being a 5-star read. First, the plot of escaped convict-turned-messenger of Zeus Conrad Hensley is a bit out there. Second, Wolfe has this annoying way of translating his character's dialogue, especially Charlie Croker's Southern drawl. Come on, most of have read Huck Finn or seen "Gone with the Wind", we know how the stereotypical Southerner talks. And Conrad's cellmate, Five-O, talks like Jar Jar Binks (I was thankful Wolf translated HIS lines). Other than that, I greatly enjoyed "A Man in Full" and would recommend it for those looking for a book that will make you think and laugh.
Rating: 
Summary: What happened to the ending, Mr. Wolfe?
Review: This is a another well-written book with wonderful character development and a very engaging multitude of story-lines, BUT WITHOUT AN ENDING! I loved 3/4 of the read and I was furious to find that, after 750 pages, the story (or stories) go nowhere! And, Wolfe finishes with a minor character - what happened to the lead man? All I can say is it looks like Wolfe fell asleep at the wheel. I would only recommend this book if you have nothing else to read.
Rating:
Summary: 5 Stars if not for the stupid ending
Review: I found the development of the story very enveloping. The parallel struggles of a rich man and a poor man and the attempt of a mediocre man to rise and a great man to avoid a fall. As the political aspect of the story evolved, there was an attempt at creating an issue and resolution of racial tension but the African American mayor and lawyer were just a side show and no real resolution was reached where there was not enough tension created that required a resolution. The first 600 pages of the 690 page book aside, were great. Then, apparently the author became bored and just decided to end the story by having everyone go crazy and give up on any further goals or motivations that had been created in the earlier part of the book. This was my first Thomas Wolfe novel. As I worked through the first 600 pages I told myself that I would read all of his works. After reading the last 90 pages of the book, I find it unlikely that I will read any more Wolfe.
Rating:
Summary: Big Long Middlebrow entertainment
Review: This book is fun to read for most of its 800 page bulk, and a lot of the characters are enjoyable to spend time with. It does not, however, live up to the promise of Bonfire of the Vanities. It opens in a smilar vein, casting a critical eye on a variety of interesting denizens of high-society Atlanta. It falls flat when it involves Conrad Hensely, the huge-forearmed Everyman loser who ends up as the prophet of the latest cult religion--the return of Stoicism. While it remains a relatively pleasurable reading experience, the last third of the book really calls into question what the author is up to--it was working fairly well as social satire, but when the last third rolls around, it almost sounds like a pitch for the Stoic religion some of the characters convert to. Didn't work for me.
Rating:
Summary: Exhaustive/Exhausting?
Review: Charlie Croker, the self-made, hardtalking, politically incorrect main character of Wolfe's novel displays all the traits I find irresistable in my fictional affections.
Accompanying him are two other sure-fits; two powerful black males,respectively, the mayor and his agent, a fellow Morehouse graduate and legal power-broker aptly knicknamed "Too White." Through their characters we glimpse the gains and the sufferings of Atlanta's legendary African-American aristocracy. We can feel the dizzying back draft of their social and financial ascent.
The female characters aren't my cup of tea; that is, wives in fairly traditional garbs, youthful beauties as the seconds and the faded, lonely firsts. Wolfe attempts to make them larger by filling in their backgrounds, one a medical student the other a New York up and coming, who gave it all away for their men- in their cases, the same one.
My weakness for novels that glimpse into the lives of the rich and famous is proven by the worn edges of my Wharton, Mitford, Capote and Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities." In addition to that seduction, this novel incorporates a fin de siecle spark of pagan religiosity as well. This addition comes in the role of an all-powerful everyman, stoic and physical powerhouse named Conrad. Yes, it's all there, the people one never gets to meet, the ones on the tops of skyscrapers, behind iron fences, in jail and in the mayor's office. They are giants in a fairytale setting striving for the mundane and for the life of the spirit.Wolfe's writing is typically flawless. Indeed, it is his writing genius that protects the novel from descending into one of those made for-TV-like books that pepper the best seller's list.
Yet, for me- and in direct opposition to the reviews I've read- the book was washed-out and weak- a watercolor when I was seeking Vermeer. It has been many years since it's taken me over a week to finish a book. I just kept hoping the spellbinding would eventually occur. From these character 'types' and the resplendent setting, I was oddly detached. Wolfe the perfectionist described the magnolias, the tended lawns and even the biting flies as though he didn't have to really look; and for me that is a breach of trust. He just wrote what should be there if one took the time to look.
This book kept putting me to sleep. Only the last few pages, which were a far too quick pulling together of loose plot ends, kept me somewhat alert, but never involved.
Dare I go against the N.Y. Times, The New Yorker and others? I must, the haze of boredom still surrounds me. What had all the components of a good read- left me exhausted.
Rating:
Summary: Rambling, non-integrated garbage without any real message...
Review: The story details the trials and tribulations of two disparate souls that connect under very odd circumstances. The first (and main) plot follows Charlie Croker ("...a man in full, had a back like a Jersey Bull"), a real estate developer in Atlanta who flies by the seat of his pants on most deals. The second story is about a mild-mannered, blue-collar worker named Conrad. Conrad is sent to prison for attacking some folks at a junk yard that has appropriated his car after a (horribly detailed) ... day--which included his firing and the loss of a second interview. Conrad is freed from prison during an earthquake, travels underground from California to Atlanta, and ultimately becomes a nursing assistant to Charlie Croker. The most interesting passages in the book deal with Conrad's infatuation with the discovery of a book detailing Epictetus and the Stoic philosophy. Wolfe does a decent job of explaining the Stoic philosophy, but he falls hopelessly short on enlightening the reader outside of some trivia about Epictetus. Conrad ultimately leads himself (and Croker) to an epiphany about the way that they should lead their lives. Overall, this was a fairly interesting read, but the work was not terribly organized or philosophically consistent on any one point; this is especially true in the accounts of the corrupt black politicians (and their sycophants) that "run" Atlanta.
Rating:
Summary: A Most unputdownable novel
Review: Trying to write my humble review of a book like this is like describing New York City in 25 words or less. So I won't even try. What I will do, however, is give you an idea of the sheer scope of this story by saying that, after a third of the novel, I found myself thinking, "There's no WAY he can wrap this thing up in a mere 750 pages". Actually, that's the problem; he doesn't. The novel sails along merrily until near the very end, at which point the whole story is neatly wrapped up in a few brief pages. One can practically hear the publishers lamenting "Could you please finish now, Mr. Wolfe," looking at their watches and bank books. The ending is so sadly rushed. A Man In Full, but not a novel in full. If you're looking for the best Wolfe novel, try Bonfire Of the Vanities. But if what you're after is a delightful time reading brilliantly written prose, and are more interested in the journey than the destination, then you can't do any better. I'll never be able to get the image of horse breeding out of my head...
Rating:
Summary: A Man Too Full of Himself
Review: By the time I had ploughed through the 774 pages of Wolfe's most recent novel, I was a reader as beat up by the author as his character Charlie Croker was by life. Bludgeoned by a poor and unnecessary--and way, way too long--imitation of Bonfire of the Vanities, I could barely hold up the hand me down hardcover copy I had committed to finishing, and which had ceased to be interesting before page 200. I think the author lost interest in his work, too, and left it devoid of his usual imaginative and original touch. Wolfe's The Right Stuff is one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century in America and earned him his rightful place as one of our best writers and chroniclers of 20th century life.Bonfire of the Vanities did not disappoint, either. But A Man in Full reads like Bonfire with the names and places changed, and too many phrases (e.g.checkbooks "hemhorraging money") resurrected to no good purpose. His Dickensian approach to naming characters veers wildly off, as well. Peepgass, Nackers, Tick to name a few. The worst was when he reincarnated Elihu Yale as a police captain in Atlanta. Oh -- and his turn as a rap artist fell flat. More than anything, this book needed a strong editor. Instead, I suspect, it got the kid gloves treatment by someone too dazzled by the great man to tell him the truth. And all the reviewers who should have known better just kept insisting that the emperor was wearing a marvelous (white?) suit of clothes. So sad. Come back and push the envelope once again, Mr. Wolfe.
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