Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!!
Review: When I first tackled this book, I was a bit worried. I have never read Tom Wolfe before and 742 pages is a long book. Am I ever glad I did however! The book illustrates beautifully the two sides to America, blue collar and white collar. Although Wolfe goes to extremes, it is a rather interesting portrayal of the two parties. The vivid depiction of prison life is great. There is no sugar coating involved. The workout session made me laugh out loud. I found myself bursting out laughing in some parts, cheering in others, and grimacing as well. Regardless, I could not put this book down and finished it in a five day period. A great book and the highest possible recommendation!
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful except ending is weak
Review: Quite vivid, wonderful prose; characters generally drawn quite well except no depth to any of the female characters (one small effort to provide depth to main protagonist's ex-wife Martha); One feels abandoned at the end, as though the author yielded to publishers demanding that it be finished. Even with faults, worth reading, and better than most out there. (By the way Tom, it's Lexis and Nexis, not Lexus & Nexus for the computerized legal research - there was even a lawsuit over that one.)
Rating:
Summary: Too Mellow
Review: It is a good book, but it lacks the cutting edge and the brilliance of "Bonfire Of Vanities". The beginning was good, but then I got disappointed. Is Tom Wolfe getting old? The end is just too darn mellow. It is not a conclusion, but a sort of fading away.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Up To Wolfe's customary standards.
Review: I didn't take the advice of the reviewer in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ("save your money. wait on the paperback") I bought this huge novel in hardback and managed to wade through it. I had become acquainted with Wolfe from "The Right Stuff," which I considered as good a book as I had ever read at the time, and his initial novel "Bonfire of the Vanities," of which many people formed an impression about a good book from the deplorable movie made from it. "Man in Full" doesn't approach either of those works. What has happened to Wolfe in the years since "Bonfire"? Has he lost the Right Stuff? In his latest work he seems to find the Southern dialect (and foreign tongues) a great source of amusement. Wolfe spells out phonetically, in one sentence, the lingo, and in the next, translates it. Mahty strange fur a Virginny boy. The plot is far-fetched (a wheeling-dealing master builder overextends and loses everything, but finds a rare religion in the process) and not well-developed (like "Bonfires"). Come to think of it, I should have waited on the limp cover version.
Rating:
Summary: WELL DONE!, TOM WOLFE
Review: This is truly a NOVEL- skillfully written. Quite a few medical/anatomical allusions. Did T.W. have a year of medical school perhaps!? It is quite vulgar (earthy) and profane at times, even iconoclastic and cynical - but, hey, this is a novel, man- don't sweat it. The ending is "weak" but maybe that is part of the "strength" of this work as a great novel. Come on, Tom, write some more!
Rating:
Summary: Too long and not believable.
Review: Tom Wolfe describes some bigger than life characters in this convoluted tale but only lets them come to life sporadically.The pivotal premise that Crocker coming to the defense of the black football player would prevent a race riot was weak at best. A bank forgiving millions of dollars for a few words at a news conference by this "washed up hasbeen".......I don't think so! As for the ending....where did everyone go? Your left dangling. So much hype..... so little substance.
Rating:
Summary: not a masterpiece, but great nonetheless
Review: Tom Wolfe has managed to capture our society at its most absurd and touching. He keeps our interest with his sharp wit, keen insight and sardonic humor through 700 pages. Unfortunately, I agree that the ending is a stinker and the relationship between Croker and Conrad is too contrived. I disagree with readers who said the characters are too wooden or two-dimensional. Au contraire! I felt most of the characters could walk off the page and have tea in my living room. Eager to see how Hollywood screws this one up. At least, Bonfire of the Vanities fiasco generated an excellent, entertaining book about how Hollywood destroyed the story --The Devil's Candy. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: The South has risen again and been totally revealed!!
Review: What a great book!! Being Southern probably helped me to relate to the characters. They populate my world each day. Tom Wolfe's characterizations have always been probing and graphic with both the good and evil revealed; but he outdoes himself here. The jail sequences were so realistic that I dreamed of them; and the complexity of the structure grabs you and won't let you go until the last page. (And I always want the book to go on so that I won't have to leave Wolfe's delicious sense of the ridiculous and the sublime.) I haven't read the winner of the National Book Award; but it cannot be better than this! And may I always be a Stoic!
Rating:
Summary: Master formula novel (or script) but not a master work
Review: This was my first Tom Wolfe novel. Having just moved to Atlanta, I thought it would be fun reading. Overall, this book was an inflight novel, an international flight with some gate changes. AMIF was cleanly written and well researched with all the mainstay formula items that one should expect from a book for the movies. AMIF was not a captivating or an engaging work. The reader should not expect true literature from AMIF, but should find a professional effort. I doubt I will ever want to reread it, but I did not mind the first read (except in a few sections).
Rating: 
Summary: A big disappointment
Review: Tom Wolfe is one of my favorite writers, and BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES one of my favorite books. Imagine my anticipation when I opened this book -- and my disappointment when I closed it. To me it was a sad rehash of BONFIRE, an attempt to jam every two-dimensional stereotypical character into a novel that would lampoon all of our society's quirks. I couldn't muster up any real interest in any of these people, no matter how sympathetically they were painted. The entire plot, including its creaky ending, seemed to be a BONFIRE rewrite, transplanted to Atlanta. If you're interested in horse breeding, one scene may interest you. If not, check out ELECTRIC KOOL -AID ACID TESTS or BONFIRE.
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