Rating: 
Summary: long-winded and boring
Review: I read the first half of this novel and promptly stopped. I found the characterization too detailed which made the reading long-winded. Having spent a great deal of time in Georgia, I was familiar with the setting, yet it did not add to my enjoyment of this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Who wrote the finale?
Review: The narrative was a romp, the characters a hoot, the ending a dud! Wolfe can do better but I hope he never takes his tongue from his cheek!
Rating: 
Summary: A Man In Full Is A Book Not Finished
Review: An enjoyable page-turner, but so similar in style to Bonfire that you often feel as if you've read parts of it before. The high point is the cast of over-the-top yet entertaining characters; the low point is the disappointing finish. After 700 pages of complex, converging antics -- which gives it some of the flavor of Vonnegut's Breakfast Of Champions -- I expected a bit more than a few paragraphs of "what they are doing now" after a less-than-dramatic final scene. It seemed as if Wolfe just ran out of gas at the end, and wrapped it up as quickly as he could to make a deadline.
Rating:
Summary: Zeus' spark? I think not.
Review: Yes, this book does bring situations and people together through excellent plot twists, but why? If all Conrad is going to do to the hopeless Croker is convert him to stoicism, I don't care. 730 pages of page turning dialogue and complex situations to have the whole book come down to some long forgotten philosophy. I also wonder why Roger White and Wes Jordan have to have a ten page conversation to let the reader know what could have been said (should have) in the previous 730 pages! Five star start, one star ending.
Rating:
Summary: A 700+ Page Disappointment
Review: If Tom Wolfe had not been the writer, and I hadn't already read 400 plus pages of the 750 pages, I would have put "A Man In Full" aside and never looked at it again. But I did finish it, and was greatly disappointed. First of all, it it overwritten...you could skip entire pages and almost every other sentence and not miss anything. Mr. Wolfe goes on and on and on trying to show his new mastery of the Southern culture, but it's as exciting a read as a "Crock Pot Cookbook." And finally, as you're nearing the very end, finally feeling like at least he's getting somewhere, you realize there are only fifty pages left and nothing is feeling tied up. Finally, he ties it up, but unfortunately, you're left with the feeling that he simply ran out of steam after his ten years of working on this book...and ultimately the ending is superficial and unsatisfying. I felt angry that a writer as good as Mr. Wolfe would put this book out. Yes, there were some interesting characters (even if most all of them were unlikable), but ultimately the book was overwritten, superficial, and sadly, felt very contrived. There's a lot of better books to spend your time with...skip this one and wait for his next. He's too interesting a writer not to get it right next time.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best books of 1988
Review: I was a little daunted by the length of this book however towards the end, I did not want it to end. The characterizations were amazing. How Tom Wolfe dreams up these people and makes them seem so believable and human is unreal. I especially liked the character of Martha, Charlie's ex wife. The description of the benefit which she attended where she was ignored was so insightful and on target. Having been to a number of these social events myself, I can relate to the accuracy of Wolfe's description. The only part which I skipped over and found too depressing to read was the prison description. Most of the real action takes place towards the last quarter of the book and it is well worth the wait. This book was much better than Bonfires since the characters were much more likeable and sympathetic and it did not get bogged down on one storyline the way Bonfires did. I can't wait for the movie to come out and to see who they cast! I can't think of anyone else besides Nicholson as Charlie Croker!
Rating:
Summary: A great read, but loses it at the end.
Review: This is a well written book, with interwoven stories and characters who are real - until the last fifty pages, when the whole book falls apart, under the weight of its own incredible resolution. It's as if the author gave up on the story and just wanted to finish this very wordy disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: First 650 pages great,terrible conclusion!
Review: The first 80% of this book was outsatanding eith the exception of trying to understand the language of 5-0.The characters developed well and it was quite easy to develop strong feelings(both good and bad) about all the major characters.Several of the scenes;the plantation,the workout session,horse breeding,prison life;literally jumped off the pages at me.They were quite vivid and believable. However,the ending leaves the reader unfulfilled and does not continue with the intensity or emotion of the earlier parts of the story.I guess writing a 700+ page novel was too draining for the author who must have said "Now that I've exhausted myself by creating all these wonderful and interesting characters,placed them in a late 20th century pressure cooker,I'm too tired to finish so I'll get the third grade class at PS # 32 to write the last 75 pages."
Rating:
Summary: interesting
Review: I admit, I was completely engrossed in the lives of the characters that wolfe so brilliantly developed. Moreover, the undertones of political correctness, money, racism, and general concsiousness of the moral fabric of america as we descend upon the new century was both insightgul and profound. What I found interesting, however, is the inordinate amount of times wolfe focuses on mens strength and particularly, mens bodies (arms and muscles come up a lot). Too many for sure. Oddly, the only references to womens bodys is "a boy with breasts" ergo Serena Crocker, Charlies wife. I think Wolfe is gay, which is great, but he should have just created a gay character instead of infusing the prose with overtures of homoerotism.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story, Lousy Style and Punctuation
Review: There was a great story line to keep me going, because the punctuation was so lousy (...WOW!!) and the grammar so incorrect (if I was...), I almost quit reading every few pages or so. But no, I held on, only to find the book ending most ridiculously.
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