I Am Charlotte Simmons

Rating:
Summary: Charlotte's Web
Review: Ah, what a hefty web we weave, or at least Mr. Wolfe has. I AM CHARLOTTE SIMMONS is by all means not a small book. Quite weighty and verbose, it nevertheless entertains. Wolfe is obviously a talented writer who provides the reader with amazing detail and insight. In his newest novel he does just that. The only problem he does it in areas that most of us don't care about (like teen muscles and under aged drinking). Some of the best passages (and characters) are left undeveloped such as the mysterious Governor from California. Also highly recommended for its passages dealing with college life, THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD.

Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: As I write this I have not finished reading the novel yet I can already tell that it should be the novel of the decade. When I was at Rice University in the 1970s things were not as bad as they are at Charlotte's fictional (and current) DuPont, but you could see the present day coming. Humans have difficulty achieving balance, and therefore it only stands to reason that once banality becomes acceptable it will be pursued to its logical end. "I Am Charlotte Simmons" makes it pretty clear that the logical end of our banal culture is not far off, and it makes you wonder what the aftermath will be like. "I Am Charlotte Simmons" is not just a scathing attack on collegiate culture, but on broader American culture as well (after all the super hoops players in the novel have FANS), and must rank alongside the great Billy Wilder Films "Sunset Boulevard" and "The Big Carnival" as a a cultural critique.

Rating:
Summary: The Wolfe at the door
Review: I really didn't know WHAT to expect when I picked up this book-it's been years since I delved into "Wolfe land." We all know about the sex-and-drugs aspect of college, but what does it actually say about the youth? How is college different now with all the social and technological change that has happened in the last 30 years? There are no handy "generation-x" labels for Wolfe to throw on the new generation, and he stumbles in trying to find a message. Perhaps this book is best read as a polemic about the sorry state of higher education today. Hopefully there'll be on BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES comparisons to this book---I can just see it coming. All this said, it IS better than most of the stuff you'll come across. Wolfe is no idiot, and, like Grisham, he's overall and excellent writer with a great mind.

Also very much enjoyed the book THE CHILDREN'S CORNER by Jackson McCrae and the novel THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD. CC is a collection of stories dealing with insight into the human heart and all the baggage that accompanies that, and the "Dogwood" book is probably the most shocking and well written thing ever to be printed. Both are great. Check out CHAROTTE first though.

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't it fill you with shame?
Review: Lately our book club picked three excellent reads, "I am Charlotte Simmons" being one of these. The other two were "Reading Lolita" and Jackson McCrae's "The Children's Corner." All were excellent but the Wolfe captivated our attention despite its hefty size. Interesting premise and typical Wolfisms make this a good solid buy. The story is told mostly from the perspective of a brilliant and inexperienced girl from the mountains of North Carolina, whose beauty opens the door to a world of possibilities that she rightly instinctively fears, and inevitably makes the mistakes that the reader can see coming from a mile away. Still, as I said, a good solid read. Try the Roth and McCrae also for a great time.

Rating:
Summary: Book club pick
Review: Of the three books our book club recently read, CHARLOTTE SIMMONS was the biggest hit. The other two were Roth's THE PLOT and McCrae's CHILDREN'S CORNER. While we loved all of these, something about CHARLOTTE hit a nerve--possibly because the majority of our members are recent graduates. I AM CHARLOTTE SIMMONS takes second place to BONFIRES but is a fun spoof and may be worth sharing with your high-school senior sometimes before freshman orientation. Charlotte has been given the immense gift of fleeing her poor rural life and living amongst contemporary geniuses. What she assumes will be discussion groups on phlosophy and science is, in fact, a campus of frat parties and hooking up. Wolfe interweaves several stories at once. The aspiring nerd journalist, Adam Gelllin, who is hopelessly in love with Charlotte, but never quite gets his fantasies realized, is a great character. Then there's Hoyt Thore, the air headed frat boy who sees in himself the world's macho Jojo Johannson, the athlete in whom Charlotte accidentally sparks a desire to learn. This was just a fun romp and I would highly recommend it along with Roth's book and the McCrae also.

Rating:
Summary: Charlotte Simmons-- Bravo
Review: One of the best books I've read. Was blown away. Its right up there with Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities. I believe anyone who has been through a college experience will empathize with Charlotte's plight and the inanities of college life. Wolfe convinces us that the this is a very rich country indeed which can afford this level of waste.

Rating:
Summary: So many books, so little time
Review: So many times I've picked up a book based on a recommendation or bestseller list, only to be horribly disappointed. Fortunately, lately this hasn't been the case and I seem to have hit the jackpot. My first read was "The Plot Against America," and I liked it well enough. Alternative histories are not my thing but I do like Roth. Second, I read "The Bark of the Dogwood" and savored every word--funny and dark, all at the same time. So, when I came upon this latest Wolfe bestseller, I was thinking, "there's no way this one is going to be great." But it was! Turns out, I like this one best of all. At first I was hesitant and it took a while to get into it--what with the college years, fraternity parties, etc. which I don't really warm to. But after the first forty pages I was hooked. What a great, fun book!

Rating:
Summary: You'll either love it or hate it.
Review: The major players fit stereotypes but the fringe characters do show some other groups - even if only in momentary glimpses. I enjoyed the book immensely and have recommended it to my friends. I've seen reviewers mention that Wolfe made a much bigger deal about Charlotte losing her virginity than he should have considering the current norms of behavior. I think those people are missing the point. Charlotte's virginity was a huge deal to herself. She went against
everything she believed in, in the way she lost her virginity. Though Tom Wolfe's latest novel has been much criticized by professional critics, I found myself unable to put the book down. The reader finds himself so deeply immersed into Charlotte Simmons character that you feel you have known her for her entire life and are constantly hoping everything turns out well for her. Unlike most novels that readers forget the day after the book is complete, this one stays with you.