Rating: 
Summary: Packed With Knowledge!
Review: Tom Wolfe, an eloquent, if sometimes pessimistic, writer who deeply understands modern culture, wrote this massive, classic tale of greed, ambition and power. He casts the story of financier Sherman McCoy in the financial world of Wall Street, but includes the racial, political and economic issues of New York City in the early 1980s. Even 13 years after its publication date, this is still a gripping read. You can use this book as the starting point for reading about business culture from a fictionalized perspective. Or, you can combine it with Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker and The New New Thing, for insight from fact and fiction into the major episodes of greed and economic boom in the past 20 years. This undeclared trilogy examines the desire - not confined to Americans, though the books are U.S.-based - to achieve wealth at any cost. We at getAbstract.com recommend this book, all by itself, as a seminal volume in business fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Potent
Review: On the surface, the book is a satire of the puffed up 80s. The "Vanities" that are being blown up are all the pretensions that people put around themselves. Sherman McCoy is a man who would've exuded strength and power in a prior age. But is he a "Master of the Universe" bond trader (a term coined by Tom Wolfe, later to make it into the popular lexicon) or just another fluffed up product of society? Indeed, the book explores this question. You'll be surprised by the answer!Is it just a novel of the 80s? I disagree, for several reasons...
- The greed of the 80s reappeared in the past 5 years.
- If you look hard enough, one of the characters in the book is running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004.
- The deep characters Wolfe creates ring true today.
- New York again sees itself in a time of great change. Maybe there are lessons in this literature? Is it the Great American Novel? Who knows... But it can be read with "A Man in Full" to understand grit, determination and what does make America different.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing romp
Review: An amazing romp through 1980s New York, Wall Street, the court system, and the lives of the rich and aspiring to be rich. Through the downfall of wall street trader Sherman McCoy, Wolfe brings the reader into the psyches of his characters, forcing one to sympathize with even the most despicable. In the process, he helps us to understand humanity. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Potent
Review: On the surface, the book is a satire of the puffed up 80s. The "Vanities" that are being blown up are all the pretensions that people put around themselves. Sherman McCoy is a man who would've exuded strength and power in a prior age. But is he a "Master of the Universe" bond trader (a term coined by Tom Wolfe, later to make it into the popular lexicon) or just another fluffed up product of society? Indeed, the book explores this question. You'll be surprised by the answer! Is it just a novel of the 80s? I disagree, for several reasons...
- The greed of the 80s reappeared in the past 5 years.
- If you look hard enough, one of the characters in the book is running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004.
- The deep characters Wolfe creates ring true today.
- New York again sees itself in a time of great change. Maybe there are lessons in this literature? Is it the Great American Novel? Who knows... But it can be read with "A Man in Full" to understand grit, determination and what does make America different.
Rating: 
Summary: I'll play the Devil's Advocate...
Review: First off, let me say that this book really held my interest and I enjoyed it (I gave it four stars, didn't I?). Perhaps, though, I should not have read "A Man in Full" first. There are so many similarities between the two books that I found myself thinking that Wolfe re-wrote "Bonfire" to make "Man," yet based it in Atlanta instead of New York. Let's see...both books had racial tensions, both concerned lawyers that only looked out for their own interests, both had a strong main character that eventually fell in the end, both involved a lot (and I do mean a lot) of spouse-cheating, both had political figures that were determined to get re-elected at any cost, both had characters that were oh-so-concerned with thrusting out their mighty muscles to impress the women...etc. etc. etc. A previous reviewer stated that she didn't understand why people did not like the protagonist, Sherman McCoy. Let's see...hmmm...he cheats on his wife, repeatedly...he's a jerk to his fellow co-workers...he has no thought to what the consequences of his actions could do to his young daughter...in short, he generally thinks with the, er, "contents" of his pants. Granted, Wolfe writes in such a way that you do feel sorry for Sherman at the end, but I think it's important to remember that if he hadn't been cheating on his wife with Maria, then he never would have hit anyone with his car and the whole situation would have been avoided (although granted that would have made for a much less interesting book). All in all, though, even if "Man" and "Bonfire" are similar, one cannot overlook the original genious of "Bonfire." Wolfe's descriptives of different types of people (the "Pimp Roll," for God's sake, to describe how someone walked) and the vicious observations he makes on society and its shortcomings (and believe me, no one is exempt, not even authors) aid in the creation of an intricately woven piece of literature.
Rating:
Summary: BOTV everywhere
Review: Has anyone else noticed that in just about any movie made in the last 10 years, whenever there is a bookshelf in the background a paperback copy of BOTV is on the shelf? Why is this? Are there that many copies in used book stores that prop masters have no choice but to select it, or was some contract signed that would ensure that it got more movie shelf time than any other book? Granted it's a wonderful book, but that doesn't fully explain the phenomenon. Just something to think about.
Rating:
Summary: Impressively Accurate and Gripping
Review: I can understand how this book was such a milestone. True genius, in the journalistic style--for portraying so well the status and money-obsessed nature of New York, which still holds true today. Wolfe does a terrific, and I mean really terrific, job at describing the city's political climate and how easily people can be taken advantage of once power and money are thrown into the mix.
Each character's intense need to better his or her own situation is at the center of how each of them relate to the story. In that, the story is essentially a description of how five New Yorkers cross paths and manage to further and better their personal situations, at the expense of a rich Wall Street trader's criminal mistake and inward feelings of guilt. Even though Sherman McCoy's character is portrayed as your typical snooty financial industry professional, the way in which he is brought down is dismaying in itself. He is used as a scapegoat for the ills of the White Establishment by a crooked, black political figure (using the hypocrisy of the church to better himself); used as "the Great White Defendant" by an insecure, self-critical assistant DA to make his career as a trial lawyer; used as centerpiece of a tabloid story to build a shallow, alcoholic reporter's journalist career; used to displace blame by a promiscuous, sleek money-hungry trophy wife... The Bonfire shows the lengths people will go to in order to get ahead and the lack of underlying trust for others, irregardless of money and status. The book is a lesson in city life, opportunism, greed, and a fundamental lesson in our very nature and how we operate, in the strict, economic sense of the term.
In another vein, the plot takes some movie-like twists and turns that dont necessarily work well in writing. Overall, an amazing piece of work, but seems very well suited to the screen more than anything else...I still have to rent the movie!!! Overall, a gripping and very accurate rendition of the city lives we all dream of living.
Rating:
Summary: Once again relevant in the age of corporate greed
Review: With the Martha Stewarts, the Tyco/Dennis Kozlowskis, the Enron/Jeffrey Skillings of the world grabbing every headline in the business world, this masterpiece by Tom Wolfe once again appears to be an important cautionary tale of ego, greed, and megalomania, nearly 20 years after its original publication. Wolfe is a master at providing rich characterization alongside marvelous social commentary. Lovers of Wolfe's other works will not be disappointed. He's captured the best and worst elements of New York City and all of its excesses, and wove it into a powerful tale.
Rating:
Summary: What a Cake!
Review: Using Wolfe's cake analogy, this book is one hell of a serving of a multi-layered cake. It is funny, farcical, tragic, satiric and informative. We are giving the wonderful New York landscape at its panoramic best, even to its underbelly in The Bronx Courthouse. Sherman Mc.Coy becomes a victim of vicious circumstance, not only that we are given a glimpse into the machinations and manipulations of those who take advantage of his unfortunate position. It is a morality tale, but one is left wondering what Sherman, a Master of the Universe, invite this upon himself: basically not listening to his better instinct of immediately reporting an accident to the police. He had become blinded by his love in an extra-marital relationship. A real treat to read.
Rating:
Summary: Still the perfect parody of New York City.
Review: Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities" was first published in 1987, but 16 years later it is still the best parody of the political and social scene in New York City. Combining his everyday, "fly-over country"-style conservatism with his keen wit, Wolfe lays out a story that sends characters crashing into one another from all socioeconomic levels across the Big Apple. Sherman McCoy, a stereotypical, ego-maniacal bond-trader, is Wolfe's typical protagonist. The main plot starts when McCoy and his mistress, Maria Ruskin, take a wrong turn returning from Kennedy airport one night, leaving them lost in a bad neighborhood in the Bronx. This is where they cross paths with Henry Lamb, a seemingly innocent kid stuck in a sad world, and Roland Auburn, a neighbor of Lamb's and local drug-dealing hoodlum. In their haste to escape from a neigborhood within their city but light years from anything they recognize, Sherman and Maria strike Lamb with their car, critically injuring him. Once a struggling NYC journalist learns of the story, it becomes a perfect case for the politicians, media, and attorneys to latch on to for their own selfish gain. From there the Lamb case blows up into an ordeal beyond anyone's control, but one that could only descend into such madness in New York. Wolfe's writing is funny, entertaining, and searing. Through his fictional characters, he presents the perfect condemnation of the ridiculous excesses found in some NYC political and social circles, with specific real-life examples coming naturally to any reader's mind.
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