The Bonfire of the Vanities

Rating:
Summary: Up in Flames
Review: Tom Wolfe is a great writer. He uses language beautifully, develops characters extremely well, and creates good drama. I would, however, say that he is a better essayist than novelist and I would recommend The Right Stuff or The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test over this book because they are more focussed and he keeps his story together better in them. With that said though, I would highly recommend Bonfire of the Vanities. Wolfe describes the socialites, lowlifes, politicians, reporters, and other various characters who populate the New York scene and all of their particular vanities in great detail. They are believable, whether they are likable or not is really besides the point, and they come to life with their authentic dialogue and charater flaws. It is a satirical book written by a very observant author, so even those who have not been exposed to this culture is able to become caught up in it and find themselves fascinated by the whole scene. I would recommend this book to anyone who like social critiques, interesting characters, good writing, and a fast paced story.

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Summary: Park Avenue and the Bronx, a love story.
Review: Pivotal in the characterization of this book is the accuracy in which every thought, action and even accent is described. The author leaves absolutely no margin for your imagination to alter the experience of the story. This is why you are living the satirical story of Mr. Wolfe portraying New York by its essentials: power, racial issues and money. That's all there is to it.

Sherman McCoy, whom you are given ample opportunity to hate, but really cannot hate completely, finds out that life is extremely fragile when you have everything everybody else wants. One misstep, or in his case one wrong turn in his pricey Mercedes, shows him literally and figuratively a more colorful New York than he has ever seen. Being terrified even on the 'safest' streets of New York, the Bronx appears before him like the nightmare he never had, accompanied by his mistress with the southern accent, Maria. Trying desperately to return to safe Manhattan, he is involved in a hit-and-run which is the start of a series of events that change his entire world. The mighty must fall, as seen from the Bronx. Justice must be done, seen from the assistant DA (who in fact has other motives). Headlines must scream, as seen from the press. All want a piece of McCoy, all want power, all want money.

Everybody who reads this book cannot deny finding many truths in it, about America, about wealth and about life all intertwined in an exiting story. Herein we find the strength of storytelling of Tom Wolfe. Read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading
Review: 'Bonfire of the Vanities' is a quintessential novel of the contemporary era not only for its literary craft, but also for its insight into the modern-day social system. Wolf accurately depicts this system on all fronts. The social interaction between economic classes, the growing problems (maybe even failure) of politics and justice as vehicles of freedom and democracy, and the powerful control of consumerism over us all are themes of the book underlying a story masterfully written from a number of the characters' perspectives. You start to feel the strengths and weaknesses of each character, realizing how human nature and illusions of grandeur make us all into people we never thought we'd become.

Being a big Easton Ellis fan, I thought the descriptive writing in this book was far from excessive and only illustrated some of its themes of materialism. It's also probably one of the fastest (substantive) 700 pages I've ever read. Don't count on the film for anything but a good laugh.

Regardless, you will be more enlightened after readiing this book.

Rating:
Summary: The Great American Novel
Review: Tom Wolfe was once asked if the novel is dead. He replied that it's not quite dead, but it's on life support. He thinks the biggest problem with modern novels is that the novelists don't bother to do adequate research on their subject. How can one write a novel about India, for example, if one has never been to India? In Bonfire of the Vanities, Wolfe has done the research and has created an exact representation of modern city life in America, complete with politically self-serving DAs, civil rights demagogues, and pompous gold-coast dandies.

Wolfe is obviously a keen observer of detail. This skill combined with his mastery of the reportorial style of writing make for a great novel, and a great expose' of the hustlers and opportunists that use the system for their own self-interest. I think of him as a modern-day Sinclair Lewis, who once said that he never passed judgement one way or another, he just reported what he observed. Since most of us have probably never been in a high-rise apartment on Park Avenue or a housing project in the Bronx, it's interesting to read Wolfe's detailed descriptions down to the type of wallpaper and table centerpieces. All of this works to pull the reader into the scene, the only excess possibly being his proclivity for over-reporting clothing styles. Wolfe shows his love of clothing by using esoteric terms that probably have no meaning to the average reader.

Wolfe's scenes are so realistic the reader can imagine himself being in the action. I felt Sherman's fear in the Bronx jail cell. I felt his shame when lying to his wife about his relationship with Maria. The characters and dialog are so real, even though the reader may not live in that social milieu he can identify with the situation. The action moves at a rapid pace. Wolfe doesn't get bogged down with excessive narrative. He lets the characters speak for themselves--truly the mark of a great novelist.

I love the way Wolfe has the Brits comment on Americans. It's refreshing to see ourselves from another perspective. How funny it is to hear Peter Fallow complain about our "ridiculous country" and our lack of social graces, all the while sponging off of rich Americans at every opportunity.

This book is timeless. I read it for the second time recently and found it as enjoyable as the first. At the end I felt myself wishing for several more chapters. Bonfire of the Vanities should always stand as one of the best examples of American literature by one of our greatest writers.

Rating:
Summary: The more things change, the more they stay the same. . .
Review: This book, written in the 1980s about New York of the early- to mid-1980s, while not fresh, is certainly not irrelevant. Most of the character types are clearly recognizable as extant forces in the city and the nation.

The plot of the book is nothing remarkable per se. It takes a while to materialize and is mildly interesting, but nothing about it is especially clever. A bad, dumb, white guy -- rich and insensitive of course -- is screwing around on his wife with a golddigger. Through circumstances beyond his control he is involved in a seemingly minor incident that balloons up and takes over his life, making it, and him, into something very different, (and, we presume, better) than it, and he, was before. Along the way, some good guys pop up, some bad guys pop up, and some guys you thought were good but turn out to be bad pop up.

Wolfe does a good job in getting into his characters' minds and letting us in on what they're thinking and feeling along the way. Wolfe's writing gets in the way of the story, however. He is overly descriptive of the surroundings to the point that one soon tires it -- at least I did. It came to the point that I skipped over entire paragraphs devoted to descriptions of furniture and wall hangings.

Some of the more memorable parts of the book involve the parties the rich white guy and his wife attend, with hilarious, almost Vonnegut-like descriptions of the attendees' laughs. Wolfe also does his readers a service for a look inside the fourth estate. To those of us who think the news media have a particular axe to grind it is enlightening to see them cast as mere grubbers, each after his or her own moment of fame. (A phrase from another book -- The Martian Race by Gregory Benford -- comes to mind -- "the snout of the media pig had worked its way under the tent...")

It is amusing to think that many of the events so central to the plot are now meaningless due to technology - cell and satellite phones, the Internet and cable news, and the widespread availability of credit cards, to name a few. All in all though, this is not a bad book. It is overly long and tedious in spots, but it's worth reading if for no other reason than it provides a look back into the marvelous '80s, and a reminder that human nature never changes.

Rating:
Summary: This is not a "dated" novel.
Review: One often hears people describe this book as "the definitive novel of the Eighties," and I expected it to seem as much when I began reading it in 2002. What I found was that nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, much like "A Man In Full," which I read immediately afterwards, this novel is simply about Americans. But unlike other popular American writers (e.g., Tom Clancy), Wolfe treats his characters as human beings with flaws, and no more control over their own destinies than the vast majority of the people of the rest of the world. I think what Wolfe is ultimately getting at is the "arbitrariness of fate." Americans, as the last products of Western civilization, are conditioned largely to believe that if they only do certain things a certain way in life and make themselves believe in this way of doing things, they can exercise control over their futures. As such, Americans more than any other people tend to live "in the future." Yet, as Wolfe so eloquently shows, myriad different unforeseen things can happen in anyone's life, including an American's, that can almost instantly shatter the illusions built up over a lifetime -- illusions that often lead Americans into complacency about themselves and the world. It is quite extraordinary the way Wolfe develops stories and characters. He is unusual in the sense that in his books, the "good guys" don't always win and the "bad guys" often come out on top. You simply can never predict what will happen, and that makes the stories so much more compelling and engaging. You feel like you are living within the "real life" of a given character when you are reading about him/her. I look forward to many more brilliant reads courtesy of Tom Wolfe.

Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Novel of the 1980's
Review: Not since The Great Gatsby has a work so completely defined an era with such brutal honesty. So revealing of the affectations of the period, the filming of this book for the big screen was banned in the Bronx, ironically giving proof to Wolfe's indictment of the liberal political machine of the 1980's. This is a classic "must read" and, as usual, the film doesn't come near to doing the book justice. If you haven't read Bonfire, you're not well read.

Rating:
Summary: A rollicking, fun ride! Realistic, but entertaining!
Review: I just loved this book. It grabs you by the collar and will not release you until you've taken in all of the story! Then, you can lay back, pant, and recover while you ponder the tale! READ READ READ this!

Rating:
Summary: Good display of what really goes on
Review: Tom Wolfe does a wonderful job of displaying true feelings and thoughts to the reader in this unique story of the true realities of life in New York City.
One of the merits of the book is how easily you can relate to the characters, how truely real they are and how real they react to each situation is how many of us could see ourselves reacting to the same situation. He does this by having people deal with things that they think about only in their heads, but would never say out loud. Another merit of the book is the ability of the author to create a true essence of New York City and of the American way. At the beginning of the book the author descibes a situation taking place in the heart of New York City. "Half full! Half consumed!Somebody has just thrown a half-eaten jar of Hellman's mayonaise at him (the Mayor)!" The idea that the author has the object that is thrown be something so real something that we all know and all use, shows how American and how normal the author's ideas are so that the reader is able to relate.
One weakness of the book is how nothing seems to ever turn out right. That is not real lfe and in that aspect the story is never very fulfilling until the end, when by the time you finally get there and after all the bad things you've gone through with the characters it doesn't quite seem like enough good to fulfill the reader with in the end. It lacks the aspect of true happiness in the reader, making you think that life is all full of bad things and there is no hope for the good in people. And by the time you finally reach the good, it is so unexpected and uncommon that you don't even eralize it is there. You have to go through a tremendous amount of pain and hatred and it doesn't seem the happiness is worth all the pain.
Overall i think that the book was very long and had a lot of unecessary detail the reader could have lived without. I only suggest this book if you are willing to face your own mind and the thoughts that you keep inside. It is very prejudice and stereotypical, but tHat is what makes it as good as it is.

Rating:
Summary: Insane AND Shocking . . .but realistic AND insightful
Review: The Bonfire of the Vanities, is an overwhelming insane story, but yet it has such a devout social commentary correctness to it, that to ignore it would be unjust.

Wolfe creates an amazing story line, which throughout the whole book is very consistent, but yet at the same time drifting. Every character in the book is given their own personality, problems, and mini-story line, in essence their own book. As the story moves along everyone is pulled together in the overriding story line but yet again they stay consistent to their own stories. You end up watching every individual character play their own role and you ge tot know them more than it seems necessary, although in the end you realize why you needed so much detail.

Not only does Wolfe provide lavishly entertaining characters, but also a strong commentary by the master himself. Every word printed in the book is a reflection on how Wolfe views the world, and the types of people we really are. Although never having visited New York myself, Wolfe creates more than realistic picture of how he and the rest of the world view New York. The rich vs. the poor or the black vs. the white. Everyone is placed in one group or the other whether they like it or even fit into it...

Wolfe's commentary and vivid use of racist terms at times becomes hard to bare and understand. Although with out it, it would be just a simple book, never a bestseller. It is exactly this type of language that makes the book more than an interesting read, but also an insightful and provocative journey through the mind of Tom Wolfe and the world he sees.