false 231 26 Dupont University--the Olympian halls of learning housing the cream of America's youth, the roseate Gothic spires and manicured lawns suffused with tradition... Or so it appears to beautiful, brilliant Charlotte Simmons, a sheltered freshman from North Carolina. But Charlotte soon learns, to her mounting dismay, that for the uppercrust coeds of Dupont, sex, Cool, and kegs trump academic achievement every time. As Charlotte encounters Dupont's privileged elite--her roommate, Beverly, a Groton-educated Brahmin in lusty pursuit of lacrosse players; Jojo Johanssen, the only white starting player on Dupont's godlike basketball team, whose position is threatened by a hotshot black freshman from the projects; the Young Turk of Saint Ray fraternity, Hoyt Thorpe, whose heady sense of entitlement and social domination is clinched by his accidental brawl with a bodyguard for the governor of California; and Adam Geller, one of the Millennial Mutants who run the university's "independent" newspaper and who consider themselves the last bastion of intellectual endeavor on the sex-crazed, jock-obsessed campus--she gains a new, revelatory sense of her own power, that of her difference and of her very innocence, but little does she realize that she will act as a catalyst in all of their lives. With his signature eye for detail, Tom Wolfe draws on extensive observation of campuses across the country to immortalize college life in the '00s. <I>I Am Charlotte Simmons</I> is the much-anticipated triumph of America's master chronicler. 1005335 2004 I Am Charlotte Simmons: A Novel total:6382|5:886|4:1906|3:1969|2:1029|1:592| 6382 20611 7847 966 2 12 false false Thu May 10 11:37:43 -0700 2007 Sun May 13 20:46:30 -0700 2007 Charlotte Simmons to be a satire or a legitimate zeitgeist piece. Thus, the characters come off as caricatures to ill effect. Wolfe should take a page from Sinclair Lewis, who somehow managed to write biting satire with still-believable protagonists...more...]]> 1 8 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon May 19 07:10:44 -0700 2008 Mon May 19 07:33:06 -0700 2008
It's called a stereotype, Tom. You should probably avoid making all your characters painfully simple c...more...]]> 1 9 false false Sun Aug 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 18 06:25:44 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 31 07:26:58 -0700 2008
771 pages. Talking about college. How college is shocking for sheltered girls. How college (shocker) isn't really about academia, but sports, beer, sex, and pretty much everything that the university brochures lie about in order to protect their reputations and continue charging $30...more...]]> 1 6 false false Wed Dec 26 17:50:23 -0800 2007 Sun Feb 10 16:14:21 -0800 2008
It's no fun writing a hatchet job, much less a hatchet job on one of your heroes. I read Charlotte Simmons about a year ago and hated it, but decided that the generousity of the Christmas Spirit might make it the perfect time for me to read it. Jesus it was even worse.

...more...]]> 4 8 false false Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Wed May 02 12:07:43 -0700 2007 Wed May 30 06:59:20 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 7 false false Mon May 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat May 03 20:03:36 -0700 2008 Wed May 28 12:09:36 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 8 false false Tue Sep 11 08:20:52 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 11 10:47:52 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 4 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 29 12:26:27 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 29 12:34:15 -0700 2007
I punched him in the face and choked his neck until he relented and said "Prog rock rules."

After reading I Am Charlotte Simmons, I feel bad about treating him that way. Becaus...more...]]> 1 2 false false Fri Jul 11 08:05:02 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 11 08:05:17 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 2 true false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Jul 02 06:38:46 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 02 06:38:46 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 13 00:23:17 -0700 2007 Sat Jun 16 00:20:25 -0700 2007
Some paragraphs go on for a page or two. But once you get into it, the sentences flow and take you to unexpected nuggets of satiric humor and ironic wit. Of course, the dialogue and characterizations are hilarious too.

I would not...more...]]> 3 3 false false Wed May 30 06:17:19 -0700 2007 Thu May 31 06:52:27 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 2 false false Wed Oct 29 08:05:20 -0700 2008 Tue Nov 25 08:47:50 -0800 2008 FINALLY finished I Am Charlotte Simmons. I would've enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn't dragged out my reading for so long.
I found myself totally offended at the end of the book because Charlotte did not maintain one girl friend in the entire story an...more...]]> 2 2 false false Fri Aug 01 18:58:05 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 01 19:01:56 -0700 2008 .]]> 2 1 false true Mon Sep 01 12:56:52 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 01 12:59:18 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Feb 25 06:30:09 -0800 2008 Wed Apr 09 07:34:46 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 3 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jan 18 13:36:28 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 17 02:53:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 31 13:50:27 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 14 17:26:33 -0700 2007
The story and characters kept me totally engrossed, mainly because they took me right back to my first few days at UC Davis and what i...more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jun 17 20:59:28 -0700 2007 Sun Jun 17 21:26:04 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon May 28 07:02:42 -0700 2007 Mon May 28 10:13:09 -0700 2007 I Am Charlotte Simmons with trepidation. I had read the reviews that likened Wolfe to a voyeur and questioned his motivation in spending years "observing" typical college students fifty years his junior. It seemed creepy. But when I saw it in the bargain bin, I couldn't resist, a...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=231