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I am Charlotte Simmons

3.33 of 5 stars 3.33 · rating details · 14,455 ratings · 1,520 reviews

Tom Wolfe, the master social novelist of our time, the spot-on chronicler of all things contemporary and cultural, presents a sensational new novel about life, love, and learning--or the lack of it--amid today's American colleges.

Our story unfolds at fictional Dupont University: those Olympian halls of scholarship housing the cream of America's youth, the roseate Gothic sp...more

Paperback, 738 pages

Published August 30th 2005 by Picador (first published November 3rd 2004)

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May 13, 2007 Elaine rated it 2 of 5 stars

Wolfe could not seem to decide whether he wanted 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 at the helm. Wolfe could have also gone all out and just made this an absurd piece of literature, but he clearly intended to use this book as a revelation on modern college life.

In Wolfe's defense:
Thou...more Wolfe could not seem to decide whether he wanted 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 at the helm. Wolfe could have also gone all out and just made this an absurd piece of literature, but he clearly intended to use this book as a revelation on modern college life.

In Wolfe's defense:
Though I think there are legitimate criticisms of Charlotte Simmons, the most frequent one, the "look at how this prude old guy is so freaked out by young people today" criticism is problematic on several levels. First: it is possible for an author to create an authentic protagonist with whom s/he has little in common. Take Mark Twain's feat of writing from the perspective of a boy in Huck Finn or Sinclair Lewis's believable boob Babbitt in the eponymous book. Wolfe may come from a different generation than his characters, but this does not preclude him from channeling universal emotions through his characters, emotions like self-doubt, alienation, etc.

A favorable reviewer on Amazon rightly pointed out that those who criticize Wolfe for not getting this current generation are missing the point. Wolfe is asking the reader to step outside the decadent conventions of this group in order to question why it they are so blindly accepted. To dismiss him because he seems so shocked! by the generation he portrays is to buy into the legitimacy of this (my) generation's norms.

Like so many American novels before it, I Am Charlotte Simmons indicts complacent conformity. Perhaps it's easier to recognize these themes in novels where the author is skewering the prudish, straight-laced yesmen rather than the indulgent, counter-traditional ones, but both societies signify rigidity and intolerance towards deviating norms. The pendulum has just shifted in the sense that polite conversation is now quite hospitable to the impolite, but now the diplomat is the odd man out. Being different is hard, whether you're a wandering musician in 1950s America or an intellecutally curious girl from a quiet mountain town in millenial America.

My biggest issue: I am most disappointed with how unedited I Am Charlotte Simmons seems at times. Wolfe could have pared this book down a lot. He simply writes too much, sometimes mercilessly belaboring his point. Still, I think the generic criticisms of this book are ignorant of a novel's purpose.(less)

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May 19, 2008 Chad Wemyss rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: No one

"I am Tom Wolfe... " and therefore I can write whatever I want. And people will still buy my over-long, thinly-developed, poorly-constructed tirade against 'kids these days.'

It's called a stereotype, Tom. You should probably avoid making all your characters painfully simple cardboard cutouts of actual people. And I'm pretty sure I've seen all of these before, in EVERY movie and book about "college" ever produced.

To inventory:
- The main protagonist, the archetypical smart girl who's better looki...more

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Aug 31, 2008 La Petite Américaine rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who care about college

Shelves: sucked, rants

Sigh.

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 $30,000 a year for an "education." This could be written by ANYONE, and in less than HALF the pages.

When a book is bad, and too long, there is a certain point in reading the same shit over and over when your mind ju...more

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Feb 10, 2008 Bryce Wilson rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

Sigh...

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.

I love Tom Wolfe, his early journalism is alive as very few works I know. His critism is sharp and cutting and can make a whole school of thought look ridiculous in a clever turn of phrase. His novels are flawed sure but li...more

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May 28, 2008 Andrea rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: somebody in need of a doorstop

Shelves: didn-t-finish, book-group-la-reads

Yawn or cringe? Eye roll? So imagine your grandpa takes you out to the Dog 'n Suds for a root beer float. He goes on to tell you about what life was like at college - not for him but for you. He sprinkles in terms like "phat" and "shorty" and "rad" and "rutting" throughout his tale. Grandpa has been dipping into the Dictionary of American Youth Slang written by the Youth Minister at his church, who has covered the volume in a plain black cover lest it fall into the hands of the few blessed innoc...more

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Jul 08, 2011 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

I picked this up at the big garage sale that my work puts on. It caught my eye and I remember being interested in it after reading a review of it when it came out. It's a pretty thick book, over 750 pages, and I didn't plan on reading it for a while. I read the first few chapters when I got home and got very caught up in it. It is one of those books where once you've start reading it, everything else in your life takes a back seat and you can't do anything else but read the book until you're don...more I picked this up at the big garage sale that my work puts on. It caught my eye and I remember being interested in it after reading a review of it when it came out. It's a pretty thick book, over 750 pages, and I didn't plan on reading it for a while. I read the first few chapters when I got home and got very caught up in it. It is one of those books where once you've start reading it, everything else in your life takes a back seat and you can't do anything else but read the book until you're done. Apparently all of Tom Wolfe's books are like that, though I've only read this one. I'll let the New York Times say it better than I can: "Like everything Wolfe writes, 'I Am Charlotte Simmons' grabs your interest at the outset and saps the desire to do anything else until you finish."

The book is basically a critique of the current state of higher education and the university lifestyle. The three main characters are students at a Dupont, a fictional prestigious liberal arts school on the east coast and their lives intersect through various plot threads. The title character, Charlotte, is the fish out of water from a small working-class town in West Virginia. She comes to Dupont full of innocence and ideals and the book is propelled by the story of her inevitable fall from grace and eventual redemption. There is one long extended chapter the book about Charlotte going to the big fraternity formal with her new boyfriend and his friends. Wolfe describes what is happening in real time with great detail (both material and emotional), and the result is an incredible and extremely moving piece of writing. If movies that present prom night as an magical evening where everyone's problems are somehow resolved are a zero on the realism scale, Wolfe's description of Charlotte's experience is an easy 10 .

One of the things that Wolfe does really well is observe the motivations behind people's words and actions, analyzing people in much the same way that a biologist would study the behavior of animals. To Tom Wolfe, every human interaction is a struggle for dominance, and he makes his case convincingly enough particularly when applied to the seemingly simple but incredibly complex social codes of the fraternities and sororities.

Wolfe does stumble occasionally, getting a bit out of his element, particularly when attempting to recreate the dialogue and slang of the black players on the college basketball team. He creates a rapper called Doctor Dis and writes lyrics for his songs in a few cringe-inducing passages. Still, you've got to give an old white guy credit for an attempt. A large part of Wolfe's critique is about class, and the sense of entitlement that well-heeled and well-educated feel. Wolfe lays it on a little too thick in describing Charlotte's humble background, however, and details like Charlotte's family having to use a picnic table inside because they couldn't afford a dining table seemed forced. One final criticism that I'll make is that I though that the end was too neat and sudden. I expected more of a payoff, though I was satisfied enough (if only just to see Charlotte okay again after everything that Wolfe puts her through).

This book got a lot of mixed reviews, and some critics really panned it, seeing it as a one of Wolfe's lesser books. I'm not familiar with his other works and with nothing else to compare it to, I was blown away and completely engrossed. I'd strongly recommend it, though only if you can afford to disappear for a week.

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Aug 29, 2007 Pencopal rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: summerreads

A friend once told me that the band Yes amounted to nothing more than musical masturbation.

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. Because I see what he meant. I Am Charlotte Simmons amounted to nothing more than literary masturbation.

Tom Wolfe seems to have absorbed everything he could about a number of subjects: college life, collegiate speech patterns, namely, "fuc...more

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May 31, 2007 Brett rated it 3 of 5 stars

Any girl who has ever gone through the journey of the small liberal arts big name college will know parts of Charlotte in ways that take them back to times and insecurities that are far better left forgotten. Charlotte, the brain trust of her small town, enters the world of the privledged "it's mine because I'm entitled to it" college student. It should be a coming of age tale, and it is but in the twisted way. Charlotte loses herself and every belief she held to fit in from the first day of her...more

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Apr 19, 2013 Con McVeety rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not bad but Tom Wolf is a bit too descriptive wheather he's talking about a college basketball games, frat praties, being locked out of your dorm becasue your roomate is fucking, we get it Tom Wolf college is about NCAA bids and parties, and not about the humanities, college is for privileged upper middle class young adults and high school athletes, a place they can put off growing up for four years. This is more or less true about college, unless you attend a liberal arts college which is a hug...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Diana rated it 1 of 5 stars

I got so much enjoyment out of this book. If you attempt to read it as an actual piece of literature (or, God forbid, actually purchase it) you will be incredibly insulted and possibly enraged. I wouldn't even deign to call these characters stereotypes because I think that would be giving them more credit than they rightly deserve. And if you read it as the desperate attempt of an aging writer to remain relevant, it might just make you sad (unless you are already enraged/insulted in which case f...more

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Jul 11, 2008 Jake rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I Am Charlotte Simmons is the latest work by Tom Wolfe (Bonfire of the Vanities). Having seen/heard a few favorable reviews (though I don’t remember where), and needing something to listen too during my commute to work, I decided to give this a shot. After all, it was 50 percent off, and over thirty-one hours long! Entertainment for weeks!

Or not.

I Am Charlotte Simmons is the story of a collection of stereotypes. Whoops, excuse me. I mean, it’s the story of Charlotte Simmons, an impossibly naïv...more

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Jul 02, 2007 patricia rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

I can't figure out why Tom Wolfe is so revered...maybe because of Bonfire of the Vanities. But this book is a study in poorly developed sensationalism with hyperbole. All the characters are one-dimensional stereotypes, the plot is predictable, and the writing banal. I think people like this book for the same reason they like Joan Collins or US Weekly - we know it is trash and we like trash. Sadly, this is not even good trash. (Bad trash! Bad trash!)

According to this book, students are only able...more

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Jun 16, 2007 Sotoleon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: realists, docu-holics and college kids

I like this book, though it's really looooong.

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 say that one "loves" or "likes" either Charlotte Simmons or the rest of the characters---which are not prerequisites for the overall quality of a novel---but they ring true. As their psycholoy is revealed, their personaliti...more I like this book, though it's really looooong.

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 say that one "loves" or "likes" either Charlotte Simmons or the rest of the characters---which are not prerequisites for the overall quality of a novel---but they ring true. As their psycholoy is revealed, their personalities and choices become patently plausible, invevitable really.

I'm not sure I "liked" the ending, but again, liking it is neither here nor there in terms of quality. I liked it because it seemed a bit idealized and in someways fulfilling, which is also the reason I didn't like it because thus far, the novel had seemed to follow an inevitable and necessary trajectory so that this "happy ending" of sorts, seems a bit out of place.

However, within this ideal situation that the protagonist finds herself in toward the end, reasons for her ultimate choice are hinted at that she herself is barely aware of, and because of this, who she is, what she learns and all that jazz, says a lot about her that clearly demote her from heroine to basically a person one may not like. She has not learned all that much in fact. She is the social animal that is motivated and affected by societal values; she is not above status as defined by not only peers but also by the larger American culture.

I wanted Charlotte to "do the right thing," I really did. But given her experiences, the ending makes sense and the ambiguity about who she is and what she's becoming, are really apt, I think.

I liked this book for the wry comic turns, the wording and syntax are "ambrosial" (a term used by a character) and the intellect is constantly stimulated. As far as the characters and their ultimate development, it's depressing. And not only because they in effect are "evil" or anything like that, but because they mirror back a litttle (or a lot) of ourselves, especially for those who have travailed the path to Higher Ed. The depression hits because the choices made are done by people like you or I, and their all too human desires, ambitions, and psychology make it hard to judge.

You want to identify with a character who is basically good and incapable of corruption because then you can tell yourself you identify with that character. But there are none---Charlotte hardly qualifies as a classic heroine and much less the supporting characters.

This is definitely a Naturalistic novel with all of its social animals trapped by forces out of their control. They are all too human and what the novel has to say about our present culture resonates long after you put it down. While reading it, though, the humor and irony and syntactical brilliance are at the fore.

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May 28, 2007 Holly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2007

I came to 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, and as it turned out, I couldn't put the thing down. Wolfe is a great writer and storyteller, and although there are some weird things about the book, like his linguistic obsessions over current uses of profanit...more

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Nov 25, 2008 Monika rated it 3 of 5 stars

(SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!! BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!)
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 and all of the girls in the novel were either stereotypical sorority types, shallow, gossips or over the top radical. And her life during her first year of college completely revolved around her relationships with...more

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Aug 01, 2008 Amy F. rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book kept me turning the pages but ultimately was pretty lame. Also, Tom Wolfe is a perv
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Apr 15, 2012 Gosia rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: coming-of-age

I'd gone through some of the reviews here before I picked it up and I thought they were exaggerated. Nope. This really IS an old fella's attempt to explain you your college experience (assuming you went to college in the last decade).
I have 2 major problems with this book. First of them is the author. What is your deal, Tom Wolfe? I've never read any other book written by him (don't think I will) so I can't say if it's his usual style but is he a control freak? Is he bizzarely proud of his re...more I'd gone through some of the reviews here before I picked it up and I thought they were exaggerated. Nope. This really IS an old fella's attempt to explain you your college experience (assuming you went to college in the last decade).
I have 2 major problems with this book. First of them is the author. What is your deal, Tom Wolfe? I've never read any other book written by him (don't think I will) so I can't say if it's his usual style but is he a control freak? Is he bizzarely proud of his research? Or, which might be the most probable answer, does he think his readers are f*cking morons? Or maybe he thought only other 70+ year olds will be the ones reading this novel? Why else would he explain everything? People, we get a definition of humping. We learn that Nietzsche was "a German philosopher". He tells us 3.99 USD is not a price of a year's subscription of Cosmo, it's what you pay for one issue (which is supposed to be a shocker, apparently)! Is he for real?!
Also, the main character. Charlotte Simmons, the sweet virgin. Are we supposed to like her? To root for her? To symphatize with her? Because she's the most annoying, self-righteous uptight b*tch. Plus, I'm not from NC but I'll take a wild guess and assume North Carolina circa 2004 generally had TV and internet, right? So am I really supposed to believe a smart girl who went to a normal public high school would be so utterly shocked by a bit of cursing? By a boy in a corridor wearing (the horror!) a t-shirt and boxer shorts? By people (gasp!) having sex (not in front of her, just in the same building)? Had she never watched the O.C., or anything on MTV? Believe me, I get that wild partying and casual sex are not for everyone, I do. I just don't think her reactions to so.many.things. are the reactions of a young girl (even a small town one, who's introvertic, unexperienced etc.). Really, such people simply don't exist.

Also, Wolfe seems to master the subject yet fails to build a realistic world based on his research. Yes, he knows the lingo (yet he uses it same way a nerdy kid who tries to be cool would). But at the same time he seems not to understand how rapidly some fashions and quirks change - around 2004 no girl would take "You look like Britney Spears" as a compliment anymore, yet this very line is used repeatedly and very succesfully by one of the male characters. Tiny detail? Yes, but social realities of such books are based on them (and there are many other examples).

My advice: if you want a story about college kids doing auto-destructive things, read Easton Ellis. He did it much better. 20 years earlier. And while he was still actually young.

Edit: I've actually finished it (I hate to quit books, even if they suck) - my opinion hasn't changed. One more general thought though - some people defend this book saying the author asks us to question the norms. I think they're giving this novel wayyyy too much credit. As one reviewer on this very website said, Wolfe must have got the norms wrong. (less)

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Sep 01, 2008 Kristin Clifford rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Well ... I had never read any Tom Wolfe before. I had read and heard several things about this book - namely, how Wolfe researched by exploring college culture, attending parties and interviewing students and such. The resulting fiction is a paltry attempt at immersion journalism at best. I know, I know, Wolfe wasn't trying to tell a true story (and naturally, no one compares to my journalistic hero Leon Dash) but instead write a fictional piece exploring the seamier side of collegiate life at a...more Well ... I had never read any Tom Wolfe before. I had read and heard several things about this book - namely, how Wolfe researched by exploring college culture, attending parties and interviewing students and such. The resulting fiction is a paltry attempt at immersion journalism at best. I know, I know, Wolfe wasn't trying to tell a true story (and naturally, no one compares to my journalistic hero Leon Dash) but instead write a fictional piece exploring the seamier side of collegiate life at an upper-crust University. At least, I think that's what he was trying to do. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the book. In fact, it was very readable and pretty entertaining. I think it just fell far short of what Mr. Wolfe feels (or hopes) he accomplished.

You can just tell by reading the book that it was written by someone who ALMOST but doesn't quite, get it. It has that outsider's perspective, but not in the loner, misunderstood sense. I'm not sure exactly how to put this but I hope this makes it clear what I am trying to say. It feels like the book was written by someone who has no idea what they are talking about, yet feels they have completely mastered the topic. Wolfe overuses tools like slang, pop culture references, etc. to try and make it seem like he really knows what he's talking about. It's like that nerdy kid who desperately tries to seem cool by doing things like liking really obscure music, or quoting the Simpson's ad nauseum, or constantly talking about their drinking habits and crazy drunken adventures. You knew that kid in college. We all did.

Anyhow, the protagonist, the titular Charlotte Simmons, is an outsider, so Wolfe's strategy does work to an extent. But she is a strangely implausible character at times, as are some of the others. And not implausible in the way that all people are, more like implausible as in some of the characters do things that are directly contradictory to their intial presentation (I am thinking of Laurie, Charlotte's best friend, in particular). Charlotte leads a life of near-constant mortification. Her embarassment, at least as written, is so intense at all times that it must be simply exhausting. It left me wondering how, in this perpetually self-conscious state, she managed to both be a genius, and have an extremely high level of confidence in both her intellect and physical appearance. This self-confidence seemed at complete odds with her extreme, even desperate desire to fit in. It was strange also, that she felt superior to everyone yet wanted to be their leader. I suppose this is not unusual, in fact it's almost cliched. But it's still strange, to me at least. The characters are poorly developed. There are actually too many characters in my opinion. They all revolve around each other and interact, but some in only the most fleeting of ways. And (THIS MIGHT RUIN IT IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT) some who are introduced as being very influential in Charlotte's life are referenced only briefly again, and conflicts are never resolved.

In short, the characters, even Charlotte, are shallow. We are given the gist of what it is that Charlotte desires, and even a glimpse into her inner turmoil, but it is still unclear to me WHY she wants the things she wants, and why she seems to have two personalities - one which wants to be intellectual, one which wants to be "cool". She grows angry whenever she is recognized as one or the other, though - when around cool people she wants them to know how smart she is and vice-versa. She doesn't seem to find a way to let these two aspects of herself co-exist. Which I suppose is very typical of a college freshman. However, the resolution of the book was unsatisfying. Basically what I came away with - Smart people do stupid things, too. Duh.

Overall, it was intriguing and kept me entertained on the plane
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Apr 09, 2008 Caren rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a great read. Tom Wolfe does an excellent job reporting on college life; you'd almost swear it was written by a contemporary. This book tells the story of a sheltered, back-country girl as she adjusts to college life and confronts the world of wealth and entitlement in her prep-school bred fellow students, the frat scene, the jock scene, academic achievements and struggles, and pains of growing up.

Wolfe's writing style is very powerful. I really felt for Charlotte during all her trying...more

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Aug 14, 2007 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Hmmm...I don't know how to sum this book up, because the ending left me with a very weird taste in my mouth - it seemed too abrupt (even after 700+pages)!

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 it felt like to be thrown into such a bizarre mix of people and behaviors. Charlotte was a lot more sheltered than I was before heading off to college, but her feelings of loneliness and an intense need to belong...more

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Jun 17, 2007 Matt rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have to admit, I was slated against this book before I even started reading it. "Electric Kool-aid Acid Test" and "The Kandy-Kolored, Tangerine-Flake, Streamline Baby", some of Wolfe's early non-fiction, are amongst my all-time favorite books. The depth of his insight is incredible - and even when he is writing about a subject he is disapproving of (it becomes very clear, for example, that Wolfe has serious issues with the Merry Pranksters) - he delves so deeply into the psyche of his characte...more I have to admit, I was slated against this book before I even started reading it. "Electric Kool-aid Acid Test" and "The Kandy-Kolored, Tangerine-Flake, Streamline Baby", some of Wolfe's early non-fiction, are amongst my all-time favorite books. The depth of his insight is incredible - and even when he is writing about a subject he is disapproving of (it becomes very clear, for example, that Wolfe has serious issues with the Merry Pranksters) - he delves so deeply into the psyche of his characters that his criticisms fall to the wayside and the reader is merely spellbound by the intricacies of his subject.

My high esteem of his early work made me all the more disappointed in his most recent collection of essays, "Hooking Up." Rather than displaying his previous capacity for understanding, most of the essays in "Hooking Up" read like a rant from a social reactionary, yelling into the wind. It's almost the stereotype of the old, bitter grandpa whining about the "kids these days" without having a damn clue what the kids these days are actually doing.

I had avoided "I Am Charlotte Simmons" for a long time, precisely because I expected more of the same (after how poorly he seemed to grasp subjects such as silicon valley, contemporary art, and the state of philosophy, I had little faith that he would have any understanding of what college is like now). Yet so many of my peers recommended "I Am Charlotte Simmons" to me, claiming that it so well captured their disappointments with contemporary collegiate experience, that I felt I had to give it a shot.

For the most part, I had all my worst fears met. Wolfe's characters all read as stereotypes - the frat boy, the lacrosse player, the bitchy prep-school girl, the country bumpkin, the scholar-athlete. The only time any of his characters begin to have a spark of nuance is when Charlotte is in her downward spiral of depression - but even then he seems content label her as a "typical depressed girl" (Wolfe's words, not my own).

Since he almost blatantly insists on reducing his characters to types, it's no wonder he fails to provide any insight into the dynamics of university life. Poorly fleshed out characters provide poorly fleshed out interactions - the surface is all there (over-agressive males, sexual pressure, conflict between athletics and academics), but not once did I feel it resonate with my experience. I came away from college with more disappointments (particularly social ones) than most, but Wolfe seemed to have little interest in observing actual college students. He just wanted another diatribe.(less)

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May 06, 2009 Leftbanker rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

Bonfire of the Vanities is one of my favorite novels in any language. A Man in Full, Wolfe's follow-up novel was a disappointment. I am Charlotte Simmons is horrible. You get the feeling that Wolfe never got laid in college and that he never got over that fact. Get over it, dude. There's plenty of time in life to make up for lost time. One of the most ridiculous points in the book is the complete devastation of the heroine because she gets porked by a frat guy after a formal dance. Once again, g...more

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Sep 23, 2007 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

On the topic of hoops fiction (w/ Boice), I decided to bust this dust gathering doorstop out of the bookshelf graveyard.
Having read excerpts of this upon publication, I decided to skip two of the three plot lines - those of Charlotte (small-town every girl meets big time state school) and Hoyt (the Reede Seligmann model) for the story of Jojo (white hoops player trying to make good on a squad of aggressive, do-me, Adonis black dudes).
I guess not surprisingly Wolfe succeeds greatly in portraying...more

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Jan 17, 2011 Molly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book years ago and saw it on my friend's bookshelf today. I had to add it to my bookshelf because I LOVED it. It's about a girl who grew up fairly poor in a small town and she goes off to college. It put right back in college. It was amazing! One of my favorite books ever. All of you have to read it!!!

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Jun 17, 2012 Tjibbe Wubbels rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: english, translated

One point for finding this book for an incredible cheap price and one point for being a sentimental lover of American college movies....it's not that good, in case you were wondering.

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Apr 12, 2013 Spock rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

il motivo del titolo della recensione e' che l'ho letto nel mio girovagare in solitaria per gli States. Ad un certo punto sollevando gli occhi dal libro mentre sul treno scivolavo attraverso le Blue Mountains verso W. vedo che uno scuola-bus con la scritta Alleghany County ci rincorreva su una strada parallela.
Il libro mi ha attanagliato durante tutto il viaggio ed ora mi aveva raggiunto ... .
Non e' un capolavoro diciamolo ma e' un buon libro ed incorpora come solo la letteratura americana sa fa...more il motivo del titolo della recensione e' che l'ho letto nel mio girovagare in solitaria per gli States. Ad un certo punto sollevando gli occhi dal libro mentre sul treno scivolavo attraverso le Blue Mountains verso W. vedo che uno scuola-bus con la scritta Alleghany County ci rincorreva su una strada parallela.
Il libro mi ha attanagliato durante tutto il viaggio ed ora mi aveva raggiunto ... .
Non e' un capolavoro diciamolo ma e' un buon libro ed incorpora come solo la letteratura americana sa fare gli "odori ed i sapori" della vera America. Fra questi la ritualita' dei College in cui si sperimenta la vita e che rappresenta l'apice di "liberta'" prima delle incombenze lavorative che seguiranno. Tutta la futura societa' e' li rappresentata: i "freaks"; gli intellettuali; i professori libertari a parole ma spietati nella costruzione del proprio Io; le diverse classi sociali che ivi confluiscono grazie a buone scuole preparatorie (ossia soldi) o a determinazione e dedizione monacale (ossia Charlotte Simmons); la fantastica descrizione dei "Trolls" che vivono nei corridoi sulle esperienze altrui; ... .
La ns CS si trovera' spiazzata tra l'anelito appena affiorante al divenire "cool" ed il non deludere genitori ed il paesino montano tutto da cui proveniva e da cui era stata beatificata per la sua eccellenza. Se non si conosce un certo puritanesimo della provincia profonda americana si fatica a credere delle difficolta' di integrazione godereccia della nostra. E' tuttavia un ritratto sincero, non giudicante, sicuramente memore del proprio passato da college. Lungo ? Forse si ma non me ne sono accorto.
Una nota di merito al traduttore. Difficilissimo tradurre in italiano lo slang giovanile. Ancora di piu' e' stato per l'autore farlo proprio (del resto lo stesso autore ammette di avere dovuto fare revisionare il testo piu' volte dai figli per renderlo credibile).
L'unica nota dubbia ? Beh mi e' sembrato troppo "partecipe" nel descrivere i dettagli fisiologici a cui Charlotte andava incontro mentre l'estasi ormonale la possedeva e travolgeva.(less)

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Feb 23, 2009 Karin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, college, coming-of-age, depression, jocks, outsider, relationships, sex, audio-edition, borrowed-from-the-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Charlotte Simmons, girl genius, from Sparta, North Carolina (a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains that no one’s ever heard of) is going to Dupont University. Her hard work, determination, and natural talents have paid off and she’s finally going to be among people like herself – intellectuals, students of the mind. Dupont has a few of those, but Charlotte, after weeks of loneliness, finds herself gravitating to the pretty and popular people. She’s always wanted to make some kind of mark on t...more Charlotte Simmons, girl genius, from Sparta, North Carolina (a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains that no one’s ever heard of) is going to Dupont University. Her hard work, determination, and natural talents have paid off and she’s finally going to be among people like herself – intellectuals, students of the mind. Dupont has a few of those, but Charlotte, after weeks of loneliness, finds herself gravitating to the pretty and popular people. She’s always wanted to make some kind of mark on the world – to let everyone know that *she* is Charlotte Simmons – that’s been her mantra her whole life, “I AM CHARLOTTE SIMMONS.” Charlotte falls into a deep depression after she loses her virginity to frat boy extraordinaire, Hoyt Thorpe, and even after she regains some of her self-confidence, she’s a changed person.

I’m not sure exactly why this book was so engaging. There are some scenes that just demand your complete attention – so tense, so hot were they. I identified with Charlotte Simmons at the beginning, but was disappointed by the weakness that overtook her – she caved in to peer pressure and ended up denying the parts of herself that made her unique and strong. Just before the end she was a pathetic mess, having become someone who cared more about other people’s opinions than her own. It was frustrating and I wanted to shake some sense into her, tell her: “You *are* Charlotte Simmons! Don’t let anyone take that away from you!” But she wasn’t listening to anyone. The only character who managed to redeem himself at the end was Jojo Johansen – the basketball player who discovered he had a brain and wanted to use it for something other than playing ball and hooking up. Things wrapped up nicely for other characters, but they lost something golden about themselves. Not just their innocence, because everyone loses that eventually, but something real and important. And there’s the feeling that that is going to make all the difference later on.(less)

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Wolfe is, as always, a master of language. He shows off "dazzling" prose theatrics (Washington Post) throughout Charlotte Simmons, faithfully replicating the sounds of basketball players mid-action and drunken students mid-coitus. Several set pieces are also extremely powerful. But Wolfe's words won over only a few critics (in fact, some were nauseated by his countless exclamation points). The problem is that the college experience is nothing new. Unlike his books about high-stakes bond trading

...more

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Dec 29, 2008 Susan rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-adult

This is the story of Charlotte Simmons, a "good girl" from North Carolina who comes to college and gets an unexpected education in the big bad world at the jock- booze-and sex-obsessed Dupont University.
It's often said that there's a grain of truth in every cliché. Well, there's a lot of clichés in this book, and a few of them may include a grain of truth but overall this book has a very surreal feel, as if you're watching an old documentary on the American college student.
Wolfe's love of quote...more

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Dec 01, 2008 Nate rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. So, I spent Thanksgiving laid up with a nasty cold and nothing to do but read and sleep. I decided to give Charlotte Simmons a go as a break from my recent spate of non-fiction.

With every passing minute, I find myself disliking this book more and more. In fact, I'm starting to hate it! I can't tell if my ire is directed at Wolfe's ability to cram a 20 page short story into 700, the book's hasty and entirely unsatisfying ending, the shallow/unbelievable characters who elicit no sympathy/empathy/c...more So, I spent Thanksgiving laid up with a nasty cold and nothing to do but read and sleep. I decided to give Charlotte Simmons a go as a break from my recent spate of non-fiction.

With every passing minute, I find myself disliking this book more and more. In fact, I'm starting to hate it! I can't tell if my ire is directed at Wolfe's ability to cram a 20 page short story into 700, the book's hasty and entirely unsatisfying ending, the shallow/unbelievable characters who elicit no sympathy/empathy/cheering for their victory or defeat, the relentless repetition of certain phrases (i.e., downlighters, ruturtrut and pelvic saddle), his less-than-clever rap lyrics (M.C. Wolfe also failed miserably as a rap lyricist in 'A Man In Full'...give it up, old man!), the constant need to describe the same things over and over (we knew JoJo was 6-10 about 400 pages ago, Tom), the flat, quasi-snark (the Bitsosushi car. It's funny cuz it's Japanese!).

I think people think they're getting some really biting satire when Tom Wolfe decides to tackle another decade's zeitgeist. 'Charlotte' isn't satire. It's not even remotely funny and its characters are uninteresting stereotypes completely familiar to anyone who's seen a John Hughes film. Instead, it's a rather creepy look at how an elderly man looks at issues like sexuality. Seriously, the 50 page lead up to Charlotte's deflowering at the frat formal was gratuitous and rather unsettling - especially when I tried to think of Tom Wolfe (who dedicated this book to his college-aged daughters, no less!) sitting there in his Manhattan apartment in his white suit, late at night, writing about an 18 year old girl losing her virginity...from her point of view. If I wasn't so sick, I'd have taken a long shower after that passage.

'Charlotte Simmons' doesn't even fall into the category of social commentary. Wolf attacks obvious targets with no new insight. Far out! The jock has a brain! The well-intentioned geek has a devious side.

It must be said that I did not go to a big college with big time athletics. But I know this much, if ANYONE came up with a chant as dumb as "Go go, Jojo!" at one of our basketball games, they would have certainly been dealt with harshly and expeditiously.

Maybe for the '10s, an 80 year old Wolfe can take on the scandalous world of Montessori schools!

This book sucked!(less)

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About Tom Wolfe

Wolfe was educated at Washington and Lee Universities and also at Yale, where he received a PhD in American studies.

Tom Wolfe spent his early days as a Washington Post beat reporter, where his free-association, onomatopoetic style would later become the trademark of New Journalism. In books such as The Electric Koolaid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, and The Bonfire of the Vanities, Wolfe delves into...more

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“...en route to the final destination, which was always to get trashed, wasted, hammered, crunked up, bombed, wrecked, sloshed, fried, flapjacked, fucked-up, or get plainlong fucked, laid, drained, get some ass, get some head, some skull, a lube job, get your oil changed, get some brown sugar, quiff, goo, pussy...” — 8 people liked it

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