Tom Wolfe’s modern American satire tells the story of Sherman McCoy, a Wall Street “Master of the Universe” who has it all —...
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Jan 29, 2012
Noce
rated it: 
Ove la recensionista si rianima e decide che potrebbe ancora diventare qualcuno.
Ok sono pronta:
prima guardate questa foto.
http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab307...
Ora questa.
http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab307...
Ora quest’altra.
http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab307...
Chi è l’intruso?
Troppo difficile? Ok, cercherò di rendervi il gioco più facile.
Un attimo che mescolo le carte. Non guardat More...
Ok sono pronta:
prima guardate questa foto.
http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab307...
Ora questa.
http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab307...
Ora quest’altra.
http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab307...
Chi è l’intruso?
Troppo difficile? Ok, cercherò di rendervi il gioco più facile.
Un attimo che mescolo le carte. Non guardat More...
5 comments
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(11 people liked it)
Jun 28, 2010
K.D.
rated it: 
This book is noisy. Too noisy that it makes it painful to read. The characters are always talking as if they are all suffering from dialog diarrhea. Not only that. Wolfe likes to capture every single sound from either human or non-human entities in the novel. Take this as an example:
Haw haw haw haw haw haw haw, sang the Towheaded Tenor...Hack hack hack hack hack hack hack, sang Inez Bavardage....Hock hock hock hock hock hock hock hock hock hock hock, bawled his own wife.
o More...
Haw haw haw haw haw haw haw, sang the Towheaded Tenor...Hack hack hack hack hack hack hack, sang Inez Bavardage....Hock hock hock hock hock hock hock hock hock hock hock, bawled his own wife.
o More...
13 comments
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(12 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Chelsea
rated it:
Wow. I started off feeling very lukewarm about this one, mostly because I couldn't get over my distaste for some of the characters. But about 100 pages in I started to feel confused about whom I actually felt sympathetic toward (the only truly good character never gets to speak). 200 pages in, I couldn't stop reading anymore. This book is hilarious in a bitter and infuriating way. It's a study of how people will use each other and not even notice how they are routinely used by other people
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(9 people liked it)
Jan 29, 2012
Joy H.
rated it: 
Added 1/2/11.
While reviewing my GR shelves, I realized that I had read this book quite a while ago, but failed to include in my GR list of books read. I remember enjoying the book. I also remember that, as usual, the movie didn't come up to the book, for me.
January 29, 2012:
As to the meaning of the book title "Bonfire of the Vanities",
GR member, Margaret [ http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/13798... ] sent me a message which said the following about the t More...
While reviewing my GR shelves, I realized that I had read this book quite a while ago, but failed to include in my GR list of books read. I remember enjoying the book. I also remember that, as usual, the movie didn't come up to the book, for me.
January 29, 2012:
As to the meaning of the book title "Bonfire of the Vanities",
GR member, Margaret [ http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/13798... ] sent me a message which said the following about the t More...
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Jan 18, 2009
Chris
rated it:
Dear Mr. Wolfe,
While I agree that your insistence upon wearing your white suits incessantly allows you to cut a rather eccentric figure, and while I too would have relished the opportunity to cavort with the Merry Pranksters while remaining resolutely sober--in short, sir, as much as I respect and admire your air of debonair Protestant abstemiousness--I must protest. Your prose is by turns flavorless and overbearing, and your endless and unnecessary recourse to ellipsises and the exc More...
While I agree that your insistence upon wearing your white suits incessantly allows you to cut a rather eccentric figure, and while I too would have relished the opportunity to cavort with the Merry Pranksters while remaining resolutely sober--in short, sir, as much as I respect and admire your air of debonair Protestant abstemiousness--I must protest. Your prose is by turns flavorless and overbearing, and your endless and unnecessary recourse to ellipsises and the exc More...
5 comments
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Oct 27, 2008
Jason
rated it: 
I finished this last night, and I've been mulling it over all day. On the one hand, Wolfe is a talented writer, capable of creating vivid, visceral scenes. On the other hand, he relies on a lot of crutches, most notably the ellipsis-riddled paragraph to represent the frenzied thoughts of a person in panic.
Wolfe does a remarkable job of creating a bunch of horrible characters who we nonetheless end up having some positive feelings for at the end of the story. However, the reason we More...
Wolfe does a remarkable job of creating a bunch of horrible characters who we nonetheless end up having some positive feelings for at the end of the story. However, the reason we More...
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Aug 06, 2007
Thorir2007
rated it:
(continued from the First Part of the review of this book, as the site controls tell me it's too long, blah-blah-blah)
Literature thrives on extraordinary situations in which characters are inspired to perform extraordinary acts. The element of suprise in Wolfe's novel is purely circumstantial. In his story, people have no free will. (All atheists are determinists more or less by definition, I suppose).
In the past, I've had some interesting experiences related to the publi More...
Literature thrives on extraordinary situations in which characters are inspired to perform extraordinary acts. The element of suprise in Wolfe's novel is purely circumstantial. In his story, people have no free will. (All atheists are determinists more or less by definition, I suppose).
In the past, I've had some interesting experiences related to the publi More...
Dec 22, 2008
Anthony
rated it: 
Unlikeable characters. I had no interest in city politics, tabloid journalism, park avenue or criminal law, an exhausting read with too much detail, too much scenery yet Great book, Great story, great read!
Well written, the heart of the book has a sound purpose, a fun read in spite of itself.
Wolfe did detailed research and drew on his own experiences as hedge fund investor. He wrote the book in serial installments for Rolling Stone and then rewrote it again (two years to rewrit More...
Well written, the heart of the book has a sound purpose, a fun read in spite of itself.
Wolfe did detailed research and drew on his own experiences as hedge fund investor. He wrote the book in serial installments for Rolling Stone and then rewrote it again (two years to rewrit More...
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Oct 22, 2008
Elizabeth
rated it:
I had a friend who said that in the future when people point to a movie and say, "That's what the '80s were like, they'll point to Oliver Stone's "Wall Street." That's what I think about this book.
A bonds trader hits and kills a guy in a scary neighborhood and then runs scared. What's more '80s than that? It's got greed, excess, and Bernard Goetz all rolled into one.
I actually got to hear Tom Wolfe talk about this book while I was in college in the mid-'80 More...
A bonds trader hits and kills a guy in a scary neighborhood and then runs scared. What's more '80s than that? It's got greed, excess, and Bernard Goetz all rolled into one.
I actually got to hear Tom Wolfe talk about this book while I was in college in the mid-'80 More...
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Jul 06, 2008
Holly
rated it:
After reading a few books recently by first-time authors, I felt like I stumbled into the definition of mastery with this book.
It's thick and deeply descriptive, so visceral.... and the language is amazing. Wolfe captures accents so deliciously well that you find yourself speaking the words along with the characters....to blend yourself into the sound environment with them.
I've never been so grateful for tightly woven backgrounds and stages so artfully set. I hate being plop More...
It's thick and deeply descriptive, so visceral.... and the language is amazing. Wolfe captures accents so deliciously well that you find yourself speaking the words along with the characters....to blend yourself into the sound environment with them.
I've never been so grateful for tightly woven backgrounds and stages so artfully set. I hate being plop More...
Oct 11, 2007
Bennett
rated it:
I read this book on vacation and it proved to be a great read for airplanes and beaches. I even bought most of the philosophical digressions and found myself mulling over some of the ideas Wolfe works in about self and society.
My only substantial gripe was the ending. Up until the last 80 pages or so the story seemed so realistic and I found the ending and epilogue pretty absurd.
Nonetheless, a great New York story. Wall Street Powerhouses, Crack-Dealers, Rent Control-- wha More...
My only substantial gripe was the ending. Up until the last 80 pages or so the story seemed so realistic and I found the ending and epilogue pretty absurd.
Nonetheless, a great New York story. Wall Street Powerhouses, Crack-Dealers, Rent Control-- wha More...
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Jan 06, 2008
Rachel
rated it:
I suppose I'll date myself by posting this part, but I remember taking the subway into Manhattan and looking up and seeing just about everyone reading a copy of this book. It was almost a zeitgeist of the book talking about the zeitgeist. The of the moment need to capture the moment. The book was long, it rambled at times, but it captured a New York that no longer exists buried under a Disney-fied exterior and bloated building projects. I read a recent interview with Tom Wolfe where he said t
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Jan 23, 2009
Shari
rated it:
Last year, I read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, but I was interested to see how Wolfe applies new journalism techniques to fiction. (Perhaps this is silly, given that the whole premise of "new journalism" was to take the techniques OF fiction and apply them TO journalism...) I bought my copy, used, for $4.50 and figured that given the disastrous economic climate and the frustration we peons have all felt toward greedy CEOs, what better time to read it?
Truly, I sympathize More...
Truly, I sympathize More...
Feb 06, 2012
Jarod
rated it:
Wolfe certainly deserves some credit as a pioneer of journalistic-style novels, but this book really left me wanting. I couldn't help but feel that in his effort to highlight the motives of his characters, and the cost of getting what one wants, he minimized all the realness of them, leaving caricatured Freudian shells of people. Think about the worst people in the book, base-drives dictate all of their actions, there is no awareness of "the other" or an desire to ascend from their bot
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Oct 29, 2011
Colleen
rated it:
A few years ago, during the "Duke Lacrosse case" people speculated that Wolfe's "I am Charlotte Simmons," which described sexual promiscuity of a lacrosse player, was set at Duke.
Maybe.
But The Bonfire of the Vanities captures much of the feeling of being on campus at that time. The protagonist, a wealthy white man, was doing something he shouldn't have been doing - but is accused of something he didn't quite do. People can't resist the narrative of the privilege More...
Maybe.
But The Bonfire of the Vanities captures much of the feeling of being on campus at that time. The protagonist, a wealthy white man, was doing something he shouldn't have been doing - but is accused of something he didn't quite do. People can't resist the narrative of the privilege More...
Oct 04, 2011
Paul
rated it:
This story is gripping, a quintessential page-turner, with multiple story lines weaving together quite well. Once you start, you'll hurry towards the finish. That said, it's quite long, and while it never feels torpid, it does feel as though the story could have been told in less time, in fewer pages.
Further, nearly 25 years later, the work feels more than a bit dated. It is deeply rooted in the ostentatious 80s, the decade of "Me". As such, it provides a useful chronicle, but it also More...
Further, nearly 25 years later, the work feels more than a bit dated. It is deeply rooted in the ostentatious 80s, the decade of "Me". As such, it provides a useful chronicle, but it also More...
Sep 29, 2011
Kate
rated it:
My first time with Wolfe, and it was very enjoyable as a story and a commentary on society. I chose this one because in reading about The Emperor's Children, a reviewer compared it in passing to the Bonfire of the Vanities.
The book was written in 1987, when I was 7, and nearly a quarter century later, so much of it still rings true. The only things that might change would be the prices (I doubt a 20 room Park Avenue apartment could be had for a mere $3 million today), and perhaps the More...
The book was written in 1987, when I was 7, and nearly a quarter century later, so much of it still rings true. The only things that might change would be the prices (I doubt a 20 room Park Avenue apartment could be had for a mere $3 million today), and perhaps the More...
Sep 05, 2011
Lindsay
rated it:
Tom Wolfe's books always impress me, and The Bonfire of the Vanities is definitely one of his best works, studying American culture and human behavior through the lens of a criminal trial in New York City.
Sherman McCoy is the main character of the book, but the book also follows the Bronx assistant District Attorney and a newspaper reporter, whose fates intertwine with Sherman's after he is entrenched in the court case. Interestingly, the only true protagonists in the book, the Lamb More...
Sherman McCoy is the main character of the book, but the book also follows the Bronx assistant District Attorney and a newspaper reporter, whose fates intertwine with Sherman's after he is entrenched in the court case. Interestingly, the only true protagonists in the book, the Lamb More...
Jul 09, 2011
Justin
rated it:
Funnily enough, all of my friends who have read this liked it. But a lot of goodreads reviewers do no. I suspect, in fact, that this book will move in and out of fashion for decades to come, simply because satire always moves in and out of fashion. I imagine that many people reading this in the nineties, for instance, or people whose outlook on life was definitively shaped by the nineties, will find it a repugnant, politically incorrect travesty of all that is right with the world. In short, the
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May 09, 2011
Patrick
rated it:
Is this not one of the best tiles ever?
If you want a real thrill read it in Russian.
Okay, I can’t read Russian—but it felt like a cool thing to say.
This is one of the few books, on my short list, which has caused me to laugh out loud—like Catch-22 and Breakfast of Champions. Another funny, intelligent satire of the 20th century. I will admit that I laughed the most loudly at the obvious, although well-set-up punch lines. However, the real joy of reading this b More...
If you want a real thrill read it in Russian.
Okay, I can’t read Russian—but it felt like a cool thing to say.
This is one of the few books, on my short list, which has caused me to laugh out loud—like Catch-22 and Breakfast of Champions. Another funny, intelligent satire of the 20th century. I will admit that I laughed the most loudly at the obvious, although well-set-up punch lines. However, the real joy of reading this b More...
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Apr 06, 2011
Lori
rated it:
Holy cow. I have finally finished this book. I didn’t really appreciate how long it was when I started it. That’s another benefit of Kindles – you can’t be intimidated or put off by the sheer size and heft of a really long novel. They all feel the same when they’re ebooks. According to Amazon the hardcover edition of this tome is 659 pages. My Kindle for PC app put it at 688. By any reckoning it’s a long-ass book.
It’s also one of Those Books. The books that are cultural touchst More...
It’s also one of Those Books. The books that are cultural touchst More...
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Mar 26, 2011
Andreas
rated it:
I had been curious about Wolfe for a while and this one was lying around my wife’s bookshelf staring at me. Hooked within three pages! Despite the introduction (which is not really connected to the novel itself) being on the borderline of annoyingly self-serving, I liked that too. It mirrors many of my own feeling about navelgazing literary fiction, although of course Wolfe puts it far better than I could. What’s the point when the “real world” is so much more appealing?
The story is se More...
The story is se More...
Mar 10, 2011
R.
rated it:
C'est le premier livre de Tom Wolfe que je lis et quelle claque. Le moins que l'on puisse dire c'est que l'on prend ce pavé de 900 pages en pleine figure. Les descriptions sont précises et font montre d'une grande lucidité et perspicacité de la part de l'auteur. Les dialogues sont terriblement efficaces, parfois drôles mais surtout sonnent vrai. Ce livre est le livre de New York des yuppies de Manhattan aux malfrats du Bronx. Toute une kyrielle de personnages se débat dans cette ville présentée
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Feb 13, 2011
Justine
rated it:
When a former co-worker recommended I read the Bonfire of the Vanities, he said that it is an economist's book because it is a book about systems rather than individuals. I was intrigued, but held back because 1) let's face it, not the top of my list and 2) David Foster Wallace (love of my literary life) wrote a rather scathing essay about Wolfe and his generation of American writers who are sexist, macho, and generally yucky and unenlightened. After having finished the book, both the economist
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Oct 04, 2010
Ben
rated it:
Portrays a strikingly vivid but also equally grim picture of New York City in the mid-1980s. The book is an easy recommendation as the plot keeps a fast, easy pace while still providing intelligent and insightful writing.
For me, the novel is good rather than great for one simple reason: it lacks a protagonist, or even a secondary character, that the reader can root for. The story is gripping and the characters are eminently believable, but in its barest form the plot describes what More...
For me, the novel is good rather than great for one simple reason: it lacks a protagonist, or even a secondary character, that the reader can root for. The story is gripping and the characters are eminently believable, but in its barest form the plot describes what More...
May 23, 2010
Ruth
rated it:
690 pages. Donated 2010 May.
After Tom Wolfe defined the '60s in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers and the cultural U-turn at the turn of the '80s in The Right Stuff, nobody thought he could ever top himself again. In 1987, when The Bonfire of the Vanities arrived, the literati called Wolfe an "aging enfant terrible."
He wasn't aging; he was growing up. Bonfire's pyrotechnic satire of 1980s New York wasn't just Wolfe's bes More...
After Tom Wolfe defined the '60s in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers and the cultural U-turn at the turn of the '80s in The Right Stuff, nobody thought he could ever top himself again. In 1987, when The Bonfire of the Vanities arrived, the literati called Wolfe an "aging enfant terrible."
He wasn't aging; he was growing up. Bonfire's pyrotechnic satire of 1980s New York wasn't just Wolfe's bes More...
Dec 11, 2008
Amanda
rated it:
I stayed up until 3 AM to finish it and I kind of think it is a brilliant story, but compared with the last doorstop I read (Winter's Tale) it just doesn't measure up.
Every character comes out kind of cliched (or profoundly cliched, depending on who we're talking about). Maybe Sherman McCoy isn't that far off the 80s bond trader mark, but Rev. Bacon annoyed me. I'll skip the spoilers and just say that I felt like Bacon fed into a dismissive stereotype of black leaders that serves th More...
Every character comes out kind of cliched (or profoundly cliched, depending on who we're talking about). Maybe Sherman McCoy isn't that far off the 80s bond trader mark, but Rev. Bacon annoyed me. I'll skip the spoilers and just say that I felt like Bacon fed into a dismissive stereotype of black leaders that serves th More...
May 31, 2011
wolfe really likes the expression 'all at once.' i warmed up to it. i wonder how long it took him to write the book-not only is it impressively long, it's full of details only someone who pays a lot of attention could write. His depiction of DAs and court personnel, though almost obnoxiously stereotypical, were spot on. He has mercy for no one-regardless of sex, race, belief-system. i also really liked the seemingly parallel plots that eventually intersect--one man is crumbling, on his way d
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Jan 25, 2010
Kat
rated it:
I've decided that if I am going to list a book as a "favorite," it should have a review, and when it comes to Tom Wolfe's books, I have quite a few reasons for listing this one in particular.
Bonfire of the Vanities is Wolfe's first novel, capturing the entitled and vain lifestyle of Wall Street in a compelling and - while not shocking - definitely exciting story of self-proclaimed "Master of the Universe," bond trader Sherman McCoy. He has a mistress (of course), More...
Bonfire of the Vanities is Wolfe's first novel, capturing the entitled and vain lifestyle of Wall Street in a compelling and - while not shocking - definitely exciting story of self-proclaimed "Master of the Universe," bond trader Sherman McCoy. He has a mistress (of course), More...
Sep 20, 2007
Solitairerose
rated it:
When I am asked what my favorite book ever is, this is one that immediately springs to mind. Wolfe's writing is some of the best of the 20th Century, and this story of investment bankers, homeless people and the collusion between rich and poor is the best explanation of the 80's, and manages to be a story that explains more about an era than any history of the time ever could. Wolfe has moved from recreating how non-fiction was written to a brilliant novelist.
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