<![CDATA[A Man in Full]]>

false <![CDATA[A Man in Full]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171064074m/86172.jpg 86172 28 Ever since he published his classic 1972 essay "Why They Aren't Writing the Great American Novel Anymore," Tom Wolfe has made his fictional preferences loud and clear. For New Journalism's poster boy, minimalism is a wash, not to mention a failure of nerve. The real mission of the American writer is to produce fat novels of social observation--the sort of thing Balzac would be dishing up if he had made it into the Viagra era. Wolfe's manifesto would have had a hubristic ring if he hadn't actually delivered the goods in 1987 with The Bonfire of the Vanities. Now, more than a decade later, he's back with a second novel. Has the Man in White lived up to his own mission? On many counts, the answer would have to be yes. Like its predecessor, A Man in Full is a big-canvas work, in which a multitude of characters seems to be ascending or (rapidly) descending the greasy pole of social life: "In an era like this one," a character reminds us, "the twentieth century's fin de siècle, position was everything, and it was the hardest thing to get." Wolfe has changed terrain on us, to be sure. Instead of New York, the focus here is Atlanta, Georgia, where the struggle for turf and power is at least slightly patinated with Deep South gentility. The plot revolves around Charlie Croker, an egomaniacal good ol' boy with a crumbling real-estate empire on his hands. But Wolfe is no less attentive to a pair of supporting players: a downwardly mobile family man, Conrad Hensley, and Roger White II, an African American attorney at a white-shoe firm. What ultimately causes these subplots to converge--and threatens to ignite a racial firestorm in Atlanta--is the alleged rape of a society deb by Georgia Tech football star Fareek "The Cannon" Fanon. Of course, a detailed plot summary would be about as long as your average minimalist novel. Suffice it to say that A Man in Full is packed with the sort of splendid set pieces we've come to expect from Wolfe. A quail hunt on Charlie's 29,000-acre plantation, a stuffed-shirt evening at the symphony, a politically loaded press conference--the author assembles these scenes with contagious delight. The book is also very, very funny. The law firms, like upper-crust powerhouse Fogg Nackers Rendering & Lean, are straight out of Dickens, and Wolfe brings even his minor characters, like professional hick Opey McCorkle, to vivid life: <blockquote>In true Opey McCorkle fashion he had turned up for dinner wearing a plaid shirt, a plaid necktie, red felt suspenders, and a big old leather belt that went around his potbelly like something could hitch up a mule with, but for now he had cut off his usual torrent of orotund rhetoric mixed with Baker Countyisms.</blockquote> Readers in search of a kinder, gentler Wolfe may well be disappointed. Retaining the satirist's (necessary) superiority to his subject, he tends to lose his edge precisely when he's trying to move us. Still, when it comes to maximalist portraiture of the American scene--and to sheer, sentence-by-sentence amusement--1998 looks to be the year of the Wolfe, indeed. --James Marcus 1997693 1998 A Man in Full total:2883|5:569|4:1047|3:900|2:283|1:84| 2883 10383 3554 275 1 8 false false Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2000 Sun Jul 22 16:39:22 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 22 17:08:38 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri Apr 27 06:48:18 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 02 15:52:36 -0700 2007
One thing - this book seems to be present wherever used books are sold. Every old shop has a surplus of them. It's always on the dollar shelves at book sales. Even at the local thrift stores, it's there, sittin...more...]]> 5 2 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 08 08:17:34 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 08 08:23:32 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Dec 13 13:07:07 -0800 2007 Thu Dec 13 13:15:12 -0800 2007
I mainly read this boo...more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jun 09 07:36:47 -0700 2008 Thu Feb 14 09:05:51 -0800 2008 Mon Jun 09 07:36:47 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Tue Jan 22 20:38:19 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 22 20:44:12 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Dec 16 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Feb 02 04:41:32 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 04:41:56 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Nov 21 06:37:15 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 24 07:05:26 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 2 false true Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sun Feb 17 14:00:40 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 17 14:03:00 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Jun 01 14:05:19 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 14:13:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jun 13 12:19:52 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 13 12:20:37 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 1 false false Mon Mar 31 08:59:33 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 01 08:16:22 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 1 false false Fri Mar 21 13:54:00 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 21 13:54:00 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Tue Feb 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 10:09:01 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 17 12:18:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Sep 28 09:09:30 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 07:36:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 10:25:40 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 17:51:55 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Sep 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 15 20:53:27 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 28 21:16:05 -0700 2008 1 As the book continued, the characters were woven together but it still seemed somewhat random and forced. There were MANY times ...more...]]> 1 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 10 13:41:10 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 10 13:55:12 -0700 2008
At the heart of the book is Wolfe's right-wing dogmatism. He makes a pretty bad argument for it. The most likable character is a solid guy, but ruined...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu May 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 28 19:14:42 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 25 07:39:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 12 23:15:07 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 18:28:40 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=86172