I'm reading this alleged novel right now, and for the life of me I cannot figure out why I continue to read it. It's really not good.
you have started my day out sadly....
Is that the "Bonfire of the Vanities" Tom Wolfe??
Mmmm.. Seems captivating to me..
"But the hand that was what she tried to concentrate on, the hand, since it has the entire terrain of her torso to explore and not just the otorhinolaryngological caverns — oh, God, it was not just at the border where the flesh of the breast joins the pectoral sheath of the chest — no, the hand was cupping her entire right — Now!"
I finished it last week and thought it was great. Bonfire of the Vanities is one of my favorite novels and this wasn't that good, but it was still great.
Tom Wolfe has a distinctive style and it is sometimes distracting, but the parts I liked best about the book without spoilng anything are:
the anti-achievement mentality where if you try in school you are not "cool" in some way;
the pecking order and structure of the fraternity/sorority types
the intolerance of the "diversity" crowd;
the athlete as celebrity complete with groupies and enablers phenomenon;
the immaturity of college students coupled with their absolute sense of infallibility and invincability.
I recommend the book as one look at our culture in 2005.
I thought the college was supposed to be in Pa.
A friend talked me into reading one of his novels. I thought it was the worst writing I'd ever read. I don't know what anyone sees in his work besides a bunch of examples of what not to do.