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The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe


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Anyone who would like to get hold of a copy of this book and join in the circle - there are quite a few copies available at

Green Metropolis

 

Also available at Amazon. See link on site front page!



The Reading Circle choice for June is The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe:


The Bonfire of the Vanities is a masterpiece, a riotous, exuberant and passionate epic that captures the greed and corruption of eighties New York and examines it under the microscope of Wolfe's famed satiric wit. Sherman McCoy, Wall Street wunderkind, seems to have it all; a salary like a telephone number, a home on Park Avenue, a beautiful wife and child, a mistress, a Mercedes. He is a Master of the Universel But then he gets lost one dark night in the Bronx, and his mercedes hits something. That something turns out to be Henry Lamb, a young black man who is now in a coma; for Sherman meanwhile, everything is about to unravel so fast he will hardly have time to change his thousand dollar suit...

 

Some questions to consider:

1- Who was your favourite character and why?

2- Was there a particular part you enjoyed/disliked more than the rest?

3- Was this the first book you've read in this genre/by this author, has it encouraged you to read more?

4- Were there any parts/ideas you struggled with?

5- Overall, was reading the book an enjoyable experience?

 

(You do not have to answer all, or indeed, any, of these questions, they are meant only as points for you to perhaps mull over as you read, and provoke more discussion. Please feel free to ask and answer any questions that come up as you read.)





Edited by Kell
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  • 3 weeks later...
Well, someone voted for this one.. is anyone actually managing to read it? :D

 

I read it many years ago. I really strongly recommend it.

 

In a sense it is a book of its time. It is the story of a Wall Street trader called Sherman in the '80s.. a "master of the universe" who one night in meeting his "illicit" gets lost and ends up running over and killing a black youth. It becomes a black cause celebre & attracts black activists as it is assumed to be a racist killing.

 

It is a literary novel, but it's also a hell of a page turner. It's definitely a novel of its time, but I can't believe that it would be dated for new readers. Just as good is A Man in Full. For anyone that's read that one they will remember the "saddlebags" scene. Completely hilarious.

 

I apologise if I have any of the detail above wrong. It may have been two youths, but it was a long time ago. But just to add some more in the way of recommendation, I finished my joint philosophy & English Lit. degree in '86 and for 4 years I never read a book. This book rekindled my reading habit. It's very, very good and not at all difficult.

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Yep. I'm the same. It's donkeys years since I read it, but it's a fantastic book.

 

One of the weird things is how the lack of mobile phones spectacularly dates it. Sherman's inability to contact the "safe" world is an absolutely crucial plot device, yet if the books was written even 3 years later, then the master of the universe would have a(n admittedly breezeblock sized) car-phone, and the plot wouldn't really work.

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I do want to read this but i'm so slow at reading books.

 

Do try. It is very, very good. One of the things I remember is the phonetic spellings to get the reader reading the speeches of the Al Sharpton type character right. Brilliantly done. I'm not sure if Woolf was original here, but it's been done since to great effect by Irvine Welsh in Trainspotting most memorably.

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I bought this book when it first came out and I have to admit that I didnt finish it. In fact I didnt get further than where the "hero" gets lost and has the accident killing a black guy. This was because (please excuse me folks), but I couldnt get the hang of the way Wolfe uses the colloquial language of the black people. I am afraid I just could understand it. Tell me Freewheeling Andy/ Nice Guy Eddie, if I had persevered would I have been able to get past that problem?

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i definitely pklan on reading this one (especially as I was the one who nominated it - LOL!). I had both the choices for this month and flipped acoin to see which would get read first and it ended up being The Jungle Books (which I've just started). But this on e is high on my list of priorities.

 

I'll be interested in seeing your in-depth thoughts on this one, Andy & Eddie, as well as comments by anyone else who has read / is reading it.

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I bought this book when it first came out and I have to admit that I didnt finish it. In fact I didnt get further than where the "hero" gets lost and has the accident killing a black guy. This was because (please excuse me folks), but I couldnt get the hang of the way Wolfe uses the colloquial language of the black people. I am afraid I just could understand it. Tell me Freewheeling Andy/ Nice Guy Eddie, if I had persevered would I have been able to get past that problem?

 

 

Supergran, do persevere. I thought that this was one of the most interesting aspects of the book. It does take some getting used to, but as an example, I ended up reading Trainspotting in a Scottish accent. Yes, it is worth persevering. You'll get the idea in the end. I found it weird to start. Although, with hindsight, Wuthering Heights employs the same technique for one of the servants. So I guess it's not so new.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone reading this? I cheated and got the unabridged version on audio. Actually, I didn't realise it was unabridged. It would have been great to listen to the full version. I did love the story. It had a lot to say. I wonder of the full book might drag though?

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Icecream - unabridged means the full story. So, unless you actually had an abridged version, you listened to the whole thing. :D Seems you really enjoyed it, so I'm glad. :)

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  • 2 months later...

Finished this about a week ago - loved it. A chunky one (730 pages) but an easy read, the story just pulls you along with it.

For those who were/may be put off by the use of accents, a lot of the time they are explained - Sherman tends to translate what Maria is saying to himself.

A stange book in that I found no character/s to identify with, most of them have very few redeeming features, although Sherman McCoy seems to be a better person because of his ordeal - no longer a 'Master Of The Universe' more a 'man of the world'.

This 'felt like' a Dickens book I think mainly because of the way Wolfe names people/companies - the two law firms in the book are 'Dunnings + Sponget + Leaches' and 'Curry + Goad + Pesterall', they could have come straight out of Bleak House! I did look BOTV up in Wikipedia & Wolfe is influenced by Dickens & the story was originally a serialization of 27 parts in Rolling Stone magazine.

This is the first Tom Wolfe book I've read & I would definately read another, I thoroughly recommend it to anyone thinking of reading it.

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