An exhilarating satire of Eighties excess that captures the effervescent spirit of New York, from one of the greatest writers of modern American prose Sherman McCoy is a WASP, bond trader and self-appointed 'Master of the Universe'. He has a fashionable wife, a Park Avenue apartment and a Southern mistress. His spectacular fall begins the moment he is involved in a hit-and-run accident in the Bronx. Prosecutors, newspaper hacks, politicians and clergy close in on him, determined to bring him down. Exuberant, scandalous and ...
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An exhilarating satire of Eighties excess that captures the effervescent spirit of New York, from one of the greatest writers of modern American prose Sherman McCoy is a WASP, bond trader and self-appointed 'Master of the Universe'. He has a fashionable wife, a Park Avenue apartment and a Southern mistress. His spectacular fall begins the moment he is involved in a hit-and-run accident in the Bronx. Prosecutors, newspaper hacks, politicians and clergy close in on him, determined to bring him down. Exuberant, scandalous and exceptionally discerning, The Bonfire of the Vanities was Tom Wolfe's first venture into fiction and cemented his reputation as the foremost chronicler of his age. `The air of New York crackles with an energy that causes the adrenalin to pump... The feeling is perfectly reproduced in Wolfe's novel... Electric' - Sunday Times `The quintessential novel of The Eighties' - The Guardian
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Development of male characters is strong and in depth; however female characters seem unreachable. I especially loved the author's rich language.
apol227
Apr 4, 2007
Great Book!
I just finished reading this book and loved it! Tom Wolfe does a fantastic job of letting the reader in on the world of great NYC riches in the 80's. Although the book is described as being humorous, I found it to more enlightening in how race relations were portrayed in the 80's between the mega rich and the very poor. Overall, a very good read!
