Quote:
Originally posted by Not Bob
Tom Wolfe rocks. Downsides to his novels? (1) He can be a bit unsympathetic to his characters; and (2) His endings always seem to be a bit of a let-down. (FWIW, the ending of I Am Charlotte Simmons is much better than the ending of A Man In Full, which I just re-read.)
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He does go overboard a bit on the cruelty of some of his characters. He also totally fucks up what would be considered cool in a fraternity world. Anyone who acted as “rah rah frat” as the Saint Rays would be considered huge fucking tools. It was always the height of gay to actually be “into” that frat bullshit (even though you were in one). And even among the most cruel bastards I know, nobody would behave as callously toward Charlotte as Hoyt Thorpe did.
I think Wolfe likes to use stereotypes/perceived archetypes too much to craft broad social commentary. He’s better when he just tells the story and actually crafts a complete character, like he did with Charlotte. But, then again, maybe Hoyt is just two dimensional. Whatever. I guess that’s why I like Wolfe’s books. He’s deep enough to criticize, like I just did, but not deep enough to warrant serious literary analyzation. He's too pop for any egghead to bother "spinning," or even reading...
