Helpful Score: 21
Wickedly Funny!
Helpful Score: 3
Forget everything you know about the movie of this book - the book itself is absolutely great, a riveting read and classic Tom Wolf with his great prose style and insight on popular culture. The movie was horribly miscast and a total waste. Read the book!
Helpful Score: 2
This book and the movie based on it got blasted in the press. But, I thoroughly enjoyed it when it first came out. Don't listen to the critics on this one. It is an absorbing and interesting read.
Helpful Score: 2
Sherman McCoy is your hero. You just won't admit it.
Helpful Score: 1
I read this quite a while ago and it still lingers in the mind. The quality of the writing is High. The plot and its elements are unique and gripping. Tom Wolfe is a living gem of a writer - I have enjoyed many of his books. Very intellectually satisfying.
Helpful Score: 1
extremely quick, amusing read. i'm barely old enough to remember the '80s but this sensational roman a clef makes for a very entertaining story about the high life and the low life in new york city.
Granted, it is a lengthy book, but Tom Wolfe has written a highly regarded novel -- one that, when published, changed the playing field for his contemporaries. Its message is simple: no matter how secure, smart or wealthy you think you are, life can unravel at the drop of a hat. This book includes a cast of characters: WASP, Jew, Black, poor, rich, desperate, conniving. The story takes place in New York City in the 1980s, but the scenario is reminiscent of today's uncontrolled Wall Street greed and corruption in the courts. Mr. Wolfe has an enjoyable writing style. It grabbed me from the beginning. As the book goes along, you long for justice. You just have to hang in there and get to the end to see if you will be satisfied.
Too much profanity for me.
Really excellent book. I've read it several times since it was originally published, and it has been a great read each time.
It's a classic! You know you've been meaning to read it.... especially in hardcover format.
Though this story was a bit cynical and gritty at times, it was a satisfying read. It gives you a little taste of Wall Street in the 80's complete with a greedy stock broker who gets his comeuppance.
I read this book the first time in high school as part of an extra credit project - I liked it them but freely admit I certainly didn't "get" most of it! Definitely a long read that is time-consuming, it is an interesting study of the 80s in New York City. I can't say that most of it is accurate as I have no idea, but it was an entertaining read with some social commentary that is unmistakable and some softer hints throughout.
Not nearly as much fun as anticipated. Dated, though unmistakable Tom Wolfe style. Finished it, but was gritting my teeth. Resigned simply to not be a Wolfe fan.
This is not a genre I would normally choose to read. I needed books and the choices on my friend's bookshelf were a bit slim.
This is a man's book: written by a man, all the main characters are men, and the plot and themes are quite masculine. None of the characters were actually sympathetic (at least to me), but it was somewhat interesting to see some of the characters self-destruct.
This is a man's book: written by a man, all the main characters are men, and the plot and themes are quite masculine. None of the characters were actually sympathetic (at least to me), but it was somewhat interesting to see some of the characters self-destruct.
I really enjoyed this story and its look at the fall from grace of one of New York's elite.
An outstanding story, very humurous and entertaining. Describes Manhattan life very well. The ending was somewhat disappointing but the book overall is a must read.
One of my favorites by Wolfe. If you saw the pathetic movie they made from it, ignore it. Read the book!
Brilliant novel of '80s excess. Better than the movie could ever have been.
Great read.
I couldn't put it down.
A fast paced, often funny book about Wall Street and contemporary New York City.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Tom Wolfes modern American satire tells the story of Sherman McCoy, a Wall Street Master of the Universe who has it all a Park Avenue apartment, a job that brings wealth, power and prestige, a beautiful wife, an even more beautiful mistress.
Suddenly, one wrong turn makes it all go wrong, and Sherman spirals downward in a sudden fall from grace that sucks him into the ravenous heart of a New York City gone mad during the go-go, racially turbulent, socially hilarious 1980s.
Tom Wolfes modern American satire tells the story of Sherman McCoy, a Wall Street Master of the Universe who has it all a Park Avenue apartment, a job that brings wealth, power and prestige, a beautiful wife, an even more beautiful mistress.
Suddenly, one wrong turn makes it all go wrong, and Sherman spirals downward in a sudden fall from grace that sucks him into the ravenous heart of a New York City gone mad during the go-go, racially turbulent, socially hilarious 1980s.
Step into the world of Sherman McCoy--One of Wall Street's top bond salesmen, he lives in a sumptuous fourteen-room duplex apartment on Park Avenue--"the Best Section of the capital of the Western World in the late twentieth century." Then one day a bizarre incident in the Bronx thrusts him into the center of every racial, economic, sexual, social and political tension in New York City.....
Brilliant, rich entertaining, bitter, funny, craftily plotted.
Tom Wolfe is a great writer! I loved this book, it was hilarious!
LOVE this book! A 5 star.
BONFIRE describes the modern madness of New York City in the eighties in a tale that moves from the dining salons of the Gold Coast to the detention cells of the Bronx.***
No my cup of tea.
Interesting look at New York and many fascinating characters - the movie starred Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith and Bruce Willis.
good
Although this was good, it was too much of everything. It took me forever to finish because I was not enthralled start to finish.
the third tom wolfe book i've read (right stuff, i am charlotte simmons were the others). great writing but the story faltered at the end. i was more excited by the first half than the second
I read this when it came out in the late 80's.
"The Bonfire of the Vanities" is **THE** quintessential New York City book of the 1980s. It captures all the people, scenes and craziness that gives NYC its attitude and heartbeat and is so unforgettable. Skip the horrible movie adaptation.
"The Bonfire of the Vanities" is **THE** quintessential New York City book of the 1980s. It captures all the people, scenes and craziness that gives NYC its attitude and heartbeat and is so unforgettable. Skip the horrible movie adaptation.
I only got about 100 pages into this book because I couldn't identify with any of the characters at all.
We've had this for a while but it is in decent condition . It does look used though.
I thorougly enjoyed this book about the craziness of 1980's financial marekts.
I thorougly enjoyed this book about the craziness of 1980's financial marekts.
