A Man in Full

Wolfes refreshing penchant for amazingly lucid and superlatively amusing dialogue makes this book hard to put down. Wolfe ingeniously satirizes the unwritten, although readily apparent, class structure of the South through such bizarrely eclectic characters as Charlie Croker(good ol boy establishment), his ex-wife Martha(shallow elitist), Fareek "The Canon" Fanon(flatulent inner-city star athlete), Crokers wife Serena(trophy wife), Roger "too" White II(the Morehouse Man in an identity crisis), Conrad Hensley(blue collar drone turned philosopher), and my favorite character, the entertainingly enigmatic Raymond Peepgass(the East Coast crowd moved South).

A Man in Full comes highly recommended to those who value witty, substantive works over vapidly trite novels of fluff.
Its only fitting to conclude with an excerpt of typical Wolfe dialogue from the jail scene:

"But how do you get to be a...player?" Conrad asked Five-O. "What can you do?"
"No do no monotting, brah. Use da mouth. NO make beef wit da buggahs. Use da mouth."

The book is mostly set in Atlanta, and Wolfe makes the case that Atlanta has a unique racial situation. Race relations and racial tensions form a major theme in the novel. Wolfe views race from many angles, including views from Atlantas black elite, wealthy conservative and liberal southern white, and the inside of a California prison.

The characters and characterizations are marvelous. This was one of the strengths of Bonfires and its a strength of this book too. I dont think Wolfe writes women as well as he writes men, but the men of several different walks of life are as fully fleshed as anything Ive ever read. Another fascinating thing about the book is the inside knowledge Wolfe shares. The insiders view of an Atlanta mayoral campaign was truly eye-opening, as was the inside view of a prison.

The book is hard to classify, but the view is often satirical (like Bonfire), and makes fun of the pride, vanity, lusts, and fears of the elites (like Bonfire). However, there is more heart. Some of the heart shows up in Wolfes compassion for divorced 50-something wives who have been discarded by their social climbing husbands. In Bonfire, the wives, called "X-rays" were subject to the same ridicule as their husbands; not so in this book. Wolfe also shows some compassion for the poor souls in prison, as he illuminates the brutal social structure in his california jail. Its never mawkish; it never plays for sympathy or tears, but the simple facts of prison life are a horror.

Finally, Wolfes foray into Stoic philosophy is beautifully and brilliantly done. When was the last time you read a novel where a philosophy book formed a major plot element? I think this book will continue to be read long after weve forgotten about Tom Clancy and Danielle Steele and most of the rest of the current crop of best-selling authors.