Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe


The following post is taken directly from my hand-printed Reader's Journal. I will be sharing these reflections each week on the Rivera Runs Through It blog. The date at the end of each post is the date of the original writing, which is typically the date I completed the book. The reflections are short, but represent my initial reactions to a book, a brief summary of the book or the questions it raised for me at the time. I hope you enjoy this segment in my blog and feel free to comment on what you read here.




The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe


An excellent novel about a scandal in New York City in the 1980s. It had sex, wealth, race and politics - it covered it all with flare. I enjoyed the story immensely, although I thought it dragged on at times. It amuses me that not much has changed - the press is still blood-thirsty for the dirtiest angle of any story and we, the public, while often disgusted, still eat it up hook, line and sinker. I think my students would enjoy this is they can make it through the 1690 pages!

Dated: 07/22/02
Can you forgive a dragging story if the plot, in the end, is a good one?
What kind of topics in a book pulled you in for summer reading when you were in high school?

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