What a pair of drama queens Charlotte and Adam were. They deserved each other, and not in a good way. Jojo is seemingly the only decent person in the bunch so I'm glad to see he got a happy ending.
The story is very long, and so it has a great many things to say, many true, many funny, and many kinda iffy. I don't believe smart people who attend places like Harvard really talk and act the way depicted in the story. Certainly in my personal experience it was never like that.
I don't believe Charlotte could get so upset from experiencing something half the girls in the country experience regularly. For that matter I don't think Adam could get that upset either, even though his circumstances were more unique. I don't think their reactions were justified even if they were believable.
I don't believe everyone in the whole world is just looking for ways to sadistically torture you with snide commentary and insults. Charlotte is paranoid, or, alternatively, the author is a misanthrope. I think most people don't care at all about random strangers, or if they do, it's in a generally positive and generous manner.
But hey, it's a work of fiction, and in fictional works the author gets to set the rules. I'm just along for the ride. It was a long and fun ride, which is the whole purpose of the book -- to entertain the reader -- so Tom Wolfe did his job.
This isn't enough to convince me he's a great author, but maybe if I read some of his other works his genius will prevail. Bonfire of the Vanities and Back to Blood are pretty famous, so maybe I'll try them next.
No comments:
Post a Comment