Bonfire of the Vanities was my first Tom Wolfe book, and though its undeniably better than Charlotte Simmons, Charlotte is still worth the time. Instead of the playboy fugitive, and the legal eagles of 'Bonfire' this one is set on the fictional ivy league university campus of Dupont, and its characters are the students. All in all, despite the fact that every character was annoying in some way or another and that I really didn't care very much for anybody in the entire book.... I still liked the book. Its Wolfe, man. He's gifted with words. The end is a little bleak for my liking...but it does touch on the realities of selling out, and the way it is to give up on the person that you might've become and settle for the person that you are.
The best part of the book is undeniably, her innate egoism... mixed in with her almost painful shyness. Makes you want to stick your chest out and say " I am Charlotte Simmons." Or rather, I am Jenelle Star. You know.
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