Talk Back

[Bea]

Ok - a little backstory before the review. Several years ago, my BBF let me borrow this book. I had it in my possetion threw two moves and I'm not quite sure how many years but it was more than one. However, it fell victum to the dread "Bonfire of the Vanities" desease. That is, I got about three chapters in, got bored, put it down went on to something else and promptly forgot to ever pick it up again.

Last fall my friend who is a boy found a copy of it at his schools used bookstore and bought it for me based on the fact that he'd seen other Wolfe books on my shelves and was hoping a) that wasn't one of them and b) it was good.

The book happily suffered the good side of "Bonfire" desease in that when I actually *did* pick it back up, I couldn't put it down and spent the first few chapters going "Why the heck was I bored with this the first time around?" And - if I only would have pushed on like two more chapters, I would have been hooked (then it would have been like Owen Meany.)

The novel is rather similar in structure to Bonfire, but it seemed to have more depth and breath as it focused on the parallel stories of an Atlanta buisness developer and a sex scandel involving a Georgia Tech star football player.

Focusing on about 9(?) or so characters allowed Wolfe to fully flesh out not only their own particular character excentricities but also how they developed and how they relate to the greater Atlanta social structure. This provides a snap-shot of a version of Atlanta as a metropolitian city, but because it's focus is so tight it feels very "small townish" in that eventually *everybody* is influcencing the mini-stories of everyone else. By the end, I was both amused and awed at the sheer unlikeliness of everyone verging the way they did. But then, I live in a small town too, so I know how truely likely that sort of thing can happen.

All in all, it's highly recomended.
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I was born to speak all mirth and no matter.

[Eisworth]

Is this the book that features Epictetus?
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Todd Eisworth
Associate Professor of Mathematics
Ohio University

[Bea]