The Bonfire of the Vanities

Reviews

“Impossible to put down.”

“A big, bitter, funny, craftily plotted book that grabs you by the lapels and won’t let go.”

“Narrator Joe Barrett sends shivers up the spine…Wolfe’s Bonfire still burns bright with wit, mastery of plot and character, and an astonishing eye for detail.”

“If you saw the movie and liked it, listen to this audiobook, which is a thousand times better.”

“Sheer entertainment against a fabulous background…Wolfe triumphantly mounts scene after magnificent scene depicting the vanity of human endeavor, with every character measured by his shoes and suits or dresses, his income and expenses, and with his vain desires rising in smoke against settings that would make a Hollywood director’s tongue hang out. Often hilarious, and much, much more.”

“Erupting from the first line with noise, color, tension and immediacy, this immensely entertaining novel accurately mirrors a system that has broken down: from the social code of basic good manners to the fair practices of the law…A brilliant evocation of New York’s class, racial and political structure in the 1980s.”

“Wolfe’s genius may be better suited to fiction than to journalism; his novel has all the knowledge, insight, and wit of earlier works but tones down the notorious stylistic excesses. The result is not just Wolfe’s most successful book to date but one of the most impressive novels of the decade.”

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