To write this novel, Tom Wolfe spent about four years on college campuses. He transferred the world that had opened to him on paper.
"Wolfe is always showing us something we haven't quite noticed. But after three thick novels and a novella (surely he will never write a short story), the issue remains: Why does a writer whose ambitions are so fundamentally journalistic insist on processing his reportage into fiction? You may never put down a Tom Wolfe novel. But you never reread one, either." ― Jacob Weisberg of The New York Times
The plot may seem trivial. Actually, he is. Four completely different students study at a prestigious college. If you didn't even go to college, you probably met them in the movies. American students are a fairly popular subject in Hollywood films. We will again see unrealistically cool leagues of "ivy beta upsilon psi", students of nerds, girls, choruses, daughters and sons of rich parents, a common life full of debauchery and alcohol, and of course the outstanding sports teams of the university. A character will be drawn for us from each caste. Given the volume of the book, it's a bit cruel to read a banal plot.
What did the author want to say? Tom Wolfe is a well-known personality (in a narrow circle) and is famous for his achievements in American journalism. His style of essay has entered the practice of well-known publications in New York under the heading "Candy Bouquet, Pink Orange Scales, Sensual Baby" or something like that. All in all, Tom Wolfe is a bold experimenter and the father of "new journalism."
Such success gave the writer a head start in publishing books on any topic. Also, Wolfe was a fan of shocking. What is so much worth his white suit, which has become a symbol of the author and conservative gentleman of the southern states. By the way, about the relationship between the north and the south. This topic has been haunting me for several months now, appearing in one book or another. Charlotte Simmons is also a southern hinterland girl. She is accompanied by a certain stiffness and love of order. This is surprising, looking at the mess that was happening around her. While the whole world is on the move, free sex, booze, youth parties, and again having sex experiences, Charlotte looks down on it all. The telephone conversation between Charlotte and her best friend from her native school, where they were both registered excellent pupils, will be indicative. A friend's opinion is approximately the following: years of study at the university is our chance to try everything in the world, because before that we were mother's daughters, and then we will become faithful wives, and everything that was within the walls of the university will remain a secret ...
So, Charlotte lost one soul mate. In an unfamiliar environment for the main character, at the university, without the support of such simple and uncouth people who are close to her, the girl lost her snobbery and swam a little. In short, I got into a mess. Returning to the theme of the south, I will say that the racial issue (and of sexual minorities, by the way, too) is played up in the plot and brought to the point of absurdity in the lips of the heroes. We can say that among the various university groups there were also extremists, a group of botany students "Mutants of the Millennium", which of course included our Miss Simmons.
I didn't like the turning point. When the girl broke off, she realized that she had gotten herself in front of her and plunged into severe depression. I guess it was for the episode prior to the depression that the book won the "Worst Description of Sex in Fiction" award. Although the stage of depression was perhaps the most emotional segment of the entire novel. For the rest of the plot, I can safely apply the word “predictable”. So, probably the author wanted to say that it is true for everyone. And there is nothing to be imagined or shy about. In general, I give the book a four with a stretch. Once upon a time, this entire text could be considered an innovative breakthrough, but not in 2004! Maybe in the seventies, you can still believe it.
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