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The Bonfire of the Vanities

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The Bonfire of the Vanities

By: Tom Wolfe
Narrated by: Todd Boyce
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About this listen

An exhilarating satire of Eighties excess that captures the effervescent spirit of New York, from one of the greatest writers of modern American prose

Sherman McCoy is a WASP, bond trader and self-appointed 'Master of the Universe'. He has a fashionable wife, a Park Avenue apartment and a Southern mistress. His spectacular fall begins the moment he is involved in a hit-and-run accident in the Bronx. Prosecutors, newspaper hacks, politicians and clergy close in on him, determined to bring him down.

Exuberant, scandalous and exceptionally discerning, The Bonfire of the Vanities was Tom Wolfe's first venture into fiction and cemented his reputation as the foremost chronicler of his age.

‘The air of New York crackles with an energy that causes the adrenalin to pump… The feeling is perfectly reproduced in Wolfe's novel… Electric'–Sunday Times

‘The quintessential novel of The Eighties'–The Guardian

©1987 Tom Wolfe (P)2024 W. F. Howes Ltd City Life Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire Urban World Literature Scary Witty New York
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Most relevant
everybody knows the book is great, but the reader’s outstanding performance can’t be praised enough. the man and his tens of east side accents could voice the entire sopranos series.

great writer, even better reader

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That aside, it holds up. It really does. Wry, savvy, fly-on-the-wall insight into social climbing in the two-tier ghetto of 1980s New York. I was glued, riveted by the effortless POV switching and biting satire. Looking forward to a long. slow denouement that was in reality summarised in half a chapter. Felt hoodwinked and cheated. I feel it may have fallen prey to word count and the relative flimsiness of airport bookshelves. Pity. Still a great read if you don’t mind the sudden and shocking brevity of an unscheduled cliff-dive after a gorgeously dramatic road trip.

Either He Ran out of Patience or his Publisher Did

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This was a gripping story - the attention to character and location detail added depth and poignancy. The characters were mostly well drawn though the female characters acted as mainly syphons to the male characters.

The oversexualised description of most of the female characters dates the book and distracts from the meat and bones of the story though I get that it was from the point of view of the lascivious male characters.
The ending was abrupt and incongruous with the painstaking detailed tone and tempo of the rest of the book I thought, but still a thoroughly enjoyable listen.

The performance was excellent- his different character voices were very impressive and really added to the text.

Sadly, still relevant today

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Loved everything - had read the book and seen the film but enjoyed Audible version even more - totally compelling

Narration was superb!!

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Love this very long audible book, the story is gripping and depicts a 1980's New York with real authenticity.
Excellent narrator brought all the different characters to life.
Yes, it's a long one but we'll worth the listen.

Captivating drama

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