- Hardcover: 688 pages
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd (11 Nov 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0224074865
- ISBN-13: 978-0224074865
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.2 x 4.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 714,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
America's 'peerless observer [and] fearless satirist' takes on the university - from jocks to mutants, dormcest to tailgating - plus race, class, sex, and basketball. Dupont University - the Olympian halls of learning housing the cream of America's youth, the roseate Gothic spires and manicured lawns suffused with tradition...Or so it appears to beautiful, brilliant Charlotte Simmons, a freshman from Sparta, North Carolina (pop. 900), who has come here on full scholarship in full flight from her tobacco-chewing, beer-swilling high school classmates. But Charlotte soon learns, to her mounting dismay, that Dupont is closer in spirit to Sodom than to Athens, and that sex, crank, and kegs trump academic achievement every time. As Charlotte encounters Dupont's privileged elite - her roommate, Beverly, a fleshy, Groton-educated Brahmin in lusty pursuit of lacrosse players; Jayjay Johanssen, the only white starting player on Dupont's godlike basketball team, whose position is threatened by a hotshot black freshman from the projects; the Young Turk of Saint Ray fraternity, Hoyt Thorpe, whose heady sense of entitlement and social domination is clinched by his accidental brawl with a bodyguard for the governor of California; and Adam Geller, one of the Millennium Mutants who run the university's 'independent' newspaper and who consider themselves the last bastion of intellectual endeavour on the sex-crazed, jock-obsessed campus - she gains a new, revelatory sense of her own power, that of her difference and of her very innocence, but little does she realize that she will act as a catalyst in all of their lives.
From the Publisher
Another unputdownable novel from the author of The Bonfire of the Vanities and A Man in Full, both huge bestsellers.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost as good as the rest,
By Beca "beca_uk2002" (Aylesbury) - See all my reviews
This review is from: I Am Charlotte Simmons (Paperback)
I love Tom Wolfe's novels - whenever I need true and utter escapism, they never fail to deliver what I am looking for, and this book is no exception. Once again the author skillfully provides insight into the lives of a vivid and varied range of characters, all centring on Charlotte Simmons, the first year university student struggling to cope with the culture shock of leaving behind small town life. At times the empathy I felt with Charlotte overwhelmed me and (much as I usually berate those who make statements like this) found myself marvelling that a male author could emulate such an intrinsically female viewpoint so effectively.
I did, however, feel marginally disappointed with the ending, which felt rushed and each character dealt with a little too easily. But don't let that put you off - this is well worth buying.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very quick long book,
By Minty Jack (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: I Am Charlotte Simmons (Paperback)
Despite being over 600 pages, this book draws you rapidly into the world Wolfe has created and pulls you to the end. It's focus is on the characters rather than the plot to begin with, but they are all so clearly drawn that you can see them clearly and actually want to know what happens to them, even if nothing actually happens.
There are four main characters. Three are male university students - a charismatic alpha-male, a nerd, and an athlete. They intersect via the title character, Charlotte Simmons, a very bright 18 year-old from a small mountain town who wins a scholarship to a top US college. Different plot strands are set in motion and, through Charlotte trying to find her place at university (and in the world), become intertwined over around ten months and have a major impact on all their lives. The most complex character is Charlotte. Everyone else is to a certain extent a charicature, but one of the themes of the book is about how the dynamics of university student society is how it forces students into certain clearly defined categories and act in the way prescribed for these groups. Charlotte is more interesting in that she has no real idea about these different groups to begin with and is pulled in a lot of contradictory directions and her actions and thoughts are often clearly at variance. I'm still puzzling over Charlotte, particularly the ending, and that's a good sign; she is one of the most stimulating characters in literature I have come across in a long while. The student world is seen through the minds of a wide cast of characters and their thoughts and actions are left to stand by themselves for the reader to make any value judgments about. The author's observations are more concerned with the use of language, in particular the different student "patois". One nice touch is reporting speech straight but breaking off to explain the subtleties of pronunciation. A certain amount of pages is given over to brief biographical sketches of the characters, showing their upbringing and so on. This is interesting in itself but not strictly necessary as he sketches the characters well the moment the appear. There is also no seeming reason why some characters have these detailed notes and others don't as some with mere walk-on parts get them and other more important characters do not. This is a book written by someone who knows he'll be published and so doesn't have to grab anyone's attention immediately. I think the book actually benefits from that. Overall, the book feels very realistic. Anyone who has been at university will recognise much in it, and see themselves reflected in the characters - although the US system and experience is very different to that of the UK. Thoroughly enjoyable and with a lot of throught-provoking ideas about self-identity.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not his best, but still better than the rest,
By Mick Jackson (Manchester) - See all my reviews
This review is from: I Am Charlotte Simmons (Paperback)
This may not be Tom Wolfe's best book ever, but even when he's not firing on all pistons, his prose is more turbocharged than most novelists half his age. 'Charlotte Simmons' has received its share of brickbats, though you can't help but think that Wolfe has actually gone out and done something that other writers don't even bother with: he's actually done some legworks, like Dickens, Balzac and Trollope before him. Five stars.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
