A Man in Full
by Tom Wolfe
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Book Summary Information
Author: Tom WolfeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-10-30
ISBN: 0553381334
Number of pages: 704
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Book Reviews of A Man in Full
Book Review: A Book in Full
Summary: 5 Stars
Like Tom Wolfe's previous novel, "The Bonfire of the Vanities", "A Man in Full" is a lengthy, social-realist work of the type that would have been familiar to Dickens or Balzac, featuring a wide variety of characters drawn from all reaches of society. This type of novel has become unfashionable in recent years, particularly as regards its length. The trend among writers of literary fiction in the twentieth century was towards concision; lengthiness has become the hallmark of the airport blockbuster. Wolfe, however, seems to have a conservative literary agenda, namely to recreate the nineteenth-century realist novel as a vehicle for commenting on and criticising twentieth-century society.
There are two main plot lines. The first concerns Charlie Croker, an Atlanta property developer. Although Croker has in the past amassed a fortune from building new office developments, he is currently in severe financial difficulties after his latest development goes wrong and leaves him with a huge debt owed to the bank. The plot centres upon the moral dilemma facing Croker when he is asked to make a speech in support of a young black star of the local university football team who has been accused of the rape of a white girl. The city's black mayor is anxious to quieten the racial tensions unleashed by this case, and promises Croker that, in return for his support, he will put pressure on the bank to reschedule his debts. Croker's problem is that the young man is arrogant and an obvious sexual predator; worse, the father of the girl involved is an old friend of his. The second main plot line concerns Conrad Hensley, a young blue-collar worker who is sent to jail when he refuses to plead guilty to a crime he did not commit. At first the Conrad plot seems to have nothing to do with the story of Charlie Croker, beyond the fact that Conrad once worked in a minor capacity for a subsidiary of Croker's business empire- Conrad does not even live in Georgia, but in the San Francisco Bay area- but the two story lines are brought together at the end of the novel.
There has been some discussion of the significance of the title "A Man in Full"; does it refer to Croker or to Conrad? Although Wolfe makes reference to a song which contains the line "Charlie Croker was a man in full", I would agree with those who take the view that Conrad is the "man in full" and the novel's real hero. He is a "man in full" because he has something that the other characters lack, namely a moral dimension to his life. The other main characters are often more colourful, but because of this lack they are not men, or women, in full. They are all too preoccupied with getting, or keeping, money, status or power to consider the morality of their actions. Even in the early part of the novel, before his imprisonment, Conrad is in search of an answer to what Socrates believed was the central question of all philosophy, "How should a man live?" He finds an answer in the teachings of the ancient Stoic philosophers after coming across a volume of their writings while in prison. All his subsequent adventures stem from his attempts to apply these teachings to his own situation.
Wolfe comes across in some ways as a modern Dickens, and his characters have something in common with those created by the great Victorian writer, in that although they may outwardly conform to existing stereotypes, they are also individuals in their own right with their own inner life. Charlie Croker may be a typically vulgar nouveau-riche tycoon, but he is a recognisable human being rather than a caricature. Moreover, Charlie is, in his own way, groping for an answer to the question which so preoccupies Conrad. The ending of the story has been criticised by some both for being too pat and for being implausible. Certainly, Wolfe does seem to abandon his normal commitment to realism at this point, but in my view the ending, in which Croker abandons his wealth for life as an itinerant Stoic teacher, can be justified as both a piece of irony and as an exemplification of the book's central themes.
Of the other characters, the best for me were Ray Peepgass, the financially embarrassed middle-ranking bank official who contrives an unethical scheme to profit from Croker's impending bankruptcy and Roger Too White, the high-flying black lawyer who tries to juggle his social standing among the white-dominated professional classes with his street-cred among his fellow blacks. Perhaps even more memorable than the characters were some of Wolfe's set-pieces- the scenes where we see Conrad in jail, Croker's quail hunt on his plantation, followed by that excruciating dinner party, his performance at the art exhibition and, perhaps best of all, the "workout session". (Who would have thought that a meeting between a businessman and his creditors to discuss repayment of his debts could have been made so entertaining).
Wolfe is sometimes regarded as a social and political conservative as well as a literary one, but he never seems entirely happy with the agenda of the political Right. Croker, like Sherman McCoy in "The Bonfire of the Vanities", is a successful capitalist, but neither is a wholly sympathetic figure. The book is critical not only of greed and materialism (Croker, Peepgass) but also of pride in one's social status (Croker and both his two wives) and of desire for political power (the Mayor of Atlanta). More important than wealth, status or power is the search for a system of moral values.
I was interested to see that one reviewer saw Conrad's Stoicism as a metaphor for Christianity whereas another saw it as part of a system of conservatism without faith. Possibly Wolfe was being deliberately ambiguous about religion. The clear message of the book, however, is a call for a new morality to replace materialism, a morality that may or may not be explicitly Christian.
Summary of A Man in Full
The setting is Atlanta, Georgia ? a racially mixed, late-century boomtown full of fresh wealth and wily politicians. The protagonist is Charles Croker, once a college football star, now a late-middle-aged Atlanta conglomerate king whose outsize ego has at last hit up against reality. Charlie has a 29,000 acre quail-shooting plantation, a young and demanding second wife, and a half-empty office complex with a staggering load of debt.Meanwhile, Conrad Hensley, idealistic young father of two, is laid off from his job at the Croker Global Foods warehouse near Oakland and finds himself spiraling into the lower depths of the American legal system.
And back in Atlanta, when star Georgia Tech running back Fareek ?the Canon? Fanon, a homegrown product of the city?s slums, is accused of date-raping the daughter of a pillar of the white establishment, upscale black lawyer Roger White II is asked to represent Fanon and help keep the city?s delicate racial balance from blowing sky-high.
Networks of illegal Asian immigrants crisscrossing the continent, daily life behind bars, shady real estate syndicates ? Wolfe shows us contemporary America with all the verve, wit, and insight that have made him our most admired novelist. Charlie Croker?s deliverance from his tribulations provides an unforgettable denouement to the most widely awaited, hilarious and telling novel America has seen in ages ? Tom Wolfe?s most outstanding achievement to date.
Choosing David Ogden Stiers (M*A*S*H, The Accidental Tourist) to narrate this sprawling tale of contemporary American society was an act of inspired audio casting. The familiar, snobbish qualities of his warm yet condescending voice perfectly match author Tom Wolfe's own carefully sculpted persona of haughty disdain and color the recording with an interesting sense of authenticity. Without indulging in overwrought characterizations, Stiers manages to create enough distinction between players to keep this sweeping epic coherent. There are moments that find him overreaching, but when voicing a novel this broad, some notes are bound to ring false. Overall, Stiers's abridged reading is an intelligent, entertaining rendition of Wolfe's scrupulously detailed and bitingly funny portrait of America at the turn of the millennium. (Running time: 8.5 hours, 6 cassettes) --George Laney
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