Krishna
This is a modern classic the first book of Tom Wolfe that I have read. It has also been made into a movie, a long time ago, with a young looking Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith. I was told it was a bad movie made out of a good book but have not seen the movie so cannot verify it for myself.
The book is interesting indeed. It tells the story of Sherman McCoy, a Wall Street Bond Trader who is a Master of the Universe, (a term that Tom Wolfe made famous about investment bankers and bond traders), a master of all he surveys. He has a wife, Judy, a young daughter Campbell, whom he dearly loves, and a party lifestyle. His mansion in Park Avenue is worth several million dollars. But he conducts an affair with Maria Ruskin, wife of a millionaire, Arthur Ruskin. Once when he is escorting her back from New York airport, he makes a wrong turn and his BMW enters Bronx. When his path is stopped by tyres on the road, he gets down and is accosted by a pair of black men. Suspecting attempted robbery, he gets into the car as Maria backs up and drive away. He thinks he
heard a thump but was not sure. When finally the news breaks that a Honour Student from Bronx, Henry Lamb, was hit by an unknown Mercedes and is in a coma. Before losing consciousness, he named three numbers of the number plate of the BMW that hit him, thereby helping police to narrow down the search.
The news would have been drowned in the endless data of city events but for the fact that a lazy, down on the luck, and alcoholic journalist called Peter Fallow writes about the tragic case of Henry Lamb, which lights the fuse of the seething resentment of the black people in Harlem on the supposed injustice and partiality of the rich white folks and makes him a poster boy for injustice. In comes politicians like Reverend Bacon, who are looking for a cause to angrily protest about.
The goverrner, who is up for re-election, wants the case solved in order not to jeopardize his chances of winning again. The police had no chance of finding the assailant, but the bumbling and terrified Sherman practically points in his own direction with a completely inept handling of a routine investigation. His life unravels slowly thereafter, and goes out of control. The case transforms the life of Peter Fallow and Sherman McCoy.
This is meant to be a social satire of the rich and the famous, but reads like a serious novel. His style is difficult to follow at first, with frequent shouts of the phrases with a lot of exclamation marks, but later it grows on you. I later realized that this is the normal style of Tom Wolfe, but thought this odd at that time. The story is told well, and it moves along well, and the interest is retained. There are a lot of other characters in the book, like Sherman’s father “The Lion”, Fallow’s boss, The Mouse, and Tom Killian, an attorney that Sherman hires, who appears sleazy and efficient in alternate turns. There is Andriutti, the chief prosecutor, and Gene Lopwitz, head of Pierce and Pierce, the Investment Bank where he works.
His experience in prison, his betrayal by all of those he knows, his ostracism by his colleagues, his apartment residents, and his social circle is well told. His slow transformation into someone else, his realization of how he has to face everything by himself, is well told.
A great read. I would say a 7/10
— Krishna