| PRODUCT DETAILS | | I Am Charlotte Simmons: A Novel |  | |
I Am Charlotte Simmons: A Novel
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 sheltered freshman from North Carolina. But Charlotte soon learns, to her mounting dismay, that for the uppercrust coeds of Dupont, sex, Cool, and kegs trump academic achievement every time.As Charlotte encounters Dupont's privileged elite--her roommate, Beverly, a Groton-educated Brahmin in lusty pursuit of lacrosse players; Jojo 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 Millennial Mutants who run the university's "independent" newspaper and who consider themselves the last bastion of intellectual endeavor 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.With his signature eye for detail, Tom Wolfe draws on extensive observation of campuses across the country to immortalize college life in the '00s. I Am Charlotte Simmons is the much-anticipated triumph of America's master chronicler.
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Price Range: $1.92 - $28.95
 I Am Charlotte Simmons: A Novel
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| User Reviews |  | Not worth reading, just watch Gossip Girl
rating: 1
This is my first book review on Amazon but I felt so utterly disappointed with the novel that I felt a duty to try to dissuade others from wasting their time. I had higher hopes for my first Tom Wolfe foray, given the better reviews of his earlier books, but I found the book absolutely too long (could have had the same effect with 1/3 of the pages) and trite (could the characters be more stereotypical?).
The storyline is just utterly ridiculous and simpleminded. **Spoiler alert** -- ingenue from the podunk mountains, who happens to be super gorgeous apparently, goes to big, prestigious university...loses virginity to jerk frat boy...is the love target of boy even too dorky for her...but ends up with the transformed sports star. Not very complex, controversial, nor enthralling.
Wolfe does a horrible job at writing the inner thinking of a collegiate woman. Generally speaking, his narration is so disjointed from the characters he's describing, it's hard to know if its intended to be sarcastic (sarc 1, 2, or 3 anyone). It is incredibly difficult to empathize with the hero of the novel because she is in fact, pretty unlikeable. And her fall from grace is not even unique, dramatic or isolated enough to qualify her as a decent anti-hero.
DO NOT READ! Gossip Girl on The CW is a perfectly acceptable stand in...and you won't have to endure Wolfe's repeated descriptions of the pelvic area as mon pubis.
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Who is Charlotte Simmons?
rating: 3
I read two of Tom Wolfe's other books, Bonfire and Man in Full, before reading I Am Charlotte Simmons. My question is, Who is Charlotte Simmons? Mr. Wolfe is an excellent writer, capable of setting the scene, injecting interesting action, and usually sketching good characters. What I found missing from this book was the kind of depth for Charlotte and JoJo (the male lead) that I found in his other books. That's the bad news.
The good news is... Mr. Wolfe goes head on at what happens at America's colleges and universities in the 2000's. He has the athletes that get special help to keep the school in the running for TV rights, the profs that let things slide by and the ones who don't, as well as the young women like Charlotte, who come from nowhere in search of an education and success, if not a bit of maturity.
The plot centers around Charlotte and JoJo as they ricochet into each other on campus and off their friends, through the parties and classrooms, toward a future neither one of them is certain to reach. This is the best part of the book: There is doubt that their actions and decision will get them what they want. I enjoyed that aspect of the book.
Again, a good read and worth your time. I only wish Mr. Wolfe would have put more into the characters themselves. The book deserves 3.5 stars but I can only give 3 the way Amazon works.
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Uncanny and Unvarnished View of a Point in Time
rating: 4
This novel offers an uncanny view of "University life" in the early/mid 2000s. Tom Wolfe has captured the look, feel and texture of a place in time. Everything down to the style of diction...such as statements spoken as questions soliciting affirmation...captures the essence of University life.
Mr. Wolfe has written a readable novel that is both illustrative and direct...this is not a book for the faint of heart. The action and language in this book are mature and no topics appear "off-limits".
As with other Tom Wolfe works, this book ends in a unique, non-conventional manner. This may be a deterrent for those readers interested in clear closure, but I find the conclusion interesting and fitting for this novel.
Worth a read.
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Perhaps flawed but Oh So FUNNY!
rating: 5
If you take the journey through Tom Wolfe's book, Charlotte Simmons will be one of those characters that stick with you long after you put the book down. I was never under the impression that this book was intended to be an accurate account of university life and politics in the 2000's, although it appears that many of its readers seem to have the desire for it to be so, which may have left some disappointed or even seemingly angry.
While Wolfe's depiction of university life is certainly augmented a bit, the portrait of Dupont is not so different from many colleges and universities (especially small private schools) in the United States. I myself am a 2007 graduate and I was taken aback with the incredible capability Wolfe has to capture the smallest details in order to really draw the reader into the story. It didn't take me many pages before I felt the familiar feeling of my parents helping me move my stuff into my dorm freshman year. In many ways, I wondered if I, too, wasn't Charlotte Simmons sometimes during my own experience.
Wolfe is very perceptive, and I don't think the author's age or gender should be an issue. As far as I'm concerned, this book could have been written by a young female and I wouldn't have blinked an eye. Admittedly, some terminology Wolfe uses seems a little odd to me, but each author has their own hang ups and style of writing, so I didn't think much of it at all. The book isn't flawless, and characters tend to be stereotypical but it makes for a fun fun funny read.
It's a big book, but I became so engrossed in the beautiful detail and character development of the book that I sailed through it. I came to love Charlotte Simmons, and it is definitely one I recommend to anyone who enjoys a great read. This was my first Tom Wolfe novel. I ran across a copy of Hooking Up recently, which is certainly next on my reading list.
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So shallow!
rating: 1
I could not finish this book. As a college student, I was looking forward to reading this- I was hoping to be able to relate to characters and experience something new and fresh! However, this book was just the opposite: stale and shallow. The characters had all been done before, but this time they are just exaggerated stereotypes of what a 75 year-old man might think they would be. I kept reading, hoping the characters, who were supposed to be endearing, would expand and develop, but they continued to become more and more frustrating. Completely unrealistic and uninteresting, in my opinion!
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I Am Charlotte Simmons: A Novel
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