But, just for the record, I still believe that inside every good fat book is a better skinny one trying to get out. The fattest book I've read lately is Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full . I'd hoped for another Bonfire of the Vanities , but that was probably unrealistic. Still, the 742 pages in Wolfe's latest went pretty fast, partly because it's set in Atlanta, where I read it over the holidays. Charlie Croker is the master of the universe this time, a successful but fatally overextended real estate developer who's desperately trying to salvage his fortune and dignity.
Evil bankers are bent on taking both.
Like Bonfire , the theme is the fall of the high and mighty. As usual, Wolfe enriches our language. The fascination for me was seeing what kind of novel a full-time newsman would write. I kept thinking of Tom Clancy, the insurance man, writing The Hunt for Red October , wishing I could do that. I think I have writer's envy.