I HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW AND WHEN I BOUGHT THIS NOVEL. I really enjoyed Bonfire of the Vanities so I acquired this once it came out in paperback. It has sat on my bookshelf for about 3 years waiting for the right moment for me to read it. That moment arrived on 29 October 2002!

I loved this book. It is brilliant. Funny, sad, provocative, canny, philosophical, entertaining - it had everything. Wolfe undertakes a stinging examination of American society and culture at the end of the twentieth century looking at all stratas from rich to poor, famous to infamous and the state of the American dream in the 1990s. It is very Dickensian in style (if you like Charles Dickens then this will be a novel for you). The book is completely engrossing. There is no point in my writing a long journal entry about this novel - just read it. Read it. ten stars cannot do it justice.