Classics Corner: The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe; A Biting Savage Satire About The '80's With Surprising Relevance

Classics Corner: The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe; A Biting Savage Satire About The '80's With Surprising Relevance
By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: If you are looking for a beautiful story full of wonderful characters that selflessly put other's needs above their own, good gets rewarded, evil gets their just desserts, and has a happy ending then.....look somewhere else.
If you are looking for a clever sharp biting satire in which no one comes out well, then look no further than The Bonfire of the Vanities. This time capsule of a novel captures the 1980's in all its "Greed for lack of a better word is good" glory but is still relevant today.

Yuppie Bond Dealer, Sherman McCoy is a self-proclaimed "Master of the Universe." He appears to have it all: An expensively furnished Park Avenue apartment, a beautiful wife, a sexy mistress, an adorable daughter, and a thriving career that provides the best in fine living. That is until one night when he and his Southern Belle mistress, Maria Ruskin, take a wrong turn in the Bronx and accidentally run over Henry Lamb, a young African-American man.

That's when the Media Circus begins. What was a simple hit-and-run becomes a cause celebre by a public that is hungry for racial justice and thirsty for the next big news story. In this book everyone sees an opportunity and is willing to feather his or her nest with the news of Henry Lamb's accident

All characters are completely skewered by Wolfe's excellent writing.
Larry Kramer, a burnt-out prosecuting attorney sees his chance for a big legal case that will give him fame (and the eye of a beautiful former juror, Shelly "The-Girl-With-The-Brown-Lipstick" Thomas.).
Tabloid journalist, Peter Fallow sees a meaningful story that gets him a Pulitzer Prize.
Reverend Reginald Bacon who claims to be the voice of the people is not above using a comatose young man and the anger of the people to promote his name, pulpit, or a construction company he has on the side.

Sherman's wife, Judy McCoy will not let anything like her husband's affair or this trial interfere with her standing as a "Social X-Ray." (First wives of millionaires in their 30's and 40's, "starved to near perfection.") Sherman and Maria are so shallow, shameless, and reprehensible that this Reader rooted for their comeuppance long before they received it. It gets to the point where the only honest likable character is Henry Lamb and he's in a coma through most of the book.

The Bonfire of the Vanities is filled with little moments that are sharp, satiric bites at the characters and their setting. Peter pens an article that describes Henry as an honor student from a school that only offers multiple choice exams in reading comprehension. ("An honor student is someone who shows up in class, wants to learn, and doesn't mouth off to the teacher," says Henry's teacher as he tries to sell Peter a Thunderbird.)
Sherman tries to explain what he does for a living to his six-year-old daughter and finds it difficult to illustrate the concept of dealing in bonds to an elementary school-age girl. He is even more infuriated by Judy's analogy that Daddy keeps the crumbs from other people's cakes. ("For goodness sake....crumbs!", The Master of the Universe whines.)

Beside the satire, the book makes great points about media manipulation, celebrity defendants, and social justice. Modern Readers could read this book and then go on Twitter or Facebook and discover similar stories in real life. Wolfe did not only peer into the soul, or lack thereof, of the world around him, 30 years ago. He also peered into the soul, or lack thereof, of today.