The Fredösphere

Reviewing a book I have not yet read would be foolhardy. Nevertheless, I will not do it. Not exactly.

You probably have had the experience of reading an article in a newspaper or magazine about some corner of the world that you know very well, and being shocked at how wrong it was. All kinds of details are wrong, and the whole thing adds up to a very shallow, inaccurate picture of the truth. "Heavens to Murgatroid!" you say, "if they get it wrong when I'm in a position to fact-check them, how often do they get it wrong whey I'm not?"

So, Tom Wolfe's new novel is out. The big question is, can we trust Tom Wolfe's depiction of college life? The battle doth rage. I loved Bonfire of the Vanities (of course) and liked A Man In Full a lot in spite of its weaknesses (I was willing to take the ending as a kind of metaphor), so I am biased toward trusting Wolfe over his critics. I also have another reason to believe him.

An old friend of mine is a trial lawyer and amateur singer. Back when we both still sang with the Ann Arbor Cantata Singers, I mentioned to him I was reading Bonfire and loving it, and he almost exploded with enthusiasm. It turned out, he was an intern in the Bronx courthouse just after Bonfire came out. According to him, Wolfe nailed the place -- the people, the environment, the judges and lawyers and defendants and the whole "alimentary canal" of the justice system.

But maybe I'm all wrong. How about it, Umie, can you give us your sagacious opinion?

Umie the Umlaut says, "Let's hook up!"

Uh, right, thanks Umie.

Labels: Culture