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Tom Wolfe Has Died

nytimes.com

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Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#41

Post by mattzito »

cs702 wrote: post #8
swampthinker wrote: post #3

I have to admit, I've never read a Tom Wolfe book. Does anyone have some good recommendations?

I read "Bonfire of the Vanities" many years ago, and thought it was fantastic -- does an incredible job of portraying the different social/ethnic/economic groups in New York during the 1980's, and how these groups view, think about, and interact with each other. Hollywood turned the book into a terrible movie that ruins the story; I would avoid the movie if you have any interest in reading the book.

My recommendation would be to read the book, then read the book "The Devil's Candy", which is about the making of the film, and then see the movie.

The Devil's Candy is about how a writer was given full, uncensored access to the production from inception to release, because everyone thought it was going to be a puff piece of a book about how great everyone was. But in reality, the author got to see how a combination of creative egos and studio mismanagement (plus bad casting, a compromised script, I mean, EVERYTHING) created one of the biggest hollywood flops to that point. It's such a good read.

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#43

Post by baud147258 »

macintux wrote: post #27
rhapsodic wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Hollywood turned the book into a terrible movie that ruins the story; I would avoid the movie if you have any interest in reading the book. I saw the movie when it first came out but never read the book. I thought the movie was good and couldn't understand why it got so many bad reviews. What made the book so much better?

I can't speak to either the movie or the book, but I've found it interesting that whenever I see a movie before reading the source, I'm pretty happy with the movie, but rarely am I satisfied with the movie when I've read the book first. The subtle nuances and key moments that I love are rarely translated to the screen. It's perfectly understandable, because they're two very different forms of fiction and the movie ra…

One I remember rather well was the last Harry Potter movie. I had read the book a few years earlier when it was released. I was it a first time in a cinema and was rather disappointed, compared to the experience of reading this part of the book. But then I saw it again one month later and, expecting the movie instead of the book, had a much better time.

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#44

Post by JackFr »

geoka9 wrote: post #28
hangonhn wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another vote for this one. Also Chuck Yeager is the most badass pilot that ever piloted anything that flies. They also made a movie out of the book. It's decent but the book is amazing.

Probably the most famous (rightly so). If you like Yeager, I highly recommend reading his memoirs - it makes The Right Stuff seem like an amateur hour aviation book.

> it makes The Right Stuff seem like an amateur hour aviation book

I doubt that.

The Right Stuff is not simply a book about Yeager. And while Yeager is a fascinating and exciting man and truly a hero, Tom Wolfe is one of the greatest non-fiction stylists of the twentieth century. I would be very surprised if Chuck Yeager could write, or commission a ghost writer, with one tenth the chops of Tom Wolfe.

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#45

Post by JackFr »

carbolite103 wrote: post #9
swampthinker wrote: post #3

I have to admit, I've never read a Tom Wolfe book. Does anyone have some good recommendations?

I might start with 'The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby' which is a collection of his essays. The first chapter of 'The Right Stuff' is worth reading by itself. The rest of the book is fascinating but drags on a bit in the last third. My favorite is 'The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test'. I haven't gotten around to reading 'Bonfire of the Vanities' however so I can't really comment on that.

Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Cacthers

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#47

Post by dang »

segmondy wrote: post #19
wallflower wrote: post #12

I remember discovering "The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test" in my high school library. I eventually stole it by taking out the plastic-encased metal security dingy and devoured it more. I read it over and over until the paperback fell apart. It introduced me to a world so foreign and sparkly and rusty dangerous and yet so real. RIP Tom Wolfe for bringing us into your worlds of observation and intrigue.

You denied other's the chance to do the same. You need to make amends.

wallflower has more than made amends by providing some of the best reading on Hacker News for many years.

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#48

Post by jgrahamc »

pitt1980 wrote: post #15
jgrahamc wrote: post #4

Years ago when I was living in the Bay Area, Tom Wolfe was hanging around doing research for a book on Silicon Valley. The rumour was that he left with the opinion that nothing interesting worth writing about happened there.

He wrote a pretty interesting profile of Robert Noyce, one of the co-founders of Intel https://web.stanford.edu/class/e145/2007_fall/materials/noyc...

Yes but that's years before. I'm talking dotcom era.

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#50

Post by coldtea »

segmondy wrote: post #19
wallflower wrote: post #12

I remember discovering "The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test" in my high school library. I eventually stole it by taking out the plastic-encased metal security dingy and devoured it more. I read it over and over until the paperback fell apart. It introduced me to a world so foreign and sparkly and rusty dangerous and yet so real. RIP Tom Wolfe for bringing us into your worlds of observation and intrigue.

You denied other's the chance to do the same. You need to make amends.

He inspired others to do as he did -- and he added a nice story to the universe.

That's more than non denying others the chance to read a specific book at the library -- which 99.999% wouldn't have read even if they could anyway.

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