Die hilfreichsten Kundenrezensionen
|
|
10 von 10 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
5.0 von 5 Sternen
"The Master of the Universe", 25. September 2009
"New Journalist" Tom Wolfe's first novel (1987) is panoramic satire, and very few groups come off looking very good. It is also the portrait of a very specific period in American history. For example, much of its plot would be different if it were set in the age of the cell phone when voice-activated recorders can be hidden in a pen or a cigarette lighter.
New York City is suffering from racial tension. Reverend Bacon, a black leader who can fill TV screens with demonstrators, intimidates the mayor and other white leaders. But Sherman McCoy, married to the fashionable interior designer Judy, and the central figure in the novel, devotes his attention to his role as chief bond trader for a Wall Street firm and to the affair he is carrying on with Maria Ruskin. When he picks up Maria at Kennedy airport, they become lost in the Bronx on their way back to Manhattan, and at an on-ramp they encounter two young black men in what they are sure is an attempted carjacking. In the course of the incident, Maria takes the wheel of the car, and they escape, not sure if they have hit one of the men.
As the plot develops, McCoy becomes the victim of a social system that seems to be based on power. The power play of prosecutors who only want to further their careers and politicians seeking reelection. The press, the police, the clergy, and assorted hustlers high and low are closing in on him, licking their chops and giving us a gargantuan helping of the comédie humaine of New York in the last years of the 20th century. Wolfe's gallery ranges from Wall Street, where people in their thirties feel like small-fry if they're not making a million per year, to the real streets, where the aim is lower but the greed is just as virulent.
Wolfe's literary model for "Bonfire" seems to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," perhaps the greatest American novel about money and the way in which it can warp human beings. "Bonfire" mirrors Fitzgerald's novel in one central part of its plot. Gatsby is destroyed because of an auto accident. While Gatsby is driving with his adulterous lover, his car strikes a woman who is killed. Her husband tracks him down and shoots him. In "Bonfire", McCoy is brought low because of another auto accident while driving with his adulterous lover: his car strikes a young black man who eventually dies. He is prosecuted for the death. But perhaps the most telling link between the two events is that in each case the man is not driving.
"Bonfire" is a novel, but it is based on the same sort of detailed on-scene reporting for which Wolfe became famous. Readers who liked "The Right Stuff", "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test", or his first book, a collection of magazine pieces "The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby" will certainly appreciate that.
In 1990 the film adaptation was directed by Brian de Palma and stars Tom Hanks (Sherman McCoy), Bruce Willis (Peter Fallow), Melanie Griffith (Maria Ruskin) and Kim Cattrall (Judy McCoy, Sherman's wife). Despite the star power, the film was a critical and commercial flop when it was first released. The film cost an estimated US$47 million to make, but initially grossed just over US$15 million at the U.S. box office. Overall, it was nominated for 5 Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Actress(Melanie Griffith), Worst Supporting Actress (Kim Cattlall) and Worst Screenplay.
|
|
|
8 von 10 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
5.0 von 5 Sternen
A magnificent masterpiece, 18. Dezember 2002
Iam more than happy that I finally read the book, although I knew about it for a long time. during my free-time I read a lot and this book was a terrific read, one of the best books I ever picked up. it is about the fall of sherman mccoy, a wall street 'wunderkind'. one night, he and his 'foxy love' take the wrong exit of the freeway and find themselves in the bronx. by accident, they hit a joung black male. the hit-and-run causes them unthinable trouble and from now on, everything goes straight downhill. simultaneously, many other people take advantage of their doom. foremost, the journalist p. fallow and rev. bacon. the book is full of interesting, funny, and bad characters (especially mccoy himself who is indescribably arrogant, the english journalist as well as the slimy, sycophant kramer and the 'influencial' rev. bacon to name but a few) and wolfe provides an excellent description of ny in the late 80's. however, due to the fact that iam german I do not know whether everything is true or a slightly exaggerated description. but I perosnally think it doesn't matter at all because the message is clear: in an achievement-oriented society everyone is only interested in its own benefits and goes 'over dead bodies' to reach more and more. of course, it is stereotyping but I safely assume that this is true and undenieable at least to a certain degree. the bonfire of the vanities is a bitter-sweet, satiric, funny, dramatic, and enthralling novel everyone ought to read. maybe one of the finest american novels of recent times. what I liked most is the fact that there are no 'real heroes' and almost every character shows its dreadful, abhorrent side. of course, the book has its lenght but its worthwile to proceed because the pace is always high and so many amazing things occur although one might correctly guess what is supposed to happen next. moreover, wolf's writing is great, in particular the different linguistic details in terms of dialects, abusive language etc. are absolutely fabulous. with a clear conscience, I highly recommend this book. one last advice, stay away from the movie! for people who haven't read the book it might be not too bad but for everyone who has read the book it is a tremendous dissapointment and maybe one of the worst movie-adaptions ever. absolutely terrible!!!
|
|
|
2 von 2 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
5.0 von 5 Sternen
Kühler Zynismus, 6. Januar 2007
Was habe ich um dieses Buch einen Bogen gemacht. Obwohl ich Tom Wolfe eigentlich mag. Schuld daran ist die entsetzliche Verfilmung des Buches von Brian de Palma mit Bruce Willis und Tom Hanks, die ich abgesehen von einer guten Opener-Sequenz zu den schlechtesten Arbeiten von dePalma zähle, dessen Filme ja gerne zwischen «ziemlich brilliant» und «voll daneben» oszillieren. Aber nachdem ich entdeckt habe, daß es sogar ein Buch darüber gibt, wie sehr und vor allem warum dieser Film trotz bester Voraussetzungen ein Vollfiasko wurde, habe ich dann doch mutig das Wolfe-Buch bestellt und siehe da es ist gut.
Wolfe entfaltet die Dekonstruktion des Wall Street Brokers und Yale-Mannes Sherman McCoy als New Yorker Intrigenstadl. Es gibt niemanden hier, nicht bis ins kleinste Detail, der unschuldig ist. Vom Staatsanwalt und seinen Assistenten über einen schwarzen «Bürgerrechtler» Reverend Bacon, Sherman, seine Frau Judy, seine Geliebte Maria, seinen Anwalt Killian, Yellow-Press-Schreiberlin Fallow bis hin zu kleinsten Nebenfiguren ausnahmslos jede Figur in diesem Buch ist eitel, hat den Blick auf den eigenen Vorteil, ist manipulativ, gierig und dabei bemitleidenswert und verzweifelt. Sherman wird auf diesem «Freudenfeuer» (nicht Fegefeuer, wie der deutsche Buchtitel fälschlicherweise nahelegt) der Eitelkeiten fröhlich geopfert und ist doch keine tragische Figur, sondern selbst ein hohler Fatzke, bei dem selbst dessen Wendung zum professionellen Angeklagten am Ende des Buches keine echte Katharsis zu sein scheint, sondern nur eine weitere eitle Facette seiner Persönlichkeit. McCoy ist auf fast hilflos-kindische Art gefallsüchtig, so daß er selbst befürchtet, seine Zellennachbarn nicht ausreichend zu beeindrucken und aus seiner Fahrerflucht kurzerhand Totschlag macht um genau aus dieser Episode später auf einer Party wieder Kapital zu schlagen, als er plötzlich genießt was er vorher noch so verabscheut: Im Mittelpunkt der Aufmerksamkeit zu stehen. Der Master of the Universe, wie er sich als Broker selbst definiert, verliert im Grunde nie seine Hybris, seine Großmannssucht, letztlich seine überkompensierten Minderwertigkeitskomplexe. Auch als Opfer inszeniert er sich noch. Wie ein Papierschiff driftet McCoy durch die Machenschaften seiner Umwelt, die Wolfe kühl zynisch entblättert. Fast ohne realen Spannungsbogen, journalistisch, geht es dem Buch eher um die Betrachtung von NY als Mikrokosmos der Oberflächlichkeiten, des Grellen, der Moderne im Niedergang. Es gibt keine einzige Figur, die in diesem System, in dem Oberschicht wie Unterschicht, Park Avenue wie Bronx, gleichermaßen abstoßend serviert werden, die wiedergutmachenden Charakter hätte, die Hoffnung zuläßt. Sie alle sind kaputt, sie alle sind gierig und genau deshalb vielleicht bemitliedens- oder sogar liebenswert. Aus diesem seltsamen Misachung zwischen Tragödie und Gegenwartssatire schöpft das Buch seine Kraft, ohne dabei jemals aufdringlich oder unentspannt zu werden, im Gegenteil, nur einmal durchbricht Wolfe die Pose des lässigen Raconteurs wenn auf einer Dinnerparty der AIDS-Kranke Schriftsteller Aubrey die versammelte Gesellschaft der Schönen und Gelangweilten mit den Figuren in Poes The Masque of the Red Death vergleicht und damit für einen kurzen Moment den summenden Bienenstock der High Society zum Schweigen bringt.
|
|
|
Die neuesten Kundenrezensionen
|
Weitere Editionen und Formate anzeigen
Weniger Editionen und Formate anzeigen
von Tom Wolfe
von Tom Wolfe
DVD ~ Tom Hanks
von Tom Wolfe
