786. The Bonfires of the Vanities

The Bonfires of the Vanities
Tom Wolfe
1987
Around 690 pages

I really did not enjoy The Electric Kool Acid Test, but I loved this. So I'm not totally crazy for continuing to read authors that I hate. Sometimes they can surprise you! 

The story centers on Sherman McCoy, a successful New York City bond trader. While driving through the Bronx with his mistress Maria Ruskin, they perceive two black men to be threatening. Fleeing the scene, they accidentally hit one of the men. The hit and run case is seized upon by many career and fame-hungry participants, including district attorney Abe Weiss and journalist Peter Fallow.

Getting behind the wheel is crazy. One minute you are a normal person doing errands, the next minute you could be a killer. Of course Sherman wasn't doing errands, but Wolfe still did a good job of making Sherman oddly sympathetic. He really did an excellent job capturing exactly how these cause celebres play out on the judicial and media level. It's...disheartening, to say the least. 

I can totally see how this could flop on screen, since so much of the brilliance of this novel is in its subtle commentary, which doesn't always translate to movies well. Great pacing, and one of those novels that doesn't feel nearly as long as it is.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into a critically panned movie in 1990.

Ran in 27 installments in Rolling Stone. 

The title is a reference to the historical Bonfire of the Vanities, which happened in 1497 in Florence, Italy, when the city was under the sway of the Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola, who ordered the burning of objects that church authorities considered sinful, such as cosmetics, mirrors, books, and art.

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606. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Tom Wolfe
1968

Around 420 pages

I loved Bonfire of the Vanities, but I typically don't enjoy drug-fueled romps. I'm not judgmental about all drug use, I just don't find it terribly interesting. It's like getting stuck at the party with the stoned guy and having to listen to him ramble. 

Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters take acid and roam around in a bus called the Furthur. It's pretty creepy to me that this is taking place at the same time as the Manson family. Obviously the groups are very different, but cults of any kind always freak me out. Kesey is idolized in an unsettling way to me. 

So this is interesting from a social history perspective, as we transition from beatniks to hippies. But I imagine many people connect to this novel because they feel disenfranchised and believe Kesey holds some answer key to society's problems. I don't feel that way.

I still think this is an essential read, but not my cup of drug laced Kool-Aid. Some creepy foreshadowing with the Jonestown mass murder.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts: 

Gus Van Sant has said he is working on the film adaptation, but there have been no new reports of the project progressing.

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