Its a review about this product
I'm surprised at several of the amazon reviews that seem to have taken reading this book as if it were a chore. Yes, it's long, but I, for one, found it strangely absorbing.Do not be afraid of long books. Wolfe engages in an impressive cast of characters and takes time to develop many of them. His narrative flow is superb. I enjoyed not only the plot and the characters, but the writing style as well. The author has a certain way with the English language that is captivating, and concepts like "boys with breasts" (aka today's skin-n-bones models), "saddlebags" and "hubba ho" can be both though-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny. Wolfe has a unique sense of humor, considering he routinely does things off-beat like naming a black maid "Auntie Bella" (antebellum?).Wolfe seems to love his characters (even the unsympathetic ones) and takes readers along for a wild ride with characters like Roger Too White (a "beige brother" lawyer and Morehouse grad), Serena Crocker (a money-chasing second wife), Martha Crocker (a bitter first wife), Raymond Peepgrass (a money-chasing bank geek after the first wife), and Conrad Hensley (a bitter blue-collar worker reborn in prison). The antihero main character, however, will blow you away. Charlie Crocker is as much tall tale as real man. A real-estate giant in Atlanta, as well as an ex-football great, Charlie teeters on the brink of bankruptcy and personal ruin. At times like watching a train wreck, one never knows exactly what to think of Charlie -- he can be both sympathetic and unsympathetic to the extreme. Wolfe seems to have a "take it or leave it" quirkiness that will engage some readers to the fullest and turn off others completely. Yes, you might have to sift through some of the author's annoying habits, like describing IN GREAT DETAIL every item of clothing every character is wearing at any given moment, but the experience of reading this book on the whole was very satisfying. I was left frustrated at the end, in fact, because I had no one to discuss the book with afterward. It really leaves a residue on the reader and begs to be thought of long after the last page has been turned.
