I Am Charlotte Simmons

You know the Kanye West song, "George Bush Don't Like Black People"? Well this novel could be titled, "Tom Wolfe Don't Like Young People". Of course it might be said that his earlier books ruined the reputations of cocky young stockbrokers and wealthy real estate tycoons alike. Maybe Tom Wolfe don't like nobody. The pure, beautiful and intelligent backwoods girl, Charlotte Simmons is like some sister from another planet parachuted onto the Dupont University campus. Her North Carolina accent, unfashionable clothes and lack of guile set her apart from her priveleged and sophisticated fellow students. The guys, jocks,frat boys and nerds, are all drawn in by her innocent rustic appeal. Will virtue triumph? By the second semester she seems to have lost her moral compass but, on the upside, has adapted to the sex and booze soaked swamp that is college culture and seems poised for success. I Am Charlotte Simmons could have benefitted from some ruthless editing. Does Wolfe think that his books have to be thicker than everyone else's? This one makes a better doorstop than it does a novel. The repugnant caricatures in this book have few redeeming qualities. The jocks are all as dumb as stumps, the bright guys are nerds, the girls are either gorgeous trollops or ugly misfits. Mama and Daddy are hardworkin' and virtuous. I struggled to finish this and it left me feeling that maybe I don't like young people either.