"I am Charlotte Simmons"
 

Tom Wolfe's new book is out; has anyone started reading it? I just started yesterday and it looks like it's going to be a pretty good read. I always enjoy TW, so I'm looking forward to it.

If anyone else is reading it or about to and would like to "discuss" it with other GreekChatters, here's your venue! :)


I will say that I am surprised that the book is set in Pennsylvania. For some reason, I had it in my mind that it was going to be set in a southern school. Could be because TW is a Washington & Lee alum, though.

i will be reading it soon..............when my best friend finishes it


She is from sparta NC

the book might as well BE about her!!

the same sort of things happened to her when she came to NCSU lol

What's it about?

Bought it today.

Plan on starting it tonight, so pray the crisis lines and my clients are quiet!

From Amazon:
Dupont University--the Olympian halls of learning housing the cream of America's youth, the roseate Gothic spires and manicured lawns suffused with tradition . . . Or so it appears to beautiful, brilliant Charlotte Simmons, a sheltered freshman from North Carolina. But Charlotte soon learns, to her mounting dismay, that for the uppercrust coeds of Dupont, sex, Cool, and kegs trump academic achievement every time.

As Charlotte encounters Dupont's privileged elite--her roommate, Beverly, a fleshy, Groton-educated Brahmin in lusty pursuit of lacrosse players; Jojo Johanssen, the only white starting player on Dupont's godlike basketball team, whose position is threatened by a hotshot black freshman from the projects; the Young Turk of Saint Ray fraternity, Hoyt Thorpe, whose heady sense of entitlement and social domination is clinched by his accidental brawl with a bodyguard for the governor of California; and Adam Geller, one of the Millennial Mutants who run the university's "independent" newspaper and who consider themselves the last bastion of intellectual endeavor on the sex-crazed, jock-obsessed campus--she gains a new, revelatory sense of her own power, that of her difference and of her very innocence, but little does she realize that she will act as a catalyst in all of their lives.
With his signature eye for detail, Tom Wolfe draws on extensive observation of campuses across the country to immortalize college life in the '00s. I Am Charlotte Simmons is the much-anticipated triumph of America's master chronicler.

i reserved it at the library the other day. i'm number 83 on the list. the list has gone quickly for other books, so i'm hoping i won't have to wait too long for this one.

Is this like anything to do with I am Briddy Murphy?

They had a long exerpt in the July Rolling Stone, the one with Doonesbury on the cover. (anyone read it?) Reading the exerpt, well, it reminded me heading about 'Pledged.' Like if it gets popular, I'm going to wind up defending the Greek system to a lot of people. The exerpt focused pretty exclusively on Hoyt Thorpe and basically, he was the stereotype of an upper crust frat boy. But hey - maybe TW completely moves past his fascination with males who need to be master and cruel commanders of their own domains.

I also pictured a Southern school...

I just finished the book, and well it took me a month to read with school and everything going on.

I found the book to be interesting, a difficult read with too much narration at times, but otherwise good.

As for the greek parts of the book, the stereotypes presented are not any different than any other outsider's knowledge. I would not compare it to the slander that pledged gave.

I found it more interesting how Wolfe painted the lead, Charlotte, with no street smarts. The book seemed more anti-feminism than anything. (And I would be using the feminism definition that men and women should be equal, not some super left incorrect definition)

What did anyone else think?

I had a hard time remembering that DuPont was supposed to be in the "upper, upper" echelon of colleges; up there with Harvard. I wonder if athletes are worshipped so avidly at schools like that? Or if there is really such shame in being a "brain"? Or if there is really so much friction between greeks and non-greeks. I always figured the attitude at such places is, "you were able to get in, so you're one of us."

The way he wrote the book, it felt to me like DuPont was soemwhere along the lines of U Michigan or Duke. A very good school, but not the tippy-top of the foodchain.

***

I would have liked to have seen Charlotte's roommate Beverly developed a little more.

***

In a school of uber smart people, why wasn't Charlotte respected more for her brains? It wasn't until she started dating Jojo that she gained some respect. But, then, maybe that was on purpose.

***

I had to force myself to finish reading the scene where Charlotte and Beverly and their families went to the Sizzlin' Skillet to eat. It was cringe-inducing!

Damn.

In the sprirt of Mullet et al I thought you were outing yourself in this thread KillarneyRose. That you were saying that you were someone else entirely :p

I had just gotten a diet coke and some pop corn to see all the posts . . . *sigh* I am dissapointed ;)

LOL, James! Sorry to disappoint you! Believe me, if I were pulling a Mullet, I'd have a better cover story than a thirty-something soccer mom :p

I bought this book Thursday evening and read it last night and today. I couldn't put it down - I was completely enthralled! One thing I didn't like was that it seemed that there were aspects of the story-line that were either underdeveloped, like T.W. had started them and didn't know where to go w/ them, or that he later simply cut them out for whatever reason.

KillarneyRose, I agree w/ you about why wasn't Charlotte respected more for her smarts? And the Milliennial Mutants - those people really annoyed me. Just the name of their group got on my nerves.

What I was sort of anticipating was that Savannah-girl in Mr. Sparling's class (the one who "replaced" Charlotte), she was going to end up being that Lucy Paige girl (or whatever her name was) that was the president of that sorority. And that was how Charlotte was going to climb back up the social ladder, while realizing that it was okay to be smart.

I was very sad that at the end she still didn't have any girl friends. But I was surprised when she started dating Jojo - I sort of figured she'd string Adam along a little bit more.

Overall, I thought this book was pretty representative of college life, or at least the college life I experienced. It was sort of like I re-lived some of it as I was reading it, and I could totally see some of the aspects of the different characters in each of my friends (and myself!) from college.

I read this book in about two days b/c I just couldn't put it down. It reminded me SO much of my school that it frightened me. Especially all whole basketball team stuff. I looooooved this book however and I highly recommend it. :)

I bought it in December and read it over Christmas. It was a long read but I enjoyed and I've been dying to find people who had also read.

I thought it was a pretty good synopsis of what college life is like these days. There were definitely moments that I could relate to what was going on in the book and it was like reliving parts of my college experience.

People who are smart dont get the credit they deserve unless they do something socially acceptable(ie date the star basketball player). I pretty much took that to be one of the main focuses of the book and which is probably why Charlotte only gets attention from the faculty when shes getting all these great grades and writing awesome papers. In college its only when you do something really kickass or bad that you stand out from the crowd (ie the formal incident and dating Jojo). I couldnt stand Adam or the Milliennial Mutants, AXiD670 the name made me cringe too!

I didnt think it slammed the greek system that bad, it was harldy the focus of the book. But like it or not we have some of those sterotypical people in GLOs and for Tom Wolfe as an outsider and a writer hes clearly going to notice that and mention it in his book to make for a good read.

KR- WHen I was reading it my comparision of Dupont was to Duke as well. Granted Duke is a great school but you're right in that I dont think if it was as elite as TW painted it that the althetes would be getting that much attention. Not that I'm a big college basketball fan but I dont think many Ivy league schools make it to March Madness like they do in Dupont. I had an issue with how he was trying to portray the school...it was like he was trying to mix a medley of different schools into one and characteristics of the school kept contradicting themselves.

All in all a good read. I didnt like how there were so many characters and some just got axed halfway through never to be heard from again. I didnt like how the book ended and it wasnt until I sat and thought about it that I figured how TW's message...definitely an ending you think about...no spoon feeding here!

I'm definitely up for more discussion if anyone else is! :)

I bought it before Thanksgiving and I still haven't finished it.

Note to self: Do NOT try to read this while drinking a Merlot. You lose track of where you were!!

I hope I'm done soon!

All I can tell you is about my experience at school. I went to Stanford, and I loved it. Like anywhere, there were social groupings—circles of friends and people who knew each other. People with similar interests generally hung out together, and there was some form of a social hierarchy (not unlike society at large). Not everyone cared- in fact I'd have to say most people didn't- they had their friends and that was that. But the social, attractive movers and shakers were still social, attractive movers and shakers. Being an athlete was a big deal- not only were you able to handle a huge time commitment and still be a student (an accomplishment that was quite admirable), but you worked out all the time and were probably good looking. Greek life was very small.

Another factor that might have contributed something was that literally everyone you met had done something notable, or had a hidden (or not so hidden) talent. But that was just it-- everyone was smart, everyone had done something cool, everyone valued their education and was willing to work for it. As a freshman, you suddenly realized that you were exactly the same as everyone else around you—there was definitely an impetus to distinguish yourself in some way academically or otherwise.

I've heard "I am Charlotte Simmons" is an exaggeration, and from the names of the characters and the plot description, I think that’s right on. But it’s fiction. Hard chemistry midterms and thesis writing don’t make exciting novels.

ETA: Ok Ok, this is pure gossip and speculation, but I've heard that Harvard is a lot like my alma matter in terms of social scene (laid back, individual, with an emphasis on modesty). I've also heard that Princeton and Penn have more social ladders to climb. But this is coming from someone who didn't go looking for any ladders -- I'm sure if you want to do some climbing you can find circles anywhere!

I had never heard of this book until I saw it at Barnes & Noble and bought it because I had a gift card and the book itself was really thick, so I was thinking a lot of bang for the buck. :p I couldn't put it down the first 3/4 of the way through it, but I thought the ending sort of...fell apart. I don't know how to describe what I mean--I just think it was too quick and sort of fell flat after all this building up.

At first, I was disgusted that someone could paint as stereotypical a picture of a "mountain family" as the author did, but after I thought about it some more, I realize he's right, to an extent. My grandparents were like that...talked like that, acted like that...so I guess it's realistic. But I did get a little bit of an anti-feminist vibe. The only "strong" woman in the book, that annoying Camille girl, was described as a "bitch" and always behaved in an over-the-top way...all the other girls were either naive (like Charlotte) or just eye candy, it seemed. That's scary if that's how the world really is...

I read it on a flight from JFK to Seoul. It was pretty good, and reminded me a lot of my college years. Of course, I wasn't as naive as Charlotte, but I knew a lot of girls like her!

Some more of my thoughts:

1. I went to school with a lot of kids who WERE Millenial Mutants. Of course, they didn't call themselves that. When Wolfe was describing Adam, he might as well have been describing half of the guys who worked on the independent newspaper on my campus--right down to being "bad-ass Rhodies."

2. I, too, thought it was sad that Charlotte didn't have any friends at the end of the book. Also...it seemed as if she stopped caring about school. Did being JoJo's girlfriend make up for all of that?

3. Regarding the Greek system on campus--it reminded me a lot of my own experience. Hoyt reminds me of several kids I knew who just assumed that they'd end up in i-banking just because of where they went to college.

4. The Sizzling Skillet part made me laugh the hardest! It made me think that maybe TW hung out in places like this to figure out what they were like.

CRAP! I shouldn't have checked this thread before I finished the book. :(

Too many spoilers.

The book was okay. Not what I expected from the wonderful Tom Wolfe (The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is one of my favorite books. Ever.). My hubby, after seeing the picture on the back, and not knowing anything about literature that wasn't written by Issac Assimov, stated, "Who's that pompous a**?". As much as I love Tom, sometimes it seemed like he was just writing to hear the click of his keyboard.

And the end? Anyone else think he was like, "Aw, crap, I've written 600 some odd pages already. Better tie this thing up." The last chapter was so random.

I would have loved to have seen Jojo more developed. It was just like dumb jock, oh no, I love him. And calling a sorority the Douches?!

I agree - the ending was rather abrupt.

I too would liked to have seen JoJo's character developed a bit more. Also, I would like to have seen the romance blossom b/w Charlotte & JoJo - was she dating him b/c she truly liked him (every time she talked to him she was so annoyed by him - why did this change?), or was it b/c she saw an opportunity to climb the social ladder? Also, had she learned from her mistakes and was she putting more of an emphasis on her studies?

"I am Charlotte Simmons" = a generally fair portrayal of life at Duke

Wolfe's daughter Alexandra graduated from Duke 3 years ago. He's visited a lot and talked a lot to her about what life here is like.

(oh and those of you who don't consider Duke "very academically strong" or whatever it is you said up there, we are ranked #4 in the country above many Ivy-League schools too even)

Ok, that definitely makes sense. Duke is definitely a big basketball school as well as academically strong.

Did you enjoy the book?

Ranked #4 where?

Anyone can make a list of "rankings"...only a few are actually credible.

== HI jACK ==

Well I don't know about socially really, but actually Cambridge really reminds me A LOT of Berkeley.


ETA: Stanford is def. laid back and has an emphasis on individuality, have you seen your band ?? :p :D

That being said I know quite a few grads and students of Stanford, and some of them weren't so modest, but hey I guess you can find that anywhere...

I liked the book, I thought it was good, it definitely reminded me of good times in college.
That said I HATED Charlotte. What a biotch. She gets upset about being judged, yet is constantly judging people the whole book. Makes fun of other girls for dressing slutty, and is constantly pinning up her clothes because her body is worth showing off in her mind. Puts Adam what I took as a month of BS, and is pissed at him after 14 HOURS of the same BS. She took this moral high ground and believed herself to be better then everyone, but why? Her morals were grounded in anything. Her virginity wasn't important to her because she was religious or something similar. Her virginity was important to her, because it was something she could hold over other peoples heads, and use to believe she was better then them. Unbelieveable. I was so glad I finished the book, because the girl was irritating me, and I couldn't take much more of her shit.

Just finished reading...

Some thoughts....

1) Def. a good portrayal of modern college life... couple things though, No University mails out grades... she coudl've hidden them until she lost her scholarship. That being said... IDK... I went to a mere state school, and people were totally respected for their brains, I mean of course people still would pressure you to go out with them even if you had a test... or said you wanted to study, but it wasn't like because you were considred a "nerd" for studying.. it was just because they wanted your company. I know he was emphasizing this for the athletes, but he seemed to make that point of the whole school as well, and that just really wasn't my experience... people were awed if you got good grades, going to the library wasn't something to "hide"

2) I agree with whoever said the ending was rather abrupt. Didn't really explain EXACTLY what become of Hoyt or Adam, or how Charlotte had come to be with Jojo.

Seriously the Douche ??!! :eek: I wouldn't join even if it was the "hottest" sorority :cool: hehe