Charlie Coker is the main character. He is a real estate tycoon who is now coming into some money trouble. Wolfe weaves in a whole host of characters from the black politicians of Atlanta, to a disillusioned banker dealing with Coker's situation at his bank, to a lowly blue-collar worker in one of Coker's food warehouses.

Having grown up in Metro-Atlanta I expecially appreciated Wolfe's treatment of how racial lines are drawn in the city. I loved the discussion of how Southern Politics often works. I enjoyed the encorporation of the "Stoic" philosophy.

The outcome of the story was somewhat of a reach.

Mention it in intellectual conversations between me and friends

Wolfe has a wonderful writing style. The book is incredibly long, but you get through it because as you're reading one paragraph you just can't wait to get to the next.

The discussion of racial tension is the best I've seen from anywhere so far. I'm not a big fan of huge sagas, but I got through this book in record time.

It is rather long. It's really up to the person whether they like that or not. Personally, I feel that the descriptive power of Wolfe's writing makes up for it. He impels you to move forward.

One of my favorite passages:




"What Epictetus had to say was supremely simple, and he said it over and over again in different ways. All human beings are the children of Zeus, who has given them a spark of his divine fire. Once you have that spark, no one, not even Zeus, can take it from you. This spark gives you thee faculty of reasoning and the will to act or not to act and the will to get and the will to avoid. But the will to get and avoid what? "To get what is good," says Epictetus, "and to avoid what is evil." There is no use spending your life agonizing over the things that are not dependent upon your will, such as money, possessions, fame, and political power. Likewise, there is no use spending your life trying to avoid the things that are not dependent upon your will, such as the tyranny of a Nero, imprisonment, and physical danger...What do you think would have become of Hercules if there has not been a lion and a hydra and a stag and a boar and unjust and brutal men, whom he drove forth and cleansed the world of? What would he have done if there had been nothing of this sort? Is it plain that he would have wrappen himself up and slept and slumbered all his life in ease and luxury? He would never have been Hercules at all! What use would he have made of his arms and his might and his endurance and noble heart, had he not been stimulated and trained by such perils and opportunities?"

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Created Feb 23, 2002 at 7:21pm • Submit your own review...