I Am Charlotte Simmons
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Tom Wolfe’s novel I Am Charlotte Simmons is 750 pages. Ya gotta have some balls to write something so long, and it better be really good if I’m going to invest that much time. Super long books have their advantages— it allows readers to really live with characters, growing with them and getting to know them better by seeing their day-to-day. The Goldfinch does this exceptionally well. I Am Charlotte Simmons does this to an extent-- but none of the characters are very likable. Ironically, the more I got to know them, the less empathy I had for them.
I Am Charlotte Simmons follows the interweaving lives of four students at Dupont University-- a fictional college with strong academics and athletics. There’s also lots of sex.
Pros of Wolfe’s college setting: I got to relive the highs and lows of my first year in college. I had forgotten how jarring that transition was. Wolfe also includes several course lectures, particularly an interesting neuroscience class, so readers get brief bursts of non-fiction.
Cons of Wolfe’s college setting: He was 74 when he published this book. Not that there’s anything wrong with that-- he looked bomb in his white suit up until the end-- but his description of young-people-parties can be a little cringey like…
I reviewed Wolfe’s first novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, a few years ago. It piqued my interest in him as a writer, but the novel itself is so-so. I respected his range even more when I read and reviewed The Electric Acid Kool-Aid Test-- Wolfe’s non-fiction portrayal of Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters. After reading I Am Charlotte Simmons, I see an icky pattern. Wolfe’s (main) white character’s have a whole lot to say about his (peripheral) black characters, who don’t ever get to express their point-of-view. Of course, I haven’t read all of his books, but when race is a persistent theme in two of his novels, but black characters don’t ever get an explicit voice, it’s a red flag.
Overall, I Am Charlotte Simmons is a fine book, but it was probably not worth my time. As Jacob Weisberg wrote for The New York Times, “You may never put down a Tom Wolfe novel. But you never reread one, either.” He has strong writing chops but boy does he love to drag a story out, even when the story isn’t necessarily worth it. I give I Am Charlotte Simmons 2 out of 5 flames.
