<p>Anyone read "I am Charlotte Simmons"? I am a few chapters in and I feel like such a prude,...it is funny, coarse and perhaps accurate. Here in the prairie dog colony of cc, we examine the complexities of college ambitions and realities, sharing our insights and hopes. But what a portrait of today's fortunate generation,...I feel like I'm sending my lamb to the slaughter.
There is no promised land,...and what there is is gross.</p>
<p>I'm a college student, and I thought it was exaggerated and inaccurate and hated it. I mean, maybe that's just not what I see, and yeah, there's a grain of truth, but I was given the book by my grandfather who was pretty freaked out after he read it, thinking it was accurate. I don't think it's THAT accurate. Funny, yes. A study of college life, no.</p>
<p>I read the book and though it was exaggerated, I think he meant to hit on a few truths about college life today. One was to get ahead you cheat and he wasn't talking just about tests. Scratch the facade and find a community of normal human beings doing what they do in whatever community they may live.</p>
<p>LIke all of Wolfe's books, the setting and main characters are exaggerations, more like caricatures. But, there is an underlying truth in his book, re all of his characters and scenes. They are crafted to take aim at the excesses of the current student culture (excessive drinking, sex, partying, etc). Wolfe is said to have visited numerous colleges while gathering background for this book. His writing is satirical but revealing. Still, it is hard to imagine a college student being shocked by seeing himself in one of these characters - no perspective available. In the Bonfire of the VAnities Wolfe took aim at newly rich, white, urban professionals.....revealling the excesses of that class/group - many did not see themselves in this exposure either. Wolfe has said he is chronicling the "lurid carnival" of modern existence. As a parent of a freshman, I read Charlotte Simmons, doubted the existence of a pure character like Charlotte, but recognized her as a caricature of the girl that every father believes he sends to college - an innocent. Also, someone who embodies the very premise of a university/college setting - a student who wishes to learn more - live the life of the mind. I really enjoyed this book but I did not have a rosy view of college or college students today.</p>
<p>Riley, I like the way you put it. Charlotte is every man's daughter. Yes, I enjoyed it as well. Wolfe is a genius and I loved being able to talk to a genius and get some of his perspective.</p>
<p>Wolfe had a daughter at Duke when he was working on Charlotte Simmons. He did visit other colleges, too before publishing it. I have a S there now. I also read the book called Binge (terrible title) that a retired Time/Newsweek writer/Dad our age published last year. Binge's author visited many campuses to report on binge drinking and the sexual mores at various places where my S applied last season and is a Hamilton Grad. He lived in dorms and apts with students when possible, although much of that came across as a bit lame to me. I mean could any of us really get the skinny living with undergrads when pushing 60--or past 60 in the case of these two writers? I am up for it though--who will invite us to move in with them..you know for research purposes only?! Wolfe is a Wash and Lee grad, so he is around here a lot. Both men sort of missed the peak of the 60s and early 70s themselves and came out of old fashioned highly academic drinking frat colleges which were male dominated cultures. Both Hamilton College and Wash and Lee are working very hard to alter their campus cultures this decade because whether deserved or not..they have small town colleges with frat based cultures to contend with in a new age. Wash and Lee particularly resents being labeled a major drinking college year after year and addresses this issue in letters to prospectives. I think both authors' thoughts were often on the culture of their own undergrad schools, and I found this to be very interesting..they both continue to serve their alma maters in various capacities. Wolfe made a few unintended "errors" re college culture...bringing up B Spears for instance was unintentionally a mistake that many people laughed about. There are plenty of articles on the internet on Duke and Charlotte Simmons if you google the two. My take after perusing both books, is that neither man really nailed things down well and I found Wolfe's book to be egregiously satirical without characters that seemed very real, and not representative of the young adults from various states we know at Duke. And I am a big Wolfe fan..think he has left his mark in many past efforts. S read some of Charlotte Simmons over break and said it might reflect a small segment of current students and their social lives and beliefs about how to achieve status, but that mainly it was way over the top although Wolfe did address points of Duke culture that everyone does talk about. I think his best work in Charlotte Simmons was in drawing a picture of Charlotte herself. He clearly knows a lot about girls his daughter's age, and he knows the region where she "came from" and what she might have had to contend with.</p>
<p>I especially liked the Binge author's chapter detailing his stay at UC Berkeley. There was not even a pretense of social control of the students. The other universities he described were at least trying.</p>
<p>Tom Wolfe's book had exaggerated characters, good and bad, to drive the satire. Similar to the exaggerated facial characters in political cartoons. Enough similarity to make the character recognizable and relevant, and enough exaggeration to make the satire entertaining. I have been a Wolfe fan since the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test first came out. Simmons was a horrifying read for a college parent, but one that I could not put down.</p>
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I have been a Wolfe fan since the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test first came out
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<p>Same here. I also loved his first two novels (Bonfire & Man in Full), but somehow could not bring myself to read Charlotte Simmons. ;)</p>
<p>I thought it (from what I know) to be pretty on the mark. It showed a basketball hunk discovering that he had a brain, and making the most of it. A first-year woman from a home environment somewhat lacking in stimulation and sophistication struggling through her first term - both academically and emotionally - and then finding her place and her rhythm. It showed basketball coaches meeting the usual stereotypes, and then going beyond them. Students cheating to get ahead - with it working out for some, and not for others.</p>
<p>The sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll was relatively tame from what I see in my world.</p>
<p>My sister thought it sounded exactly like Penn when she was there!</p>
<p>Faline2 - just last night on 20/20 I watched yet another videotape of campus students drinking and partying to the point of alcohol poisoning complete with the typical comments from students that they work hard all week and party hard all weekend. While Wolfe's mere presence may have altered the "reality" of the experiences he participated in and/or observed, my assumption is that things would be more in check and not less in check - aren't his concerns at least worth discussing? Definitely, he observes campuses today from the perspective of someone who went to school in a different era but that doesn't make his observations less real. The question to me really is - do we accept this as normal since it is "normal" for the 2000s??? Or do take a look at the behavior from a 70ish POV and ask - is this what we want our students to experience at college....</p>
<p>Frankly, I find it all pretty depressing - college costs a fortune and I did not plan on spending a lot of money for that type of atmosphere or message.</p>
<p>I found Charlotte very depressing also. Having heard lots of stories from my four kids and their friends, some of Wolfe's observations are accurate. The date rape of the drunk Charlotte was the scariest and not uncommon. Doesn't bode well for the future.</p>
<p>My daughter is a junior at Cornell, and we both read the Wolfe book about a year ago. She commented that she thought he was a "pervert" for investigating the college social scene at his advanced age, but when I asked her what parts he had gotten wrong, she could come up with nothing in reply.</p>
<p>I have also been a Tom Wolfe fan since Electric Koolaid! When I read Charlotte Simmons, I was horrified yet fascinated. My daughter was a junior in college at the time and I just had a continual gut wrenching feeling as I plowed thru the story. I shipped her a copy of it via Amazon, she read it but had no comment!</p>
<p>About a year ago I went to hear Wolfe speak at a bookstore in LA. He read excepts from Charlotte and chronicled his experiences "researching" the story. He was witty, entertaining, and humble. And yes, he wore his white suit!</p>
<p>I read it and felt that Wolfe was just so out of touch. And the main character is just so insufferable - it was irratating to read, and definitely not a portrait of college life.</p>
<p>Theotherside: totally agree. Charlotte was a hypocritical snob; it was hard to generate much sympathy for her. It would be so much more interesting to read about a student with her background who also had a bit of integrity--or does Wolfe assume no one does? Anyway, it was clearly totally unlike my kids' college experience. I'm sure there are some people who behave like what's described there, but at a place like this school was supposed to be, someone, somewhere, is taking their studies a lot more seriously than Charlotte did.</p>
<p>I read it and kept wanting to slap Charlotte upside the head. There were no characters that I could relate to or feel sypmathy or empathy for. They were just caricatures. I'm sure there are real people and real events such as Wolfe wrote about, but when I read a book, I have to be able to connect with one of the main characters to make it enjoyable, and that didn't happen.</p>
<p>"I'm sure there are some people who behave like what's described there, but at a place like this school was supposed to be, someone, somewhere, is taking their studies a lot more seriously than Charlotte did."</p>
<p>I'm surprised you thought she didn't take her studies seriously. She had this 8-week period of first-year funk, complete with a highly realistic drunken rape, recovered from it, found a boyfriend, and was an "A" student. And the boyfriend, a jock, ended up awakening to the life of the mind as well. Did I read a different book? </p>
<p>(My only real complaint about what I thought was a pretty realistic, though understated, portrayal of college life was a lack of a Wal-Mart in Charlotte's hometown.)</p>
<p>Charlotte basically blew off the first semester, including big time research opportunities, because she was too busy partying with the idiotic frat boy who eventually raped her. The only character shown to be realistically interested in academics is the nerdy grad student, who, though he rescues Charlotte at her darkest hour, is portrayed as a loser most of the time. At the end, her claim to fame and apparently biggest triumph is getting to be the boyfriend of the basketball star, because that 's plainly what's most important at this school. In between all this, she looks down on anyone less cool than she is, because being mean is better than be associated with losers. (Wolfe stacks the deck by making all the unpopular girls in the dorm as unpleasant as possible, so you know it's their fault.)</p>
<p>It is such a mysogynist novel, but as i said, thankfully, it doesn't resemble anything like the life my kids have experienced in college (and I'd be surprised to hear it was much like your D's experience, either.)</p>
<p>Wasn't like my d's (for obvious reasons: all women's school). However, I work with college alcohol and drug taskforces that do both surveys and lots of focus groups, mostly on major state college campuses, and on the whole, I've heard much, much worse than what Wolfe portrays. But look again: nerdy grad student interested in academics. Nerdy freshwoman who has a bad experience, tailspins for 8 weeks, and is keenly interested in academics. Basketball player who decides he has a brain, and commits himself to using it. A coach who supports him. An entire club of nerdy people. All at a school where sports are the most important thing going on. Realistic representation of frat parties.</p>
<p>I have also become more attuned to how misogynist campus life has become for many, with campus culture (beginning with athletics and alcohol) so heavily dominated by Y chromosomes. (see link to my alma mater above, or to quote the latest issue of the campus paper:</p>
<p>The damage that has taken place runs the gamut, from broken windows, furniture, light fixtures, pool cues, vending machines, to outright vandalism to property, such as the damage in Tyler Annex, Miles said. We continue to have problems with unacceptable behavior with students urinating, vomiting and spreading feces in and around certain areas and while these incidents are much less common they do continue. </p>
<p>"Last weekend saw a particularly eclectic variety of damages. At an unregistered party at Perry on Saturday night, several students urinated into a cooler, which custodians found the next morning. Urine is a common sight at Perry, Miles said. People **** into the phone booth and around the house. )</p>
<p>"In addition to these incidents, a chunk of concrete was thrown at the Presidents house this weekend, breaking one of the large windows on the east porch."</p>
<p>For the record, I was a member of Perry House.</p>