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A Wall Street bond trader’s life collapses after a wrong turn in the Bronx
1987Steady paceDark
What it is about
Sherman McCoy is a rich Wall Street trader who gets lost in the Bronx and is involved in an accident with a young Black man. The incident becomes a political scandal. Wolfe’s novel is a satire of money, race and politics in 1980s New York.
Who will enjoy it
Readers who like big satirical novels.
What you will get
A defining novel of 1980s New York.
The Bonfire of the Vanities Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Literary Fiction · Satire · New York · 1980s
Length
659 pages · ≈ 19 h
More about this book
Characters
Sherman McCoy, Peter Fallow and Reverend Bacon.
Setting
New York City in the 1980s.
What makes it different
A big social satire in the style of a Victorian novel.
Feel
Sharp, funny and cynical.
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