A Man in Full

By: Tom Wolfe

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

Length: 35 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

The setting is Atlanta, Georgia - a racially mixed, late-century boomtown full of fresh wealth and wily politicians. The protagonist is Charles Croker, once a college football star, now a late-middle-aged Atlanta conglomerate king whose outsize ego has at last hit up against reality. Charlie has a 29,000-acre quail-shooting plantation, a young and demanding second wife, and a half-empty office complex with a staggering load of debt.

Meanwhile, Conrad Hensley, idealistic young father of two, is laid off from his job at the Croker Global Foods warehouse near Oakland and finds himself spiraling into the lower depths of the American legal system.

And back in Atlanta, when star Georgia Tech running back Fareek “the Canon” Fanon, a homegrown product of the city’s slums, is accused of date-raping the daughter of a pillar of the white establishment, upscale black lawyer Roger White II is asked to represent Fanon and help keep the city’s delicate racial balance from blowing sky-high.

Networks of illegal Asian immigrants crisscrossing the continent, daily life behind bars, shady real estate syndicates - Wolfe shows us contemporary America with all the verve, wit, and insight that have made him our most admired novelist. Charlie Croker’s deliverance from his tribulations provides an unforgettable denouement to the most widely awaited, hilarious, and telling novel America has seen in ages - Tom Wolfe’s most outstanding achievement to date.

©2010 Tom Wolfe (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"The novel contains passages as powerful and as beautiful as anything written - not merely by contemporary American novelists but by any American novelist.... The book is as funny as anything Wolfe has ever written; at the same time it is also deeply, strangely affecting." (The New York Times Book Review)

"A masterpiece." (The Wall Street Journal)

"Superior...utterly engrossing." (USA Today)

Thumbs up for Prichard

I'm a big fan of Tom Wolfe, but I almost didn't listen to this book since so many reviewers found fault with the narrator. To the contrary, I thought Michael Prichard was a perfect choice. His delivery was a direct and nuanced performance. Definitely worth five stars.

suburb novel--a modern Dickens

I found this novel very entertaining. The main characters are very well drawn. The plot lines are beautifully constructed. The scenes are nicely varied (warehouse workers, prison, high society, political strategists, businessmen). There is a lot of shrewd social commentary too. The narrator is excellent. Wolfe excels at getting inside the mach male mind. The one weakness is that the few female characters are rather marginal.

What a pity!

I remember reading and enjoying this novel when it was first published, so much so that I've checked from time to time to see if Audible had produced an audiobook version. I liked the story once again, but found myself constantly having to struggle through because of Michael Pritchard's narration.

To begin with, he has a sharp tenor voice (which I don't care for) marred further by nasal delivery. Worst of all, however, the narration lacks even a semblance of vigor. If any book (and writer) needs engagement with the characters and action, this is it. Consequently Wolfe's breakneck-speed writing is mired in a slow, ponderous vocal style. Finally, there are noticeable -- and annoying -- inconsistencies in audio quality, signified by variations in voice tone and volume, which have to be attributed to inadequate attention to recording levels and/or to poor editing.

Overall, an enjoyable novel but a disappointing audiobook.

THE BEST

This probably the best audio book I have ever listened to. The story is likely to change my life. The only possible improvement would have been an outstanding reader.

Great story and great storyteller

A great work of literary fiction done justice by a charismatic and compelling narrator. Highly recommended.

Don’t Miss Out On This Book!

I almost didn’t get this book because of some of the negative reviews about the narrator. Personally, I thought he was fantastic! Plus, this story is top notch! I could not put it down for a second. The moment I had a free minute or two I would pop my air pods in a pickup where I left off, it was just THAT engrossing! Buy it! You won’t be disappointed!

Great!

Long, but definitely worth it! Take a chance on this book. So well written and excellent performance of reading!

Eruption in Atlanta... Wolfe Style.

Herr Wolfe weaves a yarn that proves interesting, insightful, and compelling. The story's mostly set in and around Atlanta, Georgia. Zeus makes his salutary presence felt through the old Stoics (via a BOOK!), the unlikely Conrad Hensley and finally the even-less-likely Cap'm Croker... all the characters in this book are compelling, attractive, and at least somewhat repulsive. Wolfe explores the power of thought in our lives, racial politics in the American South (Atlanta and deep Georgia, specifically), the indomitable spirit, business and banking in this admittedly long book. Don't worry, though, as it's a sordid page-turner.

Fantastic story, solid narration

The story, the characters are worthy of Faulkner or Kesey. The narration is a solid performance. It nay be a generational thing, but older listeners might laugh at the narrator’s pronunciation of certain words and names, which may be unnoticed by younger listeners. I remember Chow En be Lai being pronounced “Cho”, but there were also ordinary words that, to my ear, the narrator didn’t know how to properly pronounce. For all that, he had good southern voices, male, female, black, and white. His Asian voice and pidgin were also creditable.

Great story, ends too soon though, solid narration

A long enjoyable reading of Wolfe's novel. The narration started a little stiff at first but it soon grew on me as the story proceeded and had me hooked by the conclusion, despite some strange mispronounced words along the way. it's been many years since I last read this novel and it still perfectly captures the spirit of Atlanta and its crazy politics and social conflicts. My gripe with the book remains however - While I understand why the author stressed the importance of religion and classicism into the plot and conclusion through it's main two characters I still wish he'd extended the book further and let the chaos promised in its setup truly let loose - that would've been great even through this long book would've been much longer.