Review: The Bonfire of The Vanities by Tom Wolfe

Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of The Vanities is an American classic. It is an epic portrait of New York City in the late 1980s, in the tradition of Charles Dickens’ portraits of 19th century London. The story revolves around Sherman McCoy, a Wall Street financier who, along with his mistress, is involved in a hit and run accident in the Bronx which ends up injuring a Black youth. This accident is soon picked up by the tabloid journals and becomes a political cause celebre used by the Bronx District Attorney’s office to demonstrate that Black lives matter just as much as White one’s.  The District Attorney reasons that a well-publicized arrest and trial of a wealthy White man will show the mostly Black and Latino citizens of the Bronx that he is on their side and will help him win re-election. Another person who uses the case for his own vested interests is the fiery Harlem preacher, Reverend Bacon. Wolfe meticulously describes how Sherman is taken down by the collusion of the tabloid media and the political class.  While Sherman is by no means innocent– leaving the scene of an accident is a crime in itself– he is not given a fair trial. The optics of the case clearly prejudice the D.A.’s office against him. They are out to deem him guilty, whatever the truth of the matter may be, so that they can gain political advantage.

Race is an important theme of the novel.  Wolfe depicts the New York City of more than three decades ago, in which White Manhattanites were terrified of going to Harlem and the Bronx. When Sherman and Maria initially get lost in the Bronx on the way back from JFK Airport, they are both terrified of the Black youths they encounter on the highway. They later justify leaving the scene of the accident by likening it to a “fight in the jungle”.  While this is clearly a racist and problematic attitude, it is an accurate description of the way that many White people felt at the time.  Even today, though many of these neighborhoods have now gentrified, White people are reluctant to visit them. 

Review: The Viceroys by Federico De Roberto

Federico De Roberto’s novel The Viceroys is one of the classics of Italian realism. Originally published in 1894, it was not translated into English until 1962. This translation has recently been reissued by Verso, allowing a new generation to become acquainted with this lost 19th century classic.

The novel is a sprawling family epic set in Sicily at the time of Italian Unification (the Risorgimento). It centers around the Uzeda family, descended from Spanish nobility who served as royal representatives in Sicily (this ancestry is why the family is known as the “viceroys”). Throughout the narrative, profound changes occur in Sicily as the island is transferred from Bourbon control to that of the new Kingdom of Italy. The monasteries are dissolved, an Italian parliament is formed and democratic elections are held. Yet these events seem almost insignificant to the Uzedas, who are more concerned about retaining their position in the system, which they successfully do.  While under the previous regime they represented the Spanish crown, under the new order they become parliamentarians, mayors and other local powerbrokers. De Roberto depicts a world in which, despite revolution and democracy, nothing really changes. An extremely unscrupulous and hypocritical family– more concerned with warring among themselves– is in power at the beginning of the narrative and remains in power at the end.  As the foreword by Franco Moretti states: “all the Uzeda have to show is sickness onto death, impotent greed, and outright imbecility. The Viceroys is a superb lesson in how coarse and rancid the collapse of a ruling class actually is” (VII).

The novel opens with the death of Donna Teresa Uzeda, the family matriarch (known as the “Princess”). Her children and her husband’s siblings gather for the reading of the will and the reader quickly learns that their main concern is who will inherit the most. This concern with wealth is one of the major themes of the narrative and comes up over and over again.  Throughout the rest of the novel, the reader becomes privy to the various family scandals, infidelities, and squabbles.  While politics is occurring outside the family circle– the massive transformation from feudalism to a more representative system–  the family continues to be concerned with staying on top.  No matter what changes occur in the society around them, the Uzedas will find a way to use those changes to maintain their own position.

Review: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

I have long been fascinated by Renaissance Italy and particularly by the Medici family.  Regular readers of this blog may recall my earlier review of John L’Heureux’s The Medici Boy. Thus, I absolutely had to get my hands on Maggie O’ Farrell’s latest novel The Marriage Portrait (Knopf 2022), which is historical fiction inspired by the marriage and possible murder of Lucrezia de’ Medici (1545-1561) at the hands of her husband Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara. This alleged murder also served as the inspiration for Robert Browning’s famous poem “My Last Duchess”.

The novel begins in 1561 during the last days of Lucrezia’s life. Alfonso has brought her to a remote fortress where she suspects that he will poison her. From this point, the narrative flashes back to Florence in 1544 at the time of Lucrezia’s conception.  These two timelines alternate throughout the novel, allowing suspense to build about the inevitable murder as well as allowing the reader to see what brought Lucrezia and Alfonso to this point.

Though told from a third person point of view, O’Farrell has chosen to detail only the thoughts and experiences of her protagonist. The reader’s view of other characters are thus filtered through Lucrezia’s perceptions of them. Alfonso, in particular, comes across as a malign presence and the reader must occasionally wonder whether this was truly the case or whether Lucrezia may perhaps be somewhat paranoid.  Sticking so closely to one character’s perspective also creates a sense of claustrophobia,contributing to the atmosphere of foreboding.