The Bonfire of The Vanities

Interesting but funny tale of social and race relations in New York covering blacks and whites; Wasps, Donkeys (Irish), Italians, Jews; the rich in Wall Street with million-dollar homes on Fifth Avenue, the poor in the Bronx and the obstacles they face. Sherman McCoy and mistress Maria Ruskin represent the white rich, while Henry Lamb and Roland Auburn represent the struggling black poor, with reporter Fallow representing the paparazzi, exposing different aspects of the story as it develops—The fall of McCoy from grace to grass. Reverend Bacon is the mouthpiece of the black and Puerto Rican and other minorities, speaking out for justice, or so it seems.

It all starts from Sherman’s desire for beautiful exciting young flesh, forsaking his wife for the sexy Maria Ruskin, wife of a rich old man. It ends with his social and financial ruin as a result of litigation and protests following the injury and subsequent death of Henry Lamb after he was hit by Sherman’s car (driven by Maria) and they ran away rather than taking him to a hospital.

Along with race relations, the story takes swipes at the justice system, showing how it really works behind the scenes, with attorneys trading favors and making deals. And not left out is the social parties of the rich, how people conducted themselves there, how women referred to as social x-rays starved their bodies in a bid to look skinny, ending up looking like walking skeletons.

April 1, 2015. Review initially written in 2010. Novel first published in 1987 by Farrar, Straus & Ginoux; this Bantam Books edition being published in 1988, ISBN 0-553-27597-6.