Correction-- treatment on Wolfe, is 330 pages. Read this,then collect..for posterity,l of the US greatest O'Lost" over 750 pages, (20000) ..also edited by Mat Bruccoli,foremost scholar on .Wolfe's m/s...for & about Asheville's....hero-novelist who they thought was...at that time..as if he were "Dr.Hunter S. Thompson"

Look Homeward Angel has for decades been a standard coming of age book read devotedly by people in their late teens and early twenties. Over the years, stories developed concerning the amount of cutting that editor Maxwell Perkins (who also edited Hemingway and Fitzgerald) did on the book. The accepted wisdom was that Perkins pulled a masterpiece out of a huge, unpublishable manuscript. This edition, which is based on Wolfe's orginial manuscript and uses his chosen title, shows that while Perkins did help to shape the book, the text that he began with was not the monstrosity it was later believed to be. Some of the cuts Perkins made, such as W.O. Gant's memories of Gettysburg, would appear in Of Time and the River, and Perkins later admitted that he was wrong to cut it. Other material that one reads for the first time seems less important. Overall, I did not find the book to be that different from Look Homeward Angel. It shows both Wolfe's strengts and weaknesses, his abiliy to create Whitmanesque passages, and to engage in self-indulgent prose. I agree with the other reviewers that it is unfortunate that this book so quickly was allowed to go out of print. Whichever version you read, this is a book best read before you are 30.

I first re read Look Homeward Angel,( which I had not read for almost 50 years) then O Lost. I think that the original manuscript is far superior to the edited version, that was originally published. Certainly the introduction is excellant and sets the stage for W.O.Gant's odessey. Admittedly, some editing would be helpful, to make a smoother transition from one chapter to another, but only minor ones, not the radical surgery that was actually done.

I think that Wolfe realized this, and that was why he changed publishers. I look forward to the unedited manuscripts of the Web and the Rock, and You can't go home again.

My only problem is that during the period when I first read these novels, I have had medical and particularly psychiatric training. It is obvious that W.O. suffered from severe bipolar or manic depressive psychosis. With modern treatment, he would have been a happier man, or at least those around him would have had better lives. But then perhaps Thomas Wolfe would not have been the writer that he was to become.

What a wonderful book. It's too bad so many readers today know only Tom Wolfe, not Thomas Wolfe. Even though it has been at least 10 years since reading Look Homewood Angel, I knew almost immediately when I came to the new sections. They add a depth to the novel, bringing in the whole town and relatives, rather being only about Eugene Gant. My favorite Wolfe readings involve trains; the experience about time stopping for a moment when you look into the eyes of someone looking directly at you into the train, is exactly as I remember my earlier train rides.What are they doing now, that the train has passed? Other 800 page books might be dull, but not this one. Having been given it as a present recently, I am very surprised and disappointed that it is already 'out of print." More people should know about O Lost!

This is a collection of short stories from the author of "Look Homeward, Angel". I think that I took more enjoyment from this book because I've read Wolfe's other novels - therefore the background to the stories and Wolfe's writing style were already familiar to me.

Many of the characters in the stories are from families that appear in Wolfe's other works. But the real pleasure came from the fact that the stories are set in the rural South - I think that Wolfe's writing is particularly strong when he draws upon his Southern background. And, unlike parts of his major novels, Wolfe's writing style seems to be more under control in these stories, less prone to self-indulgence.

This collection of stories is far and away the best sampling of his true literary mastery. I have always enjoyed Southern writers (Faulkner,Capote,..), but Wolfe touches a particular vein of the satirical social landscape of the South that is unmatched. His work, I believe, is less about the South than Faulkner's, but Wolfe still has that southern glow of tragedy but with a simple beauty. Though some may find his novels tedious and long-winded, it is difficult to not like this work. Just be patient and let the words come to you. The thing I like most about his short stories is that they often leave you with a feeling of lying in bed on a summer's night listening to the train pass through town or maybe a lone dog barking in the distance, hollow... but thinking that you could live forever.

This is a collection of short-stories. For us who may be heratics in our beloved Southern Literature when it concerns Thomas Wolfe, we contend that he is a very verbose, messy messy author. His first editor had to cut and shape a large manuscript into three seperate novels (I believe that I'm correct in this), of which Look Homeward Angel was the first. (Apparently he wrote them on top of a refridgerator: a tall man.)And that book goes on and on and on--like the bunny commercial. He totally ignores any kind of sembulance of form. That is his problem, he does not brible his passion properly, Look H-- is a good book--but it could have been great--or atleast greater, depending on your view point.

Hemingway said that he was good until he began writing about other places than his home. I have to agree with that.

Now. This book, however, is his best crafted fiction. That simple. Something about the demanding, concise form of the short story works him over well. The first time that I read it I thought--that's it! The Southern author I've been looking for. But, unfortunately, I became all worked up for Look H-- and after reading that it all fizzled. One wonders two things: 1. what if he had lived longer?, he seems to have just become the craftsman that was always demanded for his ferver; and 2. what if he had written Look Homeward Angel, after he had true command of his skills.

This is a great book. In my opinion his best. Read it.

Those who enjoyed Look Homeward Angel will find this novel somewhat disappointing. Continuing Eugene Gant's story with his trip to Harvard, and life in New York, the book lacks the vivid characters of the earlier novel. While the book contains some wonderful, Whitman-like passages, the only real character is Eugene Gant; everyone else seems to exist only to show how brillant Gant (Wolfe) is. Moreover, some of the book seems to border on anti-semitism. Nevertheless, anyone interested in Wolfe will want to read this book.

It was early 1980 when I first read "Look Homeward.." for a University of Colorado course. The professor who seemed to be a hundred years old to me at the time instructed me to read my critical report to the entire class. After smugly concluding Wolfe was lacking in many areas the professor graded my paper an "A"...then she patted my young shoulders and told me that one day I'd be old enough to understand Wolfe. She was right and my criticicm was dead wrong. Wolfes' wordiness is his beauty. The scene in "Of Time And The River" where his father dies is as beautiful and compelling as anything I've read. I think the book is unique and those who are critical of it may need to read it again -when they are a little older.

Without question Thomas Wolfe is the best American writer that ever lived. The only thing to remember is that his writing accurately describes a perod of American life far in the past. His style is to be completely free to say anything and describe things as they really were in his view, and has therefore ruffled many feathers.

This book is best described as a kind of bildungsroman. Unfortunately Thomas Wolfe has been overshadowed by that other more modern writer sharing his name. It would be safe to say that that other writer was more revolutionary. Thomas Wolfe is not doing much new, he is a story teller, and one not to all tastes. Tom Wolfe you read for his place in literary history, Thomas Wolfe you read more for its description of the second quarter of the twentieth century and New York.

He rambles a lot. He repeats himself. Sometimes it's hard to tell where he's going with something, and sometimes it's very obvious we're dealing with roman a clef, or what Wolfe wished his life to have been. It's more a collection of incidents, until he meets his "gal". I get the feeling Wolfe was striving after that elusive "Great American Novel", and its whole look at life is very American. It concerns the boy from the small town south (thinly veiled North (? South) Carolina), symbolically coming together with the North (including his girlfriend who is an epitome of the North). But it's difficult to see much more depth than that, that's not to say it isn't there, but there isn't much sign of it.

If you keep on at it, it's not a bad read, but it's not the best read I've had either. His style makes for fairly slow reading and it drags a little a third of the way through.

A bitter, imperfect and yet compelling novel. As in his earlier works, I found Wolfe to be stronger when he describes small-town life in the South than when he moves onto a wider stage. The illustrations of youth are particularly powerful, and I should imagine strike a chord with anyone brought up in a small town, anywhere.

Wolfe pulls no punches when attacking the idolisation by the old of their poverty-striken past: for Wolfe there is no fondness at the recollection of grinding poverty, of the unceasing production of children to be born into penury. The bitterness of the "nostalgia" of Webber's uncle Mark Joyner is starkly contrasted to the drivel spouted at the young Webber by his other relations. Wolfe's descriptions of the horrible Lampley family also stick in the mind.

The novel then moves to New York and the affair between Webber and the married woman, Esther Jack. The descriptions of the attitudes of Southerners in the North could be written of Northerners in the South of England, and are at times funny yet ascerbic. The details of Webber's relationship with Esther grated on me after a while (the endless repetition of the same old arguments), yet is it true that we often hurt the ones we love the most? Wolfe seemed to be exploring similar territory to DH Lawrence, who (among other things) described the mixture of deep emotions - love and hate are so strong that they often exist with each other rather than to the exclusion of each other. Yet I was left wondering what of Mrs Jack's husband and daughter - how did her affair with Webber affect them? Wolfe barely mentions them in passing.

Woven into this complex novel are Wolfe thoughts on the persistence of memory and the transience of time. I detected heavy Proustian influences at work here. In all, an emotional, moving and powerful piece of work.

I am astounded that such a moving, powerful, and lyrical book is out of print. Wolfe writes with such a commanding and passionate love of language. His prose *is* poetry. There are passages in this book that rank with the most romantic and ethereal ever written. The sense of place in NYC is virtually unparalleled. George Webber's love for Esther Jack--the lost half of the broken talisman--remains one of the more beautiful and moving of interpersonal relationships set down in print. That such hackneyed, commercial tripe as "The Bridges of Madison County" goes through multiple printings while this gem languishes out of print is beyond me.

If you're looking for light reading, this is not for you!Thomas Wolfe's writing is akin to old Victorian furniture...ornate,heavy, and cumbersome,but with its own particular beauty.Wolfe is in love with the language, almost to a fault.I found his descriptive style tedious at times, piled high with far too many adjectives.This coming-of-age story is sweet within itself.And Wolfe gives us an interesting and detailed historical description of the area around Altamount, North Carolina,and the city of Boston, and Harvard University. The thoughts and feelings of a bright and talented young man trying to find his way in the world, weave their way throughout the fabric of the story.If you are willing to forge your way through all the heavy prose, this would be worth your while. But this tome is NOT for the faint of heart.

Wolfe is known for his wordiness. So, 500 plus pages of oblique, almost pretentious prose could be too much for the average reader. The book is rarely boring, though. Actually, the more time you spend with this one, the more you will absorb, the more you will enjoy. Wolfe's descriptions of the characters and emotional climate of Eugene Gant and the townspeople of Altamont are stunning. University of North Carolina alumni, prick your ears: Chapel Hill, redubbed Pulpit Hill, was here put on the map more than half a century before Superchunk did the same thing with a different medium. The book never drags, and becomes pompous and a bit annoying only when the words "Oh, Lost!" crop up three or four times in a single paragraph.

A side note: Wolfe was, of course, a well read man. Something that dawned on me a while ago: There is an homage to the great poet William Blake here. Blake, after the death of his brother Robert, whom William was training as an engraver, claimed to see visions of his brother, instructing him on how to format Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. Towards the end of the novel, Eugene Gant, grief stricken at the death of his brother Ben, weathered and aged though still in college, sees visions of his dead brothers Grover and Ben, swirling around him in a benign cloud of otherworldly wisdom and commiseration. Clever, Tommy.

A great book all round.

A novel about growing up living and dying. A life filled with anguish,angst,loneliness and quiet beauty. The characters are so vivid you can see the buttons on their coats. Wolfe loves his life but he also knows that it will soon be over, so he captures the essence here. This novel is sometimes so beautiful it will fill your heart to the brim, making you stop reading ,put the book down and hold the ache until it passes. A must must read. Wolfe's "Of Time and the River", is also brilliant, as is his short stories.

I think that this was an excellent book and a lot of people would enjoy it if they would take the time to read it. I enjoy all of the information that she gave. And even more the borders were what kept me reading the book.

The Confederate fighting man is the subject of these 11 very touching short stories written by the likes of F.Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe. You don't have to be a Civil War fanatic or a Southerner to appreciate this book. You only have to love a well crafted story

This book can be a major help for those who suffer from heartburn and acid reflux disease. It covers the causes, symptoms, available treatments, and strategies for living with reflux disease.

Clear explanations are provided are provided for the problems that you suffer from, and the side effects such as chronic bronchitis. The book also covers tactics for living with reflux.

What happens when you write a book that is so autobiographical that you not only alienate your entire hometown, but earn their hatred? "You Can't Go Home Again" is a very poignant tale that captures America between the time of the stock market crash of 1929 and the rumblings of WW2. Though the book drags out at times (an insufferable cocktail party seems to consume almost three chapters!), the excellent writing makes it all worthwhile.

As one who did not experience the Great Depression and the rise of Nazi Germany firsthand, this book brought me closer to it than any history book could because these events were seen from the vantage point of ordinary people. The writer (George Webber) pens a successful novel about his hometown that so accurately portrays the scandalous activities of his townfolk that he becomes persona non grata. Shunned by his family and friends, he has a choice to make: Stay with his rich lover and her high-society friends in New York or make his own path in the world while retaining his artistic ability.

His travels take him from Brooklyn to Europe, in particular, Germany where Adolph Hitler has taken power and he witnesses firsthand the disturbing changes that take place.

The character development and fine prose more than compensate for the slow moving plot lines (which is why I gave it four stars instead of five). This is a good book for lazy summer reading. Not a book to rush or skim through. I was fascinated by the attention given to developing minor characters such as the Oriental sculptor neighbor or the friend from back home who was at the tail end of a professional baseball career. You will learn a lot about how ordinary people dealt with the Depression or the rise of the Nazis. You will see the sad but hopeful plight of Americans during the Depression and also the hopelessness that good people had in Germany when Adolph Hitler seized power. I look forward to reading more from Thomas Wolfe.

After reading Look Homeward Angel, I became enthralled by Thomas Wolfe's verbose use of the English language. I set out to discover another tittle by the famed North Carolina author. At first, I found the sure depth of You Can't Go Home Again daunting. But as I began to explore the pages that lie within, I found myself becomming increasingly drawn to Wolfe's new found literary style. It seemed that age had found him closer than ever to the ultimate perfection of his craft. The impurities of his first novels, which could easily be seen as the product of his feverish insecurities, have been all but erased. He takes the reader further into the heart of the English Language, than any other author of my experiences. Each sentence seems to leap forth from the page with true vigor and color. You feel as if you are being led through an elaborate tour, which spans the distance of the globe, while diving into the churning bowels of literature's purest potential. It does however, lack the keenly crafted story lines of today's market. It is obvious that Wolfe has taken little heed in fufilling the alleged requirements set by authors before his time. Instead the style that accompanies him throughout his domestic and foreign travels, and throughout the heart of his most rewarding and demanding personal relationships, is something wholly his own. It must be read to grasp, for its many pages span a plethro of subjects. It is for the reader who is looking for a work of art, which is true to the authors most profound, honest, and concise emmotions.

Thomas Wolfe was not a good novelist, but he was a GREAT writer. As I tell my American History students, no one ever put words together in the English language more beautifully than Wolfe. I've read through - at times skimmed through - all of his books. This is the only one I found interesting as a novel. BUT the prose-poetry which pervades everything he wrote is so extraordinary as to be heartbreaking. One reads and reads, and suddenly one encounters the most breathtaking passage, and then another, and another. In You Can't Go Home Again, the eloquence comes on virtually every page. And the conclusion, with Wolfe's paean to his former editor, Maxwell Perkins, and his reflections on our America, is overwhelming.