Customer Reviews

Fierce People

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Fierce People is one of the best books I have read in months. Finn, the main character, is a wildly funny, terribly naive, extremely trusting, and hopelessly brave 15-year-old. He finds himself in situations he can't control and comes out of each of them smelling like a rose. While reading this book, I thought I knew each and every character personally. But, the author threw a twist in every now and then, which increased my fascination with the entire population of Vlyvalle all the more.

This book draws you in from page one and doesn't loosen its grip until the end. The climax of the book is a nailbiter! I couldn't put this one down. I REALLY hope there is a sequel!! I would love to read more about Finn and the entire "tribe"!

There are two times when I feel compelled to write to other readers. One is if a book is a huge disappointment and I have felt mislead by the book review hype. The other time I feel compelled to write a review is when I absolutely love a book. And in the case of the Fierce People, i love the book! The characters are wacky but very believable and the plot is perfect for a summer read.
It is the kind of book that you want to tote with you, sneaking in a chapter or two whenever or wherever possible. This book deserves notice...it has the perfect pitch for a summer sizzler!

Wittenborn portrays what happens when a lower socioeconomic class teen age boy and his recovering drug user mother are plucked from working class poor society and placed into Upper Class "blue blood" society.

Wittenborn has a unique gift of capturing very real, very powerful concepts of class segregation with a sense of humor.

This book was a sheer joy to read. I read this book cover to cover two times in row while amidst eleven other texts that I needed to finish.

If there ever was a book that depicts U.S. social economic classism, family dysfunction of all classes, and a great story, this is it!

Don't pass this book by and if you are a professor, this is a must read for any sociology, psychology, or English lit student.

I anxiously awaited the movie that was adapted from Wittenborn's novel staring Donald Sutherland. While Sutherland's portrayal of the "old man" was beautifully constructed, the move left me sadden that they butchered the story so badly. Don't base the book off the movie, this is one of those books where the movie didn't even come close.

Fierce People is a brilliant piece of work and it captures class consciousness as well as the inner workings of Upper Class.

Highly recommend.

What a strange, yet at times, engrossing, ride "Fierce People" is. I'd really like to give it 3.5 stars, but I'm being nice. I give Wittenborn kudos for featuring the Yanomano of South America in his book, a tribe I had not thought of since my sophmore year of college. The book never allows you to become comfortable, which is good...although some of the twists are so bizarre (some might argue genuinely disturbing) that I often wondered where we were going next. And the big "surprise" ending, wasn't that much of surprise, but it was still quite interesting geting there. Wittenborn misspelled "Concord" in Concord Academy. And, was Diet Coke around in 1978? No. It hit the market in 1982. Fact checking might have helped a bit. There willing suspension of disbelief and then there is just careless editing. Still, our flawed hero is sympathic. This book tries to roast the rich and succeeds on that count. Still, was it too outlandish? Maybe, but then again when you have blurbs from Jay McInerney, Candance Bushnell, and Bret Easton Ellis...you should expect something besides a truly realistic story. Finn is a good guy and this is a good book. Probably a better buy in paper back than in hard coverhowever.

This is a book that has been long overdue in recent American literature. While reminiscent of The Great Gatsby, this book is a very original and cool new take on the theme of class--and vast wealth--in America. The setting is unusual: New Jersey, of all places, the characters are totally seductive, and the story is bizarre and familiar at the same time. It is easy to identify with the protagonist, a kid of fifteen who is the outsider in this world and is--who wouldn't--being seduced into it. No need to go into the plot here (see ed. reviews). Bottom line: wildly entertaining, the best book I've read in years!!!

Fierce People

By Dirk Wittenborn

Osbourne stunned me when he recited from one of my father's books. '"A small, primitive tribe in the remote corners of Amazonia who offers us a unique glimpse into what it means to be human."'
Osbourne blew his nose again and chuckled. "Vlyvalle without money."

Living under his mother's refuge from her parents, fifteen-year-old Finn's only wish is to spend the summer in Africa studying the Yonomamö tribe of Indians, or "Fierce People," with his anthropologist father he'd only read about. But Finn's dream is ruined when he's caught buying coke in his desperate attempt to calm his addicted mother, Liz, before his only enemies at the time, his grandparents, arrive. Determined to become a normal family, Liz accepts a favor from an old billionaire friend, Ogden C. Osbourne. Osbourne allows them to live in the guesthouse in the small town he's turned into an oasis. In Osbourne's exotic world of wealth, Finn and his mother meet people that even the Yonomamö tribe would fear. While Finn's mother tries to get her life back on track trying to overcome her addictions and win a place in society, Finn falls in love with Osbourne's granddaughter, Maya, and becomes friends with her older brother, Bryce. Finn even befriends Osbourne himself, because of common interest, and common hate. Soon after they make a cozy reputation in the town, a lurid chain of events start to happen in Vlyvalle, and the oasis doesn't appear as glamorous as it once seemed.

Fierce People is a novel knee deep in lies and betrayal that teaches you that wealth isn't always what it seems. As enjoyable as the novel was, it's pace was too jumpy. At one point in the book you would read for about 25 pages, and all of the sudden a dramatic death would occur, and another 25 pages later, you were at plateau. Although the dull parts came and went, Dirk Wittenborn really managed to make this book a page-turner.
Near the end, there was a lot of over plotting, allowing you to be more prepared and less astonished for the twisted ending. There was the cliché revealing of the antagonist's malicious intent, followed by the change of plans, just like most other suspense novels. Reading this was really a let down for the book, because the author could have moved the book in a different direction, adding the element of surprise.
Also, the timing in the story was completely inconsistent. The author began the story setting the time in the early 70's, but as you read later on, they're drinking Diet Coke, a product which was released in the early 80's. After the first 50 pages, you forget anything about the era, and just assume its in present day, for there is no surprise to the characters when technology, that at the time would be considered modern, comes up.
Overall, I would give this book 3 and half out of 5 stars. The first half of the book was witty and entertaining, but when you got to the second half, it was a bit raunchy and obscure. I would recommend this book to people looking for a long car ride novel, for its good for the time being, but its not necessarily something you're going to want to purchase in hard cover.

"Fierce People" is a likeable, fast and very readable book, but especially in its final third also a mixed bag of goods. Wittenborn has a magnetic and intelligent style of writing that could transmogrify a tax refund form into a page-turner. I liked the conflict between the frantic protagonist, Finn, who, being a 15 year-old boy, is driven by the urge to get his kicks through sex, drugs and peer recognition, and his freewheeling hippie mother who, to his dismay, is engaged on a similar quest, only more successfully so. Over the course of events she converts to a prim social climber who is afraid that her dropout son might hold her back, which leaves the narrator in a scarily precarious position. I also thought that the underlying theme of comparing the legendary Amazonian "fierce people", the Yamomami, with 1970ies US-American society, works very well.

What didn't work so well, however, was the description of the super-rich and Finn's social adoption by them. That felt more like something out of Dallas, Dynasty or Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous and didn't fit in with Wittenborn's hardboiled tone. Pimply street urchin Finn somehow manages to simultaneously endear himself to goodly eccentric superbillionaire Osborne, his suave grandson Bryce and especially his foxy granddaughter Maya in a turn of events that seemed to be grafted from an obscene Nancy Drew story. Wittenborn finally overeggs his pudding by throwing in a monstrous murder mystery that overstretches the reader's credulity.

Overall I would have liked the book better if Wittenborn had shaved maybe 50 pages off and lost the Miss Marple detective story. But still, it's a fast and memorable read.

All of the characters were completely likeable and not at all one-dimensional. Wittenborn takes the (jaded) knowledge and experience of living in NYC and applies it to Finn's personality, which makes him different than the other kids in Vlyvalle, which would naturally spark an interest in him, and he comes off as extremely likeable to everyone (even the reluctant Dwayne). Wittenborn's portrayal of Bryce was brilliant right through to the very end. I enjoyed spending time in this strange community, though it wouldn't have made a difference if this happened in the late 70s or today.

The plot had lots of twists and turns that caught me offguard. I really enjoyed this book.

This book had me captivated from start to finish--couldn't put it down! I was continously surprised at the twists and turns the author presented, yet found them all compelling and believable. It was intruiging, twisted, sexy, and fun. Loved the plot development, setting, and characters. It was juicy enough to be a great Beach Book, yet intelligent and sensitive and substantial, unlike some of the shallow and cheesy Chick Lit books I've been grabbing for the beach this summer!

A really fun read. A good plot with interesting details. It would make a great movie! Loved the creepy guy. Loved the psych twists. Loved the examination of values. Loved the ending. Funny dialogue made me laugh outloud! Felt like I knew these people. Right on target with the drug use and all that goes with it. Just a well researched, carefully constructed, entertaining and also thoughtful book.