What links The White Lotus to Tom Wolfe and the Sicilian good life?
The second series of the scathing social satire ignites a chain of terrible rich people swanning about in Italy
May 2022
Cultural prescription
Enjoy your trip: books, music, films and more for an out-of-body experience
From Gaspar Noé’s death-dream to Elgar’s emotionally charged choral composition, our critics recommend culture to take you into another dimension
July 2021
Books that made me
Michael Lewis: ‘I didn’t believe in ghosts until I read Neil Gaiman’
The author on his envy of Philip Pullman’s world, imitating Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and struggling with Don Quixote
April 2021
Why did The Bonfire of the Vanities go from bestselling book to box-office bomb?
Thirty years on, why was Brian De Palma’s star-studded adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s novel such a flop?
December 2020
Top 10s
Top 10 most dislikable characters in fiction
From Tom Wolfe’s ‘master of the universe’ to George Eliot’s vengeful pedant, these are some of the hardest characters in literature to love
December 2018
The Observer's obituaries of 2018
Tom Wolfe remembered by Jann Wenner
The Rolling Stone co-founder, whose magazine published the novelist and trailblazing journalist’s articles, remembers an inspirational southern gentleman - and early adopter of calisthenics
July 2018
The death of truth: how we gave up on facts and ended up with Trump
‘Truth decay’ has been spreading for decades. How can we stop alternative facts from bringing down democracy, asks Michiko Kakutani
June 2018
The measure
From Audrey’s brows to Meghan’s knees: this week’s fashion trends
What’s hot and what’s not in fashion this week
May 2018
Over 30 years later, aspects of Tom Wolfe's New York still linger
Tom Wolfe and the bonfire of male literary reputations
Emma Brockes
Jarvis Cocker: how Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool‑Aid Acid Test changed my life
'He loved to stir it up': five writers, editors and friends on Tom Wolfe's legacy
Tom Wolfe, journalist and author of Bonfire of the Vanities, dies aged 88
Tom Wolfe's silver-topped cane pointed towards the future
Tom Wolfe – a life in pictures
Tom Wolfe obituary: a great dandy, in elaborate dress and neon-lit prose
Did Tom Wolfe's bold predictions about human nature come true?
Vaughan Bell
November 2017
Bad sex award won by Christopher Bollen's phallic 'billiard rack'
Passage from novel The Destroyers singled out by judges of dubious honour for ‘going overboard in its attempts to describe the familiar in new terms’
August 2017
Top 10s
Top 10 parties in fiction
From Bridget Jones’s curry calamity to Vanity Fair’s historic ball, these social dramas have inspired many novelists. You are invited to enjoy 10 favourites
May 2017
Observer New Review Q&A
Jann Wenner: ‘Hunter S Thompson let his talent slip’
As Rolling Stone turns 50, its co-founder talks about working with the great American writers, interviewing John Lennon, and the magazine’s biggest mistake
