The central premise is wholly naive: We are meant to believe Charlotte Simmons is a complete innocent (simply because she comes from a small town - what, it doesn't receive MTV?) and that she is exposed - for the very first time - to the morals of her generation at large when she attends university. I found her moral superiority both annoying and unbelievable. I gave up on this book halfway through mainly because it read like an elder trying too hard to be hip, trying too hard to make a point about a generation he doesn't understand, and shouldn't be writing about. The end result is patronising. I'm not saying Tom Wolfe isn't a masterful writer, but he should remember that old saying: write what you know.