Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Sexual and intellectual frustration has gone all the way! February 26, 2009
Medusa (Troy, MI)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Sonny and Gunner are two recently discharged Korean War veterans, who meet on their way back home. In his depiction of the growing friendship between the two young men and the inner world of Sonny, Wakefield playfully describes the two young men's journey in search of themselves, while hilariously describing the limited male mentality and overactive sex drive that is the primary focus of so many young men.
Like his friend Vonnegut; Wakefield is brilliantly sarcastic and funny. I can imagine him smiling the same sarcastic, smart smile that Vonnegut flashes.
Admittedly, I'm not a big fiction fan, but this novel is immensely entertaining and intriguing.
Growing Up In America December 3, 2004
Dana Carpender (Bloomington, IN United States)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I first read Going All the Way in a lit class called "Growing Up In America" at prep school, in 1974. The book was only a few years old then, and it was assigned along with other fine works like The Sound and the Fury, Member of the Wedding, Red Sky at Morning, and The Car Thief. Going All the Way was my favorite, and remains one of my favorites today. I've reread it many times, and have greatly enjoyed reading the whole thing aloud to two different receptive audiences-of-one.
Going All the Way is funny, wise, and true. As a girl of 16, it also taught me a great deal about men, and particularly about the visceral fear most men have of women -- the degree to which they feel we have the power to define them. It is a book that entertains, educates, and enlightens, all at the same time. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that.
I went to a book signing when this edition came out, so I could meet Dan Wakefield, and tell him how much this book has meant to me. I was also very pleased with the movie, which came out literally decades after the book -- while it did, of necessity, pare the story down to the essentials, it portrayed the heart and soul of the story and the characters truly.
Don't miss Going All The Way. It may not be The Great American Novel, but it's certainly *A* Great American Novel.
 Abridged Apparently Means "Same as Movie" April 30, 2001
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
I wanted to write a review of the Going All the Way audiocassette to clear up one of the major questions I had when I considered purchasing this item. My question was, "What exactly does abridged mean?" How much of the book is cut out? Keeping in mind that I haven't read the novel, only seen the movie, I can say that the abridged audiocassette develops almost exactly like the movie. I give it only 3 stars because I think it is a good story, but I am very disappointed that it is missing the "extras" you don't get from the movie. The total running time is about 3.5 hours. If you think about how long it would take to read a novel aloud, this indicates that perhaps the majority of the book was cut. If you have seen the movie, you will gain very little from this audiocassette. Despite these negative comments, the audiocassette has some good points, which is why I went no lower than a 3 star rating. The narrator does an excellent job of bringing all of the characters to life and putting the listener inside Sonny's head. This would be a great purchase for someone who has neither read the book nor seen the movie. Finally, some potential customers may be worried that Going All the Way is something only people similar to the characters (20-something white males) can enjoy, but Dan Wakefield has done such a wonderful job with the characters that anybody can find something with which to identify in both Sonny and Gunner.
Dan Wakefield CAN handle the truth! April 18, 2000
DMacKBlack (Massachusetts)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
This is one of the most pitilessly honest and funniest books you'll ever read about early adulthood -- late high school, college and just after. The sexual preoccupation. The social striving. The uncertainty about one's future. Along the way, Mr. Wakefield captures a time and a place (Indiana, early 1950s) perfectly. You could draw a straight line connecting the art of J.D. Salinger, Dan Wakefield and Nick Hornby. Thank you, Mr. Wakefield!
 Captures turning points August 18, 1999
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This novel captures the underlying unease that two young men face when they return home from the Army in the early '50's. It sketches their growing perception of all the boxes and groups that they were in before they left, like the jocks, what today would called nerds, and the sorority girls.As they go through their first summer of freedom they begin to realize that the old home town has gotten too small and confining for them, and that it is time to go see what's over the hill. They begin to realize that they do have many choices, and the freedom to pursue them, and they try to sort out what some of them are. Along the way there are some pretty accurate and painful descriptions of the social and sexual hangups of your average Midwestern male at mid-century. Good stuff.
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