Reviews

Erhörte Gebete by Truman Capote

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taibei's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

gorskaya's review against another edition

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4.0

Если б роман был закончен, он бы мне понравился, наверное, меньше, но на мою оценку влияет сладкий привкус сожаления, что я так и не узнаю, как все прошло с похищением ребенка и потом. Впереди у меня комментарий к роману от переводчика.

choof's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

shinyandrea's review against another edition

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4.0

The first shocking thing about this book is how filthy it is. If you can acclimate to that, the rest of the shocks are merely little starts. It’s hard to believe Capote blew up his social world, and indeed the social world of several others, publishing the stories from this book that did see print. But the writing, the snapshot of a time and a place, a way of life...you end up glad he did it. It took a long time to read as I kept stopping to research the real life people and scandals that inspired the characters.

readingbooks_drinkingtea's review against another edition

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2.0

I liked the writing, and the dry humour all right. But I couldn't care less about the story...

tonya_369's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

bugfriend's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Answered Prayers is the novel that Capote claimed to be working on for the last ~20 years of his life. All that survives of it are three chapters that were published in Esquire in 1976 (if I remember correctly), and they make up this book. The three chapters are wildly different. The first, "Unspoiled Monsters" is largely Capote's ruminations on sex. P.B. Jones, the narrator, is a blatant self-insert and it's important to know that Capote was routinely sexually abused at his boarding school by the other boys and 1+ teachers (according to Gerald Clarke's biography). That knowledge changes the tone of the chapter and gives it what depth it has. Without that knowledge, "Unspoiled Monsters" comes off as crass and insensitive. The second chapter, "Kate McCloud" is typical Capote. Kate is a beautifully crafted character, and that chapter left me wishing the book was finished, as it promised the same genius as Breakfast at Tiffany's. The third chapter, "La Cote Basque" cannot follow up "Kate McCloud." It's gossipy and pointless, and while its publication plays a large role in the course of Capote's life, it lacks much value beyond that. I would recommend reading only "Kate McCloud," or that and "Unspoiled Monsters" if you're in the mood for reading someone work through their trauma unsuccessfully.

moosycakes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Beautiful writing style, I wish this book had been finished because I loved the parts about Kate McCloud in particular, and I got caught up in the world/jet set descriptions. It makes me sad that Capote chose to have the La Côte Basque section published, ruining his own life and that of others. The magnitude of that bad choice is really stunning. I wonder if the novel would have been finished if that chapter had not been published? It barely even seemed related to the rest of the story. What a strange, strange choice to make.

Content Warnings

risky_oak's review against another edition

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Διαβάστε και την ελληνική κριτική στις βιβλιοαλχημείες.

«[...] there's nothing like [cocksucking] for firming the jawline.» p. 6
«[...] slide up honey and suck my that's it that's it let me hold your billy» p. 18
«"The only women I've got any use for are Mrs. Fist and her five daughters," There's much to be said for Mrs. Fist - she is hygienic, never makes scenes, costs nothing, is utterly loyal and always at hand when needed.» p. 19

An unfinished, all over the place novel.
Truman Capote after spending a lot of time researching and interviewing people in order to prepare his nonfiction novel In Cold Blood, with his good friend Harper Lee, the author of [b:To Kill a Mockingbird|2657|To Kill a Mockingbird|Harper Lee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553383690l/2657._SY75_.jpg|3275794] felt so drained that after publishing the book in 1966 he didn't manage to finish and publish another novel until his death in 1984. That's almost 20 years of nothingness.

He wrote some short stories and essays but that was all. The three chapters that comprise this unfinished novel were originally published as independent short stories in Esquire magazine, between 1965 and 1976.

There's isn't actually any plot. There's one main hero, a bisexual gigolo who wants also to be a writer, some kind of Capote's alter ego.
Many of the characters in this book are rich socialites, based on Capote's friends. By writing about and exposing their secret lives and scandals he eventually lost contact with most of them. Friends like Jackie Onassis, Katherine Anne Porter, Tennessee Williams and more.

By the late sixties he was already in a maelström of drugs and alcohol abuse, a condition from which he never actually recovered.

You can feel it in this book. The narrator is spiteful and whiny. There's a lot of name dropping upon name dropping, people who were famous in the fifties and sixties and are now forgotten, buried under heaps of oblivion.

An unfinished book of 180 pages that has more characters and subplots than a 1080 book like [b:The Lord of the Rings|33|The Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings, #1-3)|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566425108l/33._SX50_.jpg|3462456] is easily forgettable.

BUT

I bought this book mainly as a collector. A hardback first US edition (1987) of Truman Capote's unfinished novel in mint condition. I'm glad I bought it for just €1. I'm glad I read it. I'm glad it's part of my collection. And that's it. It's not a book I will recommend. It's not a book that I liked. It's a book that I forgot 89% of what I've read from it 5 months later. I'm glad I read it. I'm glad I don't have to read it again.

2000ace's review against another edition

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5.0

Whatever possessed Capote to turn on his lifelong friends, like Jackie O. and her sister, Lee Raziwill, William and Babe Paley, and the rest of the New York social set is beyond me. The fact that this novel was contracted for in 1966 and remained unpublished until after his death, says much about his ambivalence towards the project. At the same time, Capote spent many years being the lapdog to moneyed New Yorkers, wined and dined at the finest restaurants before going back to his room at the YMCA. He was also one of the organizers of the Black and White Ball, one of the seminal social events in NYC in the seventies. Perhaps the reality disconnect between his humble beginnings and those of the plutocrats, or his rented room and their uptown mansions simply got to be too much to take. Whatever the case, when Esquire Magazine published four chapters from the manuscript, there was a firestorm of controversy that left Capote shunned by the upper crust.

In Handcarved Coffins, Capote states, ...great fury, like great whiskey, requires long fermentation." That is certainly the case here. The swishy little man with the wispy little voice wielded his pen like a saber, and heads rolled. Including his.

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