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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
This book feels as if you had sat down for a long, *long* lunch with your catty, fascinating uncle, and then just get him all spun up and rolling on telling a bunch of loosely connected personal stories. Artistically brilliant? No. comprehensively informative? Also no, you should probably look for a regular biography for that. Edifying about the man himself, even as he tries in subtle ways to shape the story? Absolutely. Consistently interesting and funny? Also absolutely, this Williams guy sure knows how to write, you may be surprised to know.
In the end, I'll say that these memoirs give me a better impression of just how complicated the man was, then a regular biography probably would have. You won't always love him, or even like him, while reading this, but you'll know him.
In the end, I'll say that these memoirs give me a better impression of just how complicated the man was, then a regular biography probably would have. You won't always love him, or even like him, while reading this, but you'll know him.
reflective
slow-paced
Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge 2018
Task #12: A celebrity memoir
This book, much like Tennessee Williams’ life, is a total mess. But it’s an endearing mess. Williams has to be respected for being so open about his life as a gay man at a time when it wasn’t exactly socially acceptable to do so.
Task #12: A celebrity memoir
This book, much like Tennessee Williams’ life, is a total mess. But it’s an endearing mess. Williams has to be respected for being so open about his life as a gay man at a time when it wasn’t exactly socially acceptable to do so.
There isn’t much of literary value in this endeavor. Penned in the mid 1970s, Williams appears to offer a hip rationalization of his life and peccadilloes, though little is said about his work. He loves Lawrence, Chekhov and Brecht but does not reflect on them but rather notes several times that Jean-Paul Sartre didn’t show up at party. Not that he’s sulking. He cruises Mexico with Leonard Bernstein and keeps Gore Vidal and Truman Capote from being arrested. Then there’s the anonymous men.
The drink and then the drugs. There’s considerable family pain on display. I can relate. His family’s fortunes were always rising and falling—Hawthorne slamming highballs in a St. Louis boardinghouse.
It is the romantic in me, but his soulmate was Carson McCullers and I’m fascinated by his memories of her cooking for him. Art needs that quaint angle.
The drink and then the drugs. There’s considerable family pain on display. I can relate. His family’s fortunes were always rising and falling—Hawthorne slamming highballs in a St. Louis boardinghouse.
It is the romantic in me, but his soulmate was Carson McCullers and I’m fascinated by his memories of her cooking for him. Art needs that quaint angle.
emotional
funny
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
Interesting guy, interesting life, but he's kind of a jerk.
A sloppy, brilliant memoir that skips around in time and focuses mainly on his struggles and sex life. He rather stubbornly refuses to go into his writing process, but it doesn’t matter when the writing here is as good as it is.
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
The further I got into this book the more I yawned. It just seemed self-indulgent and a little confusing with the sudden jumps to the present. I read about 30 percent of the book and then decided to move on to better reading.