Scan barcode
A review by jackieeh
Answered Prayers by Truman Capote
3.0
Oh, Capote, with your genre-defying cattiness. I haven't struggled this long over which shelves to put something on in a long time. For instance: this is a fictionalization, and obviously some stuff is made up, and, yes, it's a novel, but I couldn't help but put it on my Not Fiction shelf because c'mon. Also Paris figured into it glancingly, but if ever a book was about booze and sexuality (the other two criteria for that shelf) it's this one.
And, Truman, you gave me hell with the star rating system too. Because I would have given the first half of the book ("Unspoiled Monsters") four stars easy for sheer audacity and those great moments that were really about writing and how scary it is and what a huge leap of faith every, every time. And the YMCA. But the rest of it? Meh. I could have done with five fewer gross stories about socialites and a little more Kate McCloud. For such a lurking presence offstage she got pretty short shrift when she eventually showed up. (Yes, this is an unfinished novel. Shhh. I've got my editing goggles on.)
I think I got about 60% of the references to real people. There should really be a Norton of this, complete with footnotes.
And, Truman, you gave me hell with the star rating system too. Because I would have given the first half of the book ("Unspoiled Monsters") four stars easy for sheer audacity and those great moments that were really about writing and how scary it is and what a huge leap of faith every, every time. And the YMCA. But the rest of it? Meh. I could have done with five fewer gross stories about socialites and a little more Kate McCloud. For such a lurking presence offstage she got pretty short shrift when she eventually showed up. (Yes, this is an unfinished novel. Shhh. I've got my editing goggles on.)
I think I got about 60% of the references to real people. There should really be a Norton of this, complete with footnotes.