Review by risky_oak - Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel

A review by risky_oak
Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel by Truman Capote

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.

A review by risky_oak Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel by Truman Capote

A review by risky_oak
Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel by Truman Capote