Entertaining autobiography of Gore Vidal. This is a guy who's had an interesting life. He knew many interesting famous people from the middle 20th century. As a teenager he was an step-brother of Jackie Kennedy and he was close to the Kennedy family. He has an interesting and plausible take on what really happened with the JFK assassination. He has so many interesting observations about politics and American culture going back 80 years. He actually interacted with Huey Long as a little kid because of his influential father. His observations span that early time all the way to the modern day when he also has powerful insights over the current wars and political system. The descriptions of movies show how different life was back in the 30s. When a person used to see a movie back then they knew they would probably never see it again and so they would have to try to remember everything. What a contrast with the modern overload of information. He had a funny observation about his address book as an old man because so many of the people written in it have, as he said "fallen off the perch" or "ridden on ahead".

Vidal's ego is much thicker than this slim follow-up to his more famous memoir, "Palimpsest." At times drippingly name-droppy and navel-gazing, this book is still worth the effort for the moments of spare vulnerability to which Vidal lets us be privy. His has, by his own admission, been a life of almost unending privilege, and he's reveled in all that has meant. In the moments, however, when he speaks of the death of his partner, the loneliness of writing, and the back-stabbing universe of criticism, he is at his best. The final chapter offers an interesting angle on the JFK assassination.

Vidal is brilliant. I'm forced to paraphrase my favorite quote because I can't find it quickly: I used to say no one should miss an opportunity to have sex or be on television. This is no longer true in the age of AIDS and it's TV equivalent, Fox News.

And he quotes from Nixon's book "Six Crises" as follows: "President Eisenhower was a far more sly and devious man than people suspected and I mean those words in their very best sense."

McCain becomes more Nixonian with each passing day.

I parodied this in my novel Uncorrected Proof (see http://elephantearspress.com/uncorrec... )

Many things can be said about Gore Vidal. He was a snob, but he was well connected (and he'll make sure you know that.) He wrote some good books, traveled the world and made a good talk show guest.
He lived an interesting life (and he'll make sure you know that.) He was a liberal, bisexual and had a mean streak that could be vastly entertaining when he spit out bon mots that were funny because they were true in their meanness. But I had forgotten how casually cruel he could be. He had a fight with Bobby Kennedy and this led to Jackie Kennedy dropping him from her circle. It must have hurt him terribly (although he should have known that blood is thicker than water) and in a classic example of showing one's true colors, crosses the line of human decency in Chapter 39 to nail her to the cross. Even if what he says is true and no matter how badly she hurt him by dropping him, she does not deserve to be drenched in the bile he spews her way. All in all, I would say Vidal is no where near as smart and clever as he thinks he is. His insecurity shines through in nearly every chapter.

Gore Vidal had a quite "Forest Gump" lifestyle,, well according to him. Even though I heard little about him and have not read any of his novels, or plays, he has been an outspoken, and perhaps controversial figure in American history. He served in World War II in the Aleutians, which is where the term of the title comes from. This book is a memoir, which is his second since writing Palimpsest decades ago. This particular memoir was entertaining on many occasions and then I felt like just strung together on others. In some ways he wants you to know what an amazing life he has had with a retinue of famous people throughout the years. He also sidetracks on his genealogy going back to the 15th century in Austria and his family ties to the likes of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Jimmy Carter. Perhaps the parts I enjoyed the most were his deep love and reflections of his partner Howard Austen. Written in 2004/2005, one year after Austen's death, this book is in ways a sad account of life to this point. He seems to be reflecting on the death of his generation and his acceptance of his own demise that he declares is impending. He died in 2012, though I read this book 4 years after the fact. Since he is writing about a time beyond my own generation, I still admired his storytelling and wisdom shared about a life well lived. Recommended to those who knew or perhaps didn't know much about him.

interesting. before I listened to the book, I didn't know much about him. odious is the first word that comes to mind esp. after hearing the book read by the author himself. still...the book was worth reading if only for filling in some gaps and getting different perspective

Much is rehashed from Palimpsest, likely for readers who would not have read it. There are fewer personal details of Vidal's life from where his memoirs leave off in Palimpsest, and the tone is quite different. There are some very touching moments described, and some very cold endings, but it is worth the read for anyone who remembers Gore Vidal's wit.

3 stars because he is a brilliant man and extremely talented writer. Only 3 because he is an unnecessarily unkind and rude person.

Been wanting to read this for ages, finally getting a chance. It takes a while to get going — not as well-structured or focused as its predecessor, Palimpsest — but 100 pages in I'm really enjoying it. And the section on the death of his partner, Howard Auster, is of course deeply moving.

Crazy old Gore: as arch as two bastards and drier than a wooden god. He's a loss to us. He was right to call this a 'memoir', for in little way is it an autobiography, really, in the expected sense. Only the tiniest snippets of his life are (re)arranged for us here, in idiosyncratic order, while the rest remains firmly behind locked doors, you rather feel. Yet this is a witty read - most of the morsels are pretty delicious. The Barbara Cartland in Bangkok story has stuck in my memory, as has Jackie Kennedy in the lift, Garbo leaving the dunny seat up and Barbara Streisand's 500 eggs for breakfast. Gore isn't one to build carefully constructed anecdotes that end with a punchline. He delivers a 'story' and lets you find your own way through it as you will. If you spot the wry hilarity behind his selected observation, then you're doing well. If you miss it - as, frankly, I did with several of his chapterlets - then a moment's pondering upon one's own idiocy is due. I remain none the wiser about his falling out with Bobby Kennedy. Ditto his lousy relationship with his mother (whatever it was she said about Howard must have been ripe). Perhaps his earlier memoir casts a bit more light there? I'll have to make sure I read it. This book was a witty diversion that I quite enjoyed.

Wish I had followed his writing earlier; so witty and precise.