An all encompassing ride through 20th. century politics and literature, not to mention Hollywood. And all is told with crisp sarcasm and a wickedly critical eye toward the many persons Gore Vidal's path crossed. There is "Jackie" (kind of a step sister-they shared the same step-father at different times), and of course "Jack" and "Bobby." There is "Tennessee," and Ben Hur, and too little said about Gore's best screen play in my opinion, "A Catered Affair." Politics, family dysfunction (Boy and how!), the stage and theatre. And find out the story behind that spear throwing scene in Ben Hur; I never looked at Steven Boyd there again without a chuckle. In 1984 I stood in a long line at Crown Books on M Street in D.C. for a smiling and pleased looking Gore Vidal to sign my copy of his novel Lincoln. I was intrigued and satisfied in these pages to find the complex and at times acid tongued man behind the pleasant face.

did you know gore vidal once fucked jack kerouac?

I have always dreamed of living-out Vidal’s life—a life that seems more like an epic Hollywood drama filled with sex, politics, and success. A life of literary achievement and political participation. And, in this memoir, so much of his life is brought to vivid life; we get to know his friends, we experience his struggles, and we are constantly reminded of his loss, of his one true love.

Wonderfully bitchy, but also moving about the lova of his life, Jimmy Trimble, who died in WW2.

This book was okay. Parts of it were good. The thing that really struck me is his selfishness. He says that his one great love died when he was young and he was unable to really love again. I just don't buy it. How can you even know what love is when you are so young? In the end it seemed more like a coward's excuse to not have to love again. It is easy to idealize someone who has died.

I have always been a fan of Vidal, from his erudite, opinionated talks on television, including the notorious, hilarious encounter with William Buckley during the 68 Democratic Convention, which I remember watching (and discussing) with my dad, to his wonderful historic novels. This snarky, cynical memoir, of mainly his early life, is funny, catty and insightful, and could put any gossip sheet to shame. (He knew everyone, and his stepsister was Jackie Kennedy.) Very yummy.

Politics, films, 'A street named desire' mentioned excessively, a beautiful villa in Italy at the end of a road, youth.

Entertaining memoir of the author's life. I found the Kennedy-related stories the most interesting.

I enjoyed Vidal's memoir quite a bit. His humor and timing never fail, nor do his observations of others. He doesn't delve deeply into his own inner life, and writes very little of Howard Austen, the man he lived with for over forty years, but instead writes of his careers and the people he knew along the way.

He skillfully removes the facade the wealthy and privileged live behind in order for the reader to see how ordinary, base, and even corrupt they really are. This seems logical because in spite of Vidal's own wealth, which he wants to make clear he earned on his own, he spent many years speaking out against the disasters, both global and domestic, that those with money and privilege created.

On my third reading it once again transported into one of the great authors with a stunning imagination. How did he get away with it all - he was in different age than the one he lived in

Vidal certainly is a highly talented and erudite writer with an interesting life. Personally, I found his views on love and sexuality to be the most interesting part of this book. However, the feeling encroached on me during reading the book that Vidal is a character who I probably would have disliked if I would have known him personally. He seems egoistic and arrogant. Of course not explicitly because he wrote the book about himself, but there are little red flags in the text that remind me of patterns of justification and behaviour of people who put their own interests in the centre of their actions and disregard the feelings and views of other people.

Couldn’t be bothered to read it carefully or finish. Life’s too short to waste reading salacious, unsubstantiated gossip.