You're not ready. A literal who's who all in one volume- and how they entered TC's orbit and why. First hand, from the who's who.

I was totally enthralled. Super interesting. The format is great too. It's just interviews with people who knew him. You sort of have to decide for yourself who is and isn't completely full of shit.

Loved it.

Hugely entertaining biography of Truman Capote that concentrates primarily on his life after In Cold Blood when he was the darling of New York Society. Written by Plimpton, who was in the center of that world as well, very entertaining anecdotes of friends and enemies, rich and famous, funny and sad. An easy, fun read!

If you are interested in Truman Capote, this book is excellent. The last section by James Dickey really delved into Capote's talent. Lots of tidbits on his life by many who knew him also.

An oral history of the man who befriended and betrayed socialites right and left, by those he befriended and betrayed. Wonderful slice of mid-century America. Loved this work.

I'm partial to this particular look at Capote's life, not only because it is lovely to read, but because I have an autographed copy. I spoke to George Plimpton while he signed my book and we had a brief series of correspondence.

I had a little trouble getting into this, not because it's an oral history as I've just read one of those, but because I had zero clue who most of the people were, i.e., 1950s New York socialites, big name 1950s/60s publishers, etc., so I wasn't certain why I cared what they thought.

However, it didn't take too long (less than 100 pages) to get into the swing of things and figure out who's who, for the most part.

I found it fascinating how people went from simply adoring him to despising him (not everybody, of course) and how very sad the last few years of his life were.

As usual with me I now want to read everything he's written (I read In Cold Blood in college) and everything written about him.

I saw the movie, Infamous, which is more or less based on part of this book, and because I liked the movie, I thought I'd get even more out of the book.

WRONG.

The author interviewed about 200 people who knew something about Capote, then cut that material into a bunch of paragraph length gossips, then pasted all the stuff together in chronological order.

NOT the way to write an interesting book.

In fact, I'd say Plimpton didn't really write a book,
he just recorded conversations and pasted other peoples
thoughts together.

In this case the movie is much better than the book,
Toby Jones gives a great performance as Capote.

Capote, in his youth, was a gymnast who would leap in the air yelling, "I am beside myself!"

Capote, a character. Confirmed.

This bio in the form of interview quotes delivers plenty o' lively anecdotes. Capote lived the writing life that I dreamed of when I was a youth (NYC! Italy! Martinis! Boats!), a life that hasn't existed for a long time now. For those who read Daisy Jones and the Six, I wonder if Reid got the idea for that structure from Plimpton (or was this a standard structure at one time?). But this book is NF, so unlike DJ&6 there isn't a plot.

I would forget I was reading this book sometimes, but then I'd come back to it. So it's a good book for the nightstand when you need to read a little before sleeping.

Recommended for: Capote nerds.

Scrittore raffinato o volgare? Genio incompreso o fenomeno di costume? Eterno infelice o sfrenato viveur? Amico fedele o st***o traditore? Normalmente è difficile mettere insieme definizioni fra loro così opposte per un solo uomo, ma Truman Capote è stato la dimostrazione vivente della scarsa validità del principio aristotelico di non-contraddizione. Di sicuro, è stato e rimarrà sempre uno scandalo all’interno della storia della letteratura. Era dai tempi di Petronio Arbitro che non si vedeva uno scrittore più bravo a vivere e addirittura a plasmare il suo tempo piuttosto che a raccontarlo. La cultura – letteraria, artistica, cinematografica – degli Stati Uniti tra gli anni ’60 e ’70 di fatto si riuniva a casa sua, magari per uno dei leggendari cocktail parties che si divertiva a organizzare solo per strappare pettegolezzi su chi andava a letto con chi. La sua sfacciata omosessualità, unita al suo fisico da bambino e alla sua proverbiale voce stridula (per non parlare dei suoi atteggiamenti infantili) l’hanno immortalato nella memoria di chiunque l’abbia mai conosciuto. La sua storia personale racchiude davvero in sé un pezzo di storia americana, a partire dalla difficile infanzia in Alabama fino alle partite a poker con Humprey Bogart o ai balli con Marilyn Monroe; e anche alle cadute in disgrazia che lo porteranno alla morte.

Questa biografia di Plimpton è a dir poco straordinaria. Essa si organizza come un racconto corale che incastra insieme le testimonianze di decine fra amici, nemici e conoscenti di Capote. Sembra di essere in una specie di coktail party all’americana, un memoriale stranamente allegro in cui ognuno vuole dire la sua senza risparmiare pettegolezzi, critiche o sospetti. Non c’è alcun tentativo, in questo libro, di risalire ai più reconditi segreti dello scrittore: la ‘cosa-in-sé’ rimane un mistero noto (forse) solo allo stesso Capote. Anche se, in verità, questo discorso dovrebbe valere un po’ per tutti. Quel che Plimpton indaga è Capote come ‘fenomeno’ propriamente detto ossia nell’insieme delle caratteristiche superficiali che l’hanno reso lo specchio più nitido nel riflettere il mondo in cui ha vissuto. Un ruolo, questo, che non di rado è assegnato proprio ai più strani e bizzarri degli uomini.

“Ero molto colpito da quanto gli costasse vivere. Quel modo di essere – avere una vita speciale e volerla vivere in un modo speciale – è straordinariamente faticoso”
(Norman Mailer su Truman Capote)

This will never be the definitive biography of Truman Capote, but it was never meant to be. This book delivers on its promise. There are candid contributions from many sources who share their personal memories of Truman Capote. It is wide ranging, covering the span of his entire life, with insights that only the people who knew him could share.

It does limit its scope in some ways, however. It touches on his unfinished novel, Answered Prayers, but does not mention the controversy surrounding the suicide of a woman who may have been prompted to end her life based on a secret that Capote intended to reveal in his unfinished novel.

I like biographies and Capote's film, though not true to the book, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" inspired me to move to NYC and become a high priced call girl. No! Not really! I didn't figure out what her true occupation was until I had seen the movie 12 times, that's how naive I was. I just wanted to live in an apartment with a half-bathtub couch which I actually DID manage to obtain, and fall in love with a handsome gay man. Anyway, this is fascinating taken from the viewpoint of the various people who knew him through his lifetime. He was both a success story and a tragic figure, a traumatized child and a little bitch. It was also a good picture of a bygone era.