Unanswered Anticipation

books:


	• Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel Truman Capote Vintage, 1994 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 20 reviews view larger image
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answered prayers

Oh My GOD! This is by far one of the most disturbing, amazingly tragic books that I have ever read. Buy this book and feel the pain and suffering that only Truman Capote can emote in the written word. Damn him for not finishing it, and pity us for being denied the finished work.

Unanswered gems

Although "Answered Prayers" can be read as dated since most of it's "characters" live in the 1960's and 1970's, there is still marvelous prose and stories that pique the interest. Capote had promised to complete several short stories for this tome, but this collection contains only three. All of them are marvels to read, but the last, "La Cote Basque", is a stinging expose of the New York Socialite clique. Not only does Capote mention real celebrities, but he also exposes the deepest and darkest secrets of high society with a thin veil. It's no wonder he was ostracized from this egregious group. Some of the events he describes are beyond scandalous, yet witty and viciously funny. He somehow manages to bring the `so-called' social deviants to the same level as the most respected socialites, making it clear that money is the only difference.

The Editor's Note is the most intriguing part of the book, as it describes how Capote managed to promise to produce these stories for years without delivering and obtained millions from the publishers, enabling him to live with a high level of social activity. He was a celebrity as well as an author and a clever, if not conniving man. The biggest tragedy is that so many stories will never be read due to his early alcoholic induced death. Still, these three stories are inspired gems.

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ACID CAPOTE

To read this odd book is to get a real look at Truman Capote at the end of his life. Capote was vain, bitchy, narcissistic, but alas the profoundly weird old queen was fascinating. He was truely unique, he made himself a superstar, he willed it so, this man was nakedly ambitious, he makes Trump look like a piker. This book ruined him and probably led to increased alcoholism, that ultimatly caused his death at sixty. When he wrote an excert of this book in a top magazine of the day, he became persona non grata among the brahman class of New York. This was Capote's own personal hell. It shows his arrogance and narcissism that he did not see that a book like this would make these people close ranks and ostracize him, he was stunned that they stopped taking his calls and dropped him from their party lists, they broke his heart and frankly I'm sure the parties were considerable less amusing with Truman gone. In this book you see in Capote a really unhappy man, that relished in the misfortune of others, but having said that I do find his dish very interesting, what does that say about me, lol. I believe that after he became a sensation after the great In Cold Blood, he really was paralized, he knew people expected another book of singular greatness, I think this absolutely destroyed him and he was so desperate that he conceived this ill advised book, it makes you understand why Harper Lee and J.D. Salinger never published a book after their masterpieces, Truman should have looked to his childhood friend Lee as an example, but he could not resist the spotlight and he wanted that feeling of adulation again. I recommend this book, it is not Capote's best work, of course, but it is something of a memoir and you get an unflinching look at this complex man.

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Truth+fiction+acid

"Answered Prayers" is the infamous unfinished novel by Truman Capote that only exists in three finished chapters. It is the tale of a hustler/masseur/drifter/writer named P.B. Jones. I bought "Answered Prayers" to see what Capote's take was on the infamous Woodward murder scandal of the 1955. Although he fictionalized the events and changed the names, the chapter titled "Le Cote Basque, 1965" was a not-so-thinly veiled account of Ann Woodward killing her husband. The real shooting was an accident; Capote turned it into calculated murder. The resurfacing of this tale 20 years after the original event supposedly drove the real Ann Woodward to suicide and caused Capote to be ostracized by the very people he garnished his acidic anecdotes from.

"Answered Prayers" had me hooked immediately; Capote's main character, P.B. Jones could have become a literary classic. Of course, the operative word is "could." This unfinished novel only survives in 3 finished chapters; rumors have flown about chapters that are hidden, however as time continues to pass, the likelihood of them ever resurfacing get slimmer. Although the three chapters are rich in characterization and storytelling, they are ultimately unsatisfying as there are so many threads left unwoven. One wonders that happened with P.B. and Kate McCloud.

In the end, instead of having a fascinating narrative, the book in its unfinished state is a jumble of acid-tattling. Capote seemed to have many grudges and did his best to vomit them in just these three chapters. The overblown promises made by Capote before he died about what the book would be will never be fulfilled and it is too bad; in some ways, the publicity and myth that surrounds the book is probably greater than what the result would have been.

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Unanswered Anticipation

I am usually an enraptured fan of Capote's work. Unfortunately, I have to agree with most of his critics and former friends on this one. He plays around with a work that can be either a confessional or a gossip column or an introspection of fringe society. I was disappointed that his beautiful and haunting words were affected by his alcoholic and drug-induced ramblings. His talent for invoking tragic images without being crass was lost here.

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