- Paperback: 636 pages
- Publisher: Da Capo Press; 1 edition (Sep 18 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0786716614
- ISBN-13: 978-0786716616
- Product Dimensions: 23.3 x 15.2 x 4.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 726 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#318,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #33 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Biographies & Memoirs > Gay
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
"In this riveting biography, Clarke, former Time writer, depicts the sad sequence of sparkling achievements and overwhelming despair that marked the life of Truman Capote," commented PW . "Readers will be dazzled both by the life lived and the compelling skill with which Clarke brings it before us." Photos. Author tour.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Clarke breaks Capote's life into four sections: a childhood spent mostly with relatives while his self-absorbed parents staggered through their disorderly lives; his years of discovery, when he had the two great romances of his life, traveled the world, and found his voice as a writer; the writing of In Cold Blood ; and the destructive obsessions with drugs, alcohol, and lovers that followed. Clarke's analysis tends to be superficial and his research, though impressive, has gaping holes. He is strongest in his portraits of Capote's first lover, the literary scholar Newton Arvin; the parade of men who disrupted the last 15 years of his life; and Capote's "swans," the very wealthy women who became addicted to his seemingly magic touch. Paradoxically, Clarke fails to produce a full portrait of Capote himself. The chaotic figure will need to be studied from many angles: Clarke provides a point of reference. Rob Schmieder, Boston
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Lovely Bio of an artist,
By
This review is from: Capote: A Biography (Paperback)
I ran across this book and hadn't thought about Capote in years and got it on impulse. It is just a wonderful bio and captures what Capote was and why he attracted such attention. It is hard to imagine what a youngster he was when he came on the scene and how he was so very loved. The book is full of lovely stories and famous people. The chapters on the "swans" was my favorite but his relationships, the accounts of his writing, his amazing ambition and ability to have devoted friends and ultimately his terrible end are written like a novel. Capote was generous, brilliant, kind, warm, seductive,vicious at times and utterly captivating. I now want to reread his books. But the accounts of his travels abroad, his long stays at wonderful quaint places and the "moveable feast" of his early life made me long to have been there. I loved this bio.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best book yet about Capote,
By Lloyd Nolan (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Capote: A Biography (Hardcover)
By far, the best Capote biography to date. Clarke has a talent for giving us the facts, presented in such a way as to be entertaining and enlightening. He obviously knows his subject well and shows us this without pretension or the usual prestidigitation that so often accompanies biographies such as this. What strikes one first and foremost is the wonderful arc the book has. It is true that Capote's life had this arc already, but to be able to translate that from life to a book is not as easy as one would imagine.Given the incredibly spotlight life that Capote led, much of the information in this book is axiomatic: the incidents of early life in New Orleans and Alabama, his mother's bi-polar if not manic travails, the uprooting at an early age to live in Greenwich, Connecticut, the infamous New Yorker job he held but for a short while; his elbow-rubbing with the jet set, ultimately culminating in Answered Prayers; the resulting fall from grace; the drugs, the alcohol. But it is the nuances, the small findings in this book, that make it unique and give it an edge over others. Clarke relates at one point how ill read Capote was, standing up in the middle of a film of a Dickens novel, shouting, "They've stolen my plot." Or his sad and telling description of Capote's last days at the home of Joanne Carson. His last words? "I'm cold." And he was gone. This compelling biography is full of photographs that speak volumes as well: Capote as a child--innocent, a tabla rasa; Capote on the set of a movie; Capote vacationing. And a desperate-looking Capote clinging a little to hard to Marilyn Monroe. Wonderful and telling pictures that are enhanced by Gerald Clarke's troubling, wonderful, and ultimately entertaining look at Capote, the writer, and Capote the man. All-in-all a great read about one of America's greatest writers.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing book about an amazing personality,
By jenbird "book and classic movie fiend" (Havertown, PA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Capote: A Biography (Paperback)
I bought this book partly because I so enjoyed Gerald Clarke's biography of Judy Garland, "Get Happy," and Clarke does not disappoint. "Capote" is meticulously researched and yet reads like the most entertaining novel, it's so interesting and filled with such extraordinary characters. I've always been fascinated by Truman Capote, and Clarke has done a wonderful job of bringing him to life in a very balanced, human way.
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