Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
New York : Plume, 1988 ©1987
Description
As it follows the career of a writer of uncertain parentage and omnivorous erotic tastes, Answered Prayers careens from a louche bar in Tangiers to a banquette at La Cote Basque, from literary salons to highpriced whorehouses. It takes in calculating beauties and sadistic husbands along with such real-life supporting characters as Colette, the Duchess of Windsor, Montgomery Clift, and Tallulah Bankhead. Above all, this malevolently funny book displays Capote at his most relentlessly observant and murderously witty.
Media reviews
"It was the transparent identities in [the final chapter] that did Capote in. Even to this day it is fashionable in fashionable circles to take the line that poor Truman lost his marbles ... it is clear that Capote had the raw material for a best-selling nonfiction book and should have written it
"The trouble with 'Answered Prayers' is that Capote at this stage was not amenable to the demands of nonfiction. He was out of control in his life and in his art. ... Nonetheless, out of this conflict Capote could occasionally create art. Between the cloudbursts of malice there are flashes of prose in 'Answered Prayers' that bring the aching reminder of a more whole writer, prose that makes the heart sing and the narrative fly."
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as just that.""The trouble with 'Answered Prayers' is that Capote at this stage was not amenable to the demands of nonfiction. He was out of control in his life and in his art. ... Nonetheless, out of this conflict Capote could occasionally create art. Between the cloudbursts of malice there are flashes of prose in 'Answered Prayers' that bring the aching reminder of a more whole writer, prose that makes the heart sing and the narrative fly."
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User reviews
LibraryThing member jennyo
For years after Capote published In Cold Blood, he told everyone he was working on a masterpiece that would rival Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. It would be called Answered Prayers, and it would incorporate everything Capote knew about writing both fiction and nonfiction.
Unfortunately, though
This book is a perfect companion read to Capote by Gerald Clarke because in it you get the facts that form the basis of the barely disguised fiction in this one.
This is a must read for fans of Capote. But it will leave you wishing he'd spent more time writing and less time boozing and pilling his way to the grave.
Unfortunately, though
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he thought about the work obsessively, he only wrote three chapters. Those chapters are what make up this book. And they leave you positively hungering for more. Answered Prayers is a roman a clef where the names have been changed, but certainly not to protect the innocent. I don't think there's an innocent character in this book. They're all obsessed with sex or money or power. And sometimes the name change is the only thing fictional about the character.This book is a perfect companion read to Capote by Gerald Clarke because in it you get the facts that form the basis of the barely disguised fiction in this one.
This is a must read for fans of Capote. But it will leave you wishing he'd spent more time writing and less time boozing and pilling his way to the grave.
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LibraryThing member TheCriticalTimes
Every novel is a form of catharsis in one way or another. It's the deal we make when we buy a book: if the author packages their woes, hopes and gripes well and in an entertaining way, then we will patiently listen and even enjoy ourselves. With all the reader oriented writing Truman did in his
Through Answered Prayers Truman wanted to establish himself as the modern day Proust and he sincerely believed it was his masterpiece. Instead we read page after page about the diversification of vices throughout the 20th century. Almost every sentence demonstrates that Truman saw life through the eyes of inanimate objects, amongst which he counted all his living 'friends'. With great ease he rattles off litanies of then well known names and luxury brands, most of which nobody will have heard of today. Another great mistake I feel since, unlike Proust, Truman immediately dates his work and made it instantly ephemeral.
Granted the writing is as usual of a high quality and extremely mellifluousness, but that doesn't save the work in the least. How much do we really care about the main character, and by proxy about Truman himself? Do we believe everything he says? Do we care if we believe him or not?
In the end the book attempts to answer the one question Truman tried to answer all of his life for himself: "With all these unspoiled monsters, why am I the unlovable one?"
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career, in the final analysis it's clear that he ultimately did not understand for whom he was writing. In Answered Prayers we see the world through Truman's eyes as he must have experienced life on earth from his humble beginnings up until his humble death. In between he became fascinated with the sordid lives and lifestyles of the rich and famous. Answered Prayers reads in some ways as Martin Luther's accusation and is about the same size.Through Answered Prayers Truman wanted to establish himself as the modern day Proust and he sincerely believed it was his masterpiece. Instead we read page after page about the diversification of vices throughout the 20th century. Almost every sentence demonstrates that Truman saw life through the eyes of inanimate objects, amongst which he counted all his living 'friends'. With great ease he rattles off litanies of then well known names and luxury brands, most of which nobody will have heard of today. Another great mistake I feel since, unlike Proust, Truman immediately dates his work and made it instantly ephemeral.
Granted the writing is as usual of a high quality and extremely mellifluousness, but that doesn't save the work in the least. How much do we really care about the main character, and by proxy about Truman himself? Do we believe everything he says? Do we care if we believe him or not?
In the end the book attempts to answer the one question Truman tried to answer all of his life for himself: "With all these unspoiled monsters, why am I the unlovable one?"
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LibraryThing member MsDLB
scandal, gossip, high society, socialites, hustler, gay, homosexual, bisexual, fiction, capote, truman capte, unfinished work, final novel, scandalous, celebrities
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1986
Physical description
180 p.; 7.8 inches
ISBN
0452261376 / 9780452261372
Local notes
OCLC = 1701