Capote: A Biography

Published by Abacus, 2006, softcover, index, 630 pages, condition: as new. 

Truman Capote was an absurd little troll. He was self-absorbed, self-pitying, envious, and prone to alcohol abuse. He was a nosy little gossip, skilled at prying secrets out of friends and acquaintances. He would then immediately dash out and dish the dirt about things he had been told in confidence. As we used to say, "Telephone, telegraph, tell a Truman." He hurt a lot of people with his wagging tongue, and then drowned his sorrows in alcohol when people started excluding him from the social circles whose affection he craved.

One could never accuse Capote of being boring. He was always creating or inserting himself into debacles and brouhahas large and small. He wanted to be known as someone who was interesting and exciting and the life of every party. When he achieved that adulation and acclaim, it was never enough for him. He had to keep coming up with bigger stunts and insults to keep the social spotlight focused on himself. In the end, he pushed people too far and died a lonely man.

I read this book during my long hiatus from Goo Dreads. The notes I made upon finishing it say "Ten stars! Absolutely top-notch." So if you're interested in Capote, that's about as good an endorsement as you can get from me.

From instant celebrity at age 23 to overweight, alcoholic loner in his 50s, Truman Capote streaked across the middle of this century on a comet of genius, self-destruction, and fame. Drawing upon hundreds of hours of interviews with Capote and with nearly everyone who knew him, and with exclusive access to personal papers, Gerald Clarke has written the definitive biography of an incomparable man and his time.

"Extraordinary . . . Rich in intelligence and compassion . . . One can't put the book down. Few literary biographies in recent memory have been so vivid and absorbing." -- Bruce Bawer, The Wall Street Journal