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19th out of 40 books
—
45 voters
Answered Prayers - The Unfinished Novel
Although Truman Capote's last novel was unfinished at the time of his death, its surviving portions offer a devastating group portrait of the high and low society of his time.
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 Côte Basque, from literary salons...more
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 Côte Basque, from literary salons...more
Paperback, 180 pages
Published
April 1994
by Vintage Books
(first published January 1st 1986)
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.Answered Prayers: Truman Capote's unfinished novel of life among the low and high side of life
More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.--St. Teresa of Avila
Capote's Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel began as a series of notes in 1958. It was a project Capote kept under close wraps. It was not until January 5, 1966, Capote approached Random House signing a contract with an advance of $25,000 with a delivery date of January 1, 1968.
Capote described the novel as a Proust...more
More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.--St. Teresa of Avila
Capote's Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel began as a series of notes in 1958. It was a project Capote kept under close wraps. It was not until January 5, 1966, Capote approached Random House signing a contract with an advance of $25,000 with a delivery date of January 1, 1968.
Capote described the novel as a Proust...more
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Too bad that this is an unfinished novel. I could have given this at least 4 stars.
According to Wiki, Capote was not able to finish this novel because he got busy with the stardom In Cold Blood (4 stars) gave him. In 1966, he signed a contract with Random House to write this book with January 1st 1968 as the delivery date. He missed the date and the contract was renegotiated in 1969 with 1973 as the new delivery date. He missed again so it was moved further to 1974. Missed again so on to 1977. M...more
According to Wiki, Capote was not able to finish this novel because he got busy with the stardom In Cold Blood (4 stars) gave him. In 1966, he signed a contract with Random House to write this book with January 1st 1968 as the delivery date. He missed the date and the contract was renegotiated in 1969 with 1973 as the new delivery date. He missed again so it was moved further to 1974. Missed again so on to 1977. M...more
Whatever possessed Capote to turn on his lifelong friends, like Jackie O. and her sister, Lee Raziwill, William and Babe Paley, and the rest of the New York social set is beyond me. The fact that this novel was contracted for in 1966 and remained unpublished until after his death, says much about his ambivalence towards the project. At the same time, Capote spent many years being the lapdog to moneyed New Yorkers, wined and dined at the finest restaurants before going back to his room at the YMC...more
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Truman Capote’s life this book is significant on so many levels. First, this book destroyed the majority of Truman’s friendships since he literally was writing about his friends. Truman spent the remainder of his days exiled from those who he had fought to get so close to.
The three chapters of this book represent a great deal of potential in what might have been a truly magnificent novel. The first two chapters flow together so beautifully, it is evident...more
The three chapters of this book represent a great deal of potential in what might have been a truly magnificent novel. The first two chapters flow together so beautifully, it is evident...more
This is my favorite Capote book even over Other Voices, Other Rooms. Perhaps because it IS unfinished and shrouded in such mystery, despair, potential, and ultimately dissolution. I reread it every couple years. Was Capote blacklisted because he was telling tales outside of school, or because he revealed the glitterati for what they were, hypocrites and debauches? A novel that raises more questions as it moves to conclusion. Answered Prayers indeed!
1 like · like · see review
this is yet another book where i've come to realize that as an author / writer, one is merely an observer but not quite a participant. unless you're writing your life and adventures, or interesting details about others, otherwise, where's the fun in that?
here, capote dishes the dirt on those he knows. interestingly, it's only his closest friends, which i didn't even find interesting. there were mentions of Jackie O, her sister, and a few other famous figures, but those were mentioned only in pas...more
here, capote dishes the dirt on those he knows. interestingly, it's only his closest friends, which i didn't even find interesting. there were mentions of Jackie O, her sister, and a few other famous figures, but those were mentioned only in pas...more
I recently read an article about Truman Capote and decided to read this unfinished manuscript. The title is a quote from St Teresa "More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones". This is the first three chapters that were published in magazines causing his estrangement from New York Society and his many benefactors. CNN's Anderson Cooper has said his Mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, was very hurt by the thinly veiled portrayal of her in the third chapter "La Cote Basque" she never fo...more
Sep 03, 2007
Bookworm
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
those want to read everything Capote wrote
I don't know what I was expecting when I picked Answered Prayers up at the library. It's a cross between something you'd read in Playboy and Vanity Fair magazines. Not a classy story. If it hadn't been written by Capote, I probably wouldn't have even bothered picking it up.
Mar 11, 2010
Felisa Rosa
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
popular-fiction,
literature
The story of a mendacious hustler who rises through the layers of dissolute high society. In a way, an unfinished novel mimics life with an adeptness that the great books can not attain: an unfinished novel offers set-ups that go nowhere, potential unrealized, and unresolved mysteries. Luckily, Capote wrote his chapters out of order, so Answered Prayers has a sort of conclusion. In keeping with my metaphor, reading Capote's last work is a bit like running into a friend every ten years: each ch...more
Even though this work was not completed upon the writer's death, it doesn't seem to lack much by not having an 'official' close. The thing about Capote is that he was truly a master of words, with beautiful and original descriptions of people, places and events that the average person would never see in the same way. He sure could write. The cattiness of the book was at times uproarious and deliciously indulgent, but there was a sense of loss in all of it, too, like there was something missing i...more
ok. so, i know what you are thinking: "how is she giving truman capote 2 stars??". i will tell you how. i hold capote up to a high standard. specifically, the In Cold Blood, Breakfast at Tiffany's standard. and well, this just cant compare to either. granted, it is an unfinished novel, and for what is essentially a collection of short stories that are intertwined, it is good... but not good enough. capote had nearly 20 years to get the damn thing done and yet he couldnt make it happen. the resul...more
truman capote is easily the most versatile american author of all time. this time he turns to something perhaps closest to his true nature - gossip. i swam through the filth of his last, unfinished novel with remarkable easiness - it's like reading perez hilton, only masterly written. it's as witty as it is observant and capote to me was a true genius.
honestly, this book was the main focus of my 90-page-long MA thesis so I would be undoing myself by reviewing it like any other book. all i can s...more
honestly, this book was the main focus of my 90-page-long MA thesis so I would be undoing myself by reviewing it like any other book. all i can s...more
I really wanted to enjoy this book but I ended up just feeling like I was at the wrong end of an inside joke. I love the way Capote crafts a sentence and his powers of description and characterization. This book is no exception. He has painted people and locales in the biting, edgey way that only he can. However, he drops so many names and places that I'm only vaguely familiar with, that I found myself spending more time reading Wikipedia than reading the book. I think if I had read this book ba...more
Answered Prayers, a title which may or may not have originated with St. Teresa of Avila, is a collection of short stories in which Capote portrays his wealthy and famous friends as thinly veiled characters. The book was first disseminated as individual stories published in Esquire, and it is an amusing study on how the other half lives. Ultimately these tales backfired on Capote as several of his friends turned their backs on him, and he became somewhat of a social pariah toward the end of his l...more
It's an unfinished novel, so I can't be too harsh, but I'm not sure I understood what it was even about or what the controversy that surrounded it was about either. The whole thing is meant to scandalize the reader with details of gay prostitutes and people publicly urinating on others, or celebrities talking about who slashes their wrists, but there's no point. Just meant to shock without purpose. And not written well. After seeing Capote, it made me wonder if the author was just a deeply troub...more
Mmmm...not my favorite Truman Copote book.
Overrated and a half!!!
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 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...more
Oh, Capote, with your genre-defying cattiness. I haven't struggled this long over which shelves to put something on in a long time. For instance: this is a fictionalization, and obviously some stuff is made up, and, yes, it's a novel, but I couldn't help but put it on my Not Fiction shelf because c'mon. Also Paris figured into it glancingly, but if ever a book was about booze and sexuality (the other two criteria for that shelf) it's this one.
And, Truman, you gave me hell with the star rating sy...more
And, Truman, you gave me hell with the star rating sy...more
Capote could write. Oh if he could. Not that my opinion counts anything, but I would never let anybody else get away with a tedious book like this one without feeling at least slightly homicidal. Tedious is a compliment, actually. But let's not be so harsh. It's always sad to come to the realization a great talent is gone. Or rather, a great mind behind that talent.
Answered Prayers is an unfinished posthumously published novel by Truman Capote. It's no secret Capote expended the greatest part of...more
Answered Prayers is an unfinished posthumously published novel by Truman Capote. It's no secret Capote expended the greatest part of...more
Despite its unfinished status and my ignorance about Capote, this book was a smash hit. It's devious and catty and sneaky, and covers all kinds of things I never knew about the jet set. If that was its only merit, this book would still be easy to recommend, but the writing is more or less flawless as well.
All of which ultimately made me think what a shame it was that Capote was falling apart in his final years, instead of putting together what surely would have been a scandal – if not a masterpi...more
All of which ultimately made me think what a shame it was that Capote was falling apart in his final years, instead of putting together what surely would have been a scandal – if not a masterpi...more
It reads like a delicious gossip session (about the sexual proclivities of mid-century society elites) with your most geniusly articulate but totally screwed up queer friend. The book was posthumously published in 1987 and by then many of the people mentioned must have been dead. If not dead, they were probably wishing they were after reading this tell-all book.
Gleefully bitchy and indiscreet, Capote's unfinished final novel (presented here as three long short stories previously published in Esquire) offers a trenchant satire of the wealthy, society types who'd made the writer their mascot in the 60s and 70s. Ostensibly the reason why Capote became a pariah among the Park Avenue set, this nasty little roman a clef is incorrigibly dishy if very rarely profound.
«Τα περισσότερα μυστικά δε θα’ πρεπε να λέγονται ποτέ, κυρίως όμως εκείνα που είναι πιο απειλητικά γι΄αυτόν που τα’ ακούει παρά για κείνον που τα λέει…»
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It's a shame there isn't a complete behemoth version of this on the market. My secret wish is that he did finish it and it's hidden away somewhere, only to be found one day. It's delightfully sleazy and scandalous, and very well written.
After doing the hard crime angle, the world of celebrity gossip was a new career in a new town. He managed to get accepted and the vault of stories opened up. Too bad he printed some of the more spicy parts in advance, or he might've been able to get all the jui...more
After doing the hard crime angle, the world of celebrity gossip was a new career in a new town. He managed to get accepted and the vault of stories opened up. Too bad he printed some of the more spicy parts in advance, or he might've been able to get all the jui...more
The quality of the prose lifts Answered Prayers to the realms of the extraordinary, but it has an unedited stream of consciousness feel about it. If you can get by without a plot then this series of extravagant, episodic tableaux of the rich and deeply flawed are something to savour. They don't make 'em like Truman any more.
I love pretty much anything by Capote. While this was not my absolute favorite by him (his short story, "Children on their Birthdays" is one I can read over and over), it was still amazing. The only bad thing is that it went unfinished at his death so if you read it too quickly, you come to the same disappointment faster.
It is like The Great Gatsby is all growed up and turning tricks in a Boogie Nightsmare. There are some great bon mots too...but I read this in book form and couldn't highlight my favorites. But I remember this one:
"Good night, Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea—in whatever sea you're sinking"
"Good night, Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea—in whatever sea you're sinking"
Sep 09, 2008
Amelia
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People not offended easily, especially by sex
Having never read anything by Capote before, I didn't know what to expect but I definitely didn't expect this. That's not a bad thing-- I was just taken by surprise by just about everything except the wit (I at least knew that about Capote). I can see why Answered Prayers angered a lot of the socialites that Capote knew and used as templates, but I really enjoyed the scandalous and provocative air of it.
I really wish Capote had finished, because the third installment does just leave the reader...more
I really wish Capote had finished, because the third installment does just leave the reader...more
I came across this book on a bargain table. It was disjointed and odd, but I was intriuged by his frank sexuality and honest observations. I really ended up liking it. I know it's not his best by any means...but I think I would read anything he wrote.
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Truman Capote was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognised literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a "non-fiction novel." At least 20 films and TV dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.
He was born as Truman Streckfus Persons to a salesman Archulus Persons...more
More about Truman Capote...
He was born as Truman Streckfus Persons to a salesman Archulus Persons...more
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“More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.”
—
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“That's the question: is truth an illusion, or is illusion truth, or are they essentially the same? Myself, I don't care what anybody says about me as long as it isn't true.”
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