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Palimpsest

3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 · rating details · 857 ratings · 61 reviews

This explosively entertaining memoir abounds in gossip, satire, historical apercus, and trenchant observations. Vidal's compelling narrative weaves back and forth in time, providing a whole view of the author's celebrated life, from his birth in 1925 to today, and features a cast of memorable characters—including the Kennedy family, Marlon Brando, Anais Nin, and Eleanor Ro...more

Paperback, 448 pages

Published September 1st 1996 by Penguin Books (first published October 3rd 1995)

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Aug 13, 2012 Erik Simon rated it 2 of 5 stars

I don't usually review books that I don't finish, but I've got a few points I'd like to make about Gore Vidal.

First, I didn't finish because the book was just one tedious name-dropping session. What's worse, however, was that he offered no deep insights into the name dropping. But then, that shouldn't have surprised me, because while Vidal was a breathtakingly brilliant guy, I mean lights out sharp, I don't think he was a particularly insightful guy. I love his historical novels, and MYRA BRECKE...more I don't usually review books that I don't finish, but I've got a few points I'd like to make about Gore Vidal.

First, I didn't finish because the book was just one tedious name-dropping session. What's worse, however, was that he offered no deep insights into the name dropping. But then, that shouldn't have surprised me, because while Vidal was a breathtakingly brilliant guy, I mean lights out sharp, I don't think he was a particularly insightful guy. I love his historical novels, and MYRA BRECKENRIDGE is as much fun as a reader can have, but he didn't write literature: he wrote novels, smart and entertaining novels, but far too lacking into human insight to be literature.

I never let a person's personal life affect my understanding or appreciation of his or her art. I'm always sort of amazed by people who won't read authors from a different political party. Hell, I like Polanski's movies, and he's a fucking pedophile who, by all rights, should be in jail. As such, I don't delve into personal lives of authors, and yet, this book is a memoir, so such delving seems apt.

Gore Vidal was an ass hole, a grade-A, pan-fried, cold-blooded ass hole. As I read this memoir, I kept thinking that at some point, he would sort of admit that he was damned lucky to be the son and grandson of who he was, but he never did. I have never read his first novel, WILLIWAW, which he published at twenty, but I have a hunch that were he not who he was, that first novel wouldn't have been published. I'm not saying he wasn't talented. He was, obviously, and he's a delight to read. But I am saying his career path must certainly have been made easier by his parents' connections, his connected life, and he never acknowledges that. In fact, he goes a long way to portray himself as a victim. I've long said that of the successful people in the world, the nice folks are the ones who realize how lucky they are while the ass holes are the ones who think they did everything on their own. Vidal was in that last camp. He writes about his salad days, when he was a poor artist, as if he had salad days, ever. He didn't, but he thinks he did. I'm constantly amazed by the uber-privileged in this world who think that at some point they roughed it or who think there's something noble about roughing it. There isn't. The poor rough it because they have no other choice.

Mind you, I'm not kvetching here to be petty. All of this leads to his politics, which is so much of who he was. Yes, he was a Leftist, as am I, but as you read this memoir, you realize he's not Leftist because of genuine concern for the downtrodden. He could give two shits about anyone, really. He was a Leftist because the Republicans are more overtly the party of big business and therefore more responsible, I guess, for America becoming an Empire, and that's what Vidal hates--the fact that we're an Empire, something certainly worth hating. But I hate that we're an Empire because that usually means poor people getting fucked over for our benefit, be they the poor in other countries or ours (to wit, see Wars: Who fights them). But he hates Empire because it no longer adheres to the pristine Republic before Andrew Jackson that he seems so deeply to long for. Why, I don't know, but it's worth noting that no matter what the country is, Republic or Empire, he and his social set will be utterly unaffected. For instance, he hates Woodrow Wilson. I certainly dislike how Wilson got us into World War I when we didn't need to be there, and Wilson's racism was abhorrent, but Wilson, along with TR, broke a lot of trusts and made great strides for the working person in America, which matters a whole lot to a lot of people, but Vidal could give two shits about that.

He was a great brain, but he wasn't a very decent person. Again, I don't care, but I do care when it's your memoir I'm reading and reviewing. And those last ten years he'd just gone bat-shit insane: I think he was senile. And from day one, it seems he was always just spoiling for a fight.(less)

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Nov 18, 2012 MJ Nicholls rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: merkins, non-fiction, tortured-artists

This memoir covers the first forty years of the Vidal saga, alighting on his blind senator Grandpa, savage alcoholic mother, childhood sweetheart, licentious sex life, and endless hobnobbery with the most prominent actors and politicians of the period as he mosies up the Hollywood ladder and cosies up with Kennedys. Written in the sumptuously arch manner familiar to anyone who has seen a Vidal clip on YouTube, the memoir establishes a warm if prickly tone, and treats the reader as an intelligent...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Greg Heaton rated it 3 of 5 stars

Gore Vidal was a massive dickhead. I cannot fathom why all these amazing people would spend time with him. The list of friends and contemporaries reads like some kind of insane post second World War Who's Who. Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, JFK, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Norman Mailer, Jack Keruoac, Allen Ginsberg, Frank Capra, Italo Calvino, Princess Margaret... the list goes on and on and on.

I suppose if you can easily switch between novels, TV and film, if you'...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Sam rated it 4 of 5 stars

On hearing of Gores death some weeks ago i felt quite sad and decided that it was time for me to pick up some more of his books. I opted for the first of his memoirs and was very glad to have done so. It is typically well written, entertaining and, even when it seems merely to resort to idle gossip about movie stars, writers, his bizarre family or life among the American ruling class with which he was associated, it seems perfectly justified as the gossip is some of the juiciest one is ever like...more

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Apr 15, 2013 Simon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Fun, if not necessarily truthful, read. The problem is that he makes these lordly statements about virtually everyone who was anyone in the last seven decades of the 20th century, and the net result makes it pretty plain that he can only see other people as extensions of himself. Jackie (truly improbable as he presents her) is Gore Vidal; Bill Walton is Gore Vidal; Bobby exists for Gore to hate, Schlesinger to patronize, etc. His voice is funny, but he only has one. I have the same issue with hi...more

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Jan 12, 2013 M.K. Hobson rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have always really liked Gore Vidal's historical fiction ("Burr" is one of my particular favorites, as well as the followup "1876") and I knew he had a reputation for being kind of an asshole in real life, but in this book he doesn't come off so much an asshole as he does cold, distant, and disaffected. The many anecdotes relayed in this memoir were amusing enough, I guess, and if it was Vidal's mission to make his life seem decadent and glamorous he surely succeeded. I just wish there would h...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Thomas rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hey! Who wants to listen to Al Gore's bitchy gay cousin attempt to scandalize you with backstabbing gossip from 50 to 70 years ago about his overly wealthy and connected Southern Democrat family? No, I promise it's totally cool. He spends lots of time explaining how he's not a "fag" because he always refused to be anally penetrated. Then he just uses the word "fag" repeatedly about his more-talented writer friends (Tennessee Williams, E.M. Forster... total fags).

It's sad to listen to a 70-year-o...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Rose rated it 5 of 5 stars

Early in the book Gore Vidal makes the point that this is not an autobiography; it's a memoir. Too many autobiographies read like an excuse for the author’s failings and a platform for their supposed triumphs, as though they are getting their two cents in before someone else gives the final accounting. Vidal offers no excuses, even admitting in the beginning that he chose the title, and later realized he had been mispronouncing the word for years, and didn’t fully understand the origin of its me...more Early in the book Gore Vidal makes the point that this is not an autobiography; it's a memoir. Too many autobiographies read like an excuse for the author’s failings and a platform for their supposed triumphs, as though they are getting their two cents in before someone else gives the final accounting. Vidal offers no excuses, even admitting in the beginning that he chose the title, and later realized he had been mispronouncing the word for years, and didn’t fully understand the origin of its meaning.

In Palimpsest he plays with time like a magician, deftly moving from one place to another, never losing the reader, an uncommon fluidity where most memoirs follow a strictly age based progression. There was no prose for prose sake, or lyrics over substance, yet his writing draws the reader in as though you were spending an evening listening to incisively funny repartee. He had me chuckling in the first few pages. Essentially, he’s the guy at a cocktail party you’d most like to spend the evening with.

He has an almost clinical insight into people and it doesn’t hurt that he’s known some of the icons of his age. His slant on Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Jackie Onassis (they shared a stepfather) and countless other characters of his time are priceless. There is no lack of dysfunctional family dynamics, either. Though he doesn’t use his upbringing as anything more than a travelogue of how he got where he is. He continues to be the most erudite voice of the anti-establishment. You can catch vintage Vidal on YouTube sparring with William F. Buckley on a sixties talking head show in a game of wordsmanship.

For all his wittiness and fascinating stories, the real value is that his memoirs chronicle how his life as a writer evolved. At a critical juncture early in his career, he decided to go ahead with the publication of his third novel, The City and the Pillar, over the objections of his agent. It contained overt homosexual overtones and true to form, the publishing industry blackballed him for the content. That he chose truth over conformity, and the commercial success that comes with it, was a defining moment. It seems the writers who only give their audience exactly what’s expected end up being trapped by their success.

His decision led to Hollywood and Broadway, experiences that ultimately made up for the early rejection. It is what allowed him the freedom to produce a wide range of work, from Myra Breckenridge (a one finger salute to the entertainment industry), to Visit to a Small Planet, and historical fiction, Lincoln, being his most famous.

Palimpsest is a gift from Vidal. He shared the essence of who he is with clarity, style and honesty. Isn’t that what art is all about?(less)

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Aug 12, 2010 Molly Black rated it 5 of 5 stars

Another book discovered through a swap that just blindsided me with it's brilliance. I've read it several times due to the layering technique that Vidal uses.

He's (apparently) quite open about not only much of his life, but also the rich, powerful and lucky family ties that allow him to share anecdotes about the Kennedys and the satellites, such as Jackie, who didn't come from money, but certainly knew how to carry herself in such a way as to allow her to keep marrying "up" as it were.

I found it...more

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Sep 06, 2008 Bryant rated it 3 of 5 stars

The metaphor of a palimpsest for writing a memoir is an ingenious one, and there are scraps of Gore Vidal's well-textured parchment that are genuinely fascinating. Step-brother to Jackie Kennedy Onassis (nee Bouvier) and her sister Caroline Lee, and generally very well-connected from an early age, Vidal is nevertheless at pains to observe throughout the book that the essential choice he made was never to let his possible privileges make him passive. As he writes, "Jackie, Lee, and I were brought...more The metaphor of a palimpsest for writing a memoir is an ingenious one, and there are scraps of Gore Vidal's well-textured parchment that are genuinely fascinating. Step-brother to Jackie Kennedy Onassis (nee Bouvier) and her sister Caroline Lee, and generally very well-connected from an early age, Vidal is nevertheless at pains to observe throughout the book that the essential choice he made was never to let his possible privileges make him passive. As he writes, "Jackie, Lee, and I were brought up in a wealthy manner and yet were penniless . . . Of necessity, Jackie married twice for money, with splendid results. Lee married twice, far less splendidly. I went to work."

That work has produced several fine and often ground-breaking novels. A weakness, though, of "Palimpsest" is Vidal's decision not to discuss these books and their consequences in greater detail. He is generally more preoccupied with personalities, and there are times when the book reads like a collection of memorable one-liners from sometimes memorable people. (Two of the better one-liner scenes: Tennessee Williams proposes that he and Vidal sleep together after a night of unsuccessful cruising. "Don't," responded Vidal, "be macabre." Or there's Williams' own wildly inaccurate metrics for why the Kennedys would never attain to the White House: "They're far too attractive.")

Vidal repeatedly laments the death of book reading, which has been overrun by the usual suspects of television, movies, and journalism. But Vidal's memoir often reveals how much he himself is overrun by the very thing--celebrity--that these media often reinforce. Vidal's lengthy disquisition on the Kennedys is easily the most self-indulgent and boring chapter in the book. Maybe Vidal's purpose is to reveal, by boring us, how uninteresting the Kennedys themselves really were. If Americans spend not enough time reading books and too much time obsessing over celebrity, it's frustrating that, with this chapter and other sections like it, the normally maverick Vidal join the ranks he purports to be above.

The best parts of this book, especially the touching descriptions of Vidal's one true love who died young at Iwo Jima, are unfortunately too sparse to hold the book together. Vidal has a way of ending paragraphs and large sections eloquently and with a rueful but not overly wistful touch (the final chapter is perfect). It's the verbiage between those well-cadenced endings that drags.

(less)

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Jun 28, 2009 MisterBarker Room203 rated it 2 of 5 stars

I read this book in little sections before bedtime.

Gore is sometimes unreadable to me, but more often than not, I find it challenging in a good way: it's like the Dylan memoir -- you find yourself trying to figure out if the confusion is because of him or because of you, or because worthwhile insights aren't easy to digest. Hence the name of this book, perhaps:

palimpsest

"A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book that has been scraped off and used again."
- from Wikipedia

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Feb 28, 2009 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

Vidal's wit astounds and his insights resonate, at least for me. I particulary like a passage from page 193, "I understand now why the old enjoy the obituaries of contemporaries. I think it is a sense of relief in letting go for good of people whose presence one no longer needs."

The Newsweek review of this book says it best,
"Vidal is a kind of contemporary Byron: patrician, major writer, glamourboy, flouter of norms..."

Great book.

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Jul 25, 2011 Justin rated it 5 of 5 stars

A brilliant, candid, unconventional memoir. Few subjects are vain or worthy enough to warrant an attempt at autobiography; Mr. Vidal is a self-acknowledged prima-donna, but he is also eminently worthy. What's more, the memoir is just as valuable for the candor with which it portrays the many colorful figures who have populated Vidal's sphere, as it is for a portrayal of Vidal himself. Superb, witty, and essential.

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Jan 08, 2010 John rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was okay. Parts of it were good. The thing that really struck me is his selfishness. He says that his one great love died when he was young and he was unable to really love again. I just don't buy it. How can you even know what love is when you are so young? In the end it seemed more like a coward's excuse to not have to love again. It is easy to idealize someone who has died.

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Oct 12, 2012 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoy Vidal as a public figure, but had never read him. Palimpsest was a book that I chose to read by leafing through the index until I saw a name like George Santayana, Norman Mailer, or Jackie Kennedy, and then I would read the ten pages or so devoted to Vidal's interaction with that person. The gossip is delicious, particularly in the late fifties when Vidal was very much a Kennedy clan insider.

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Mar 24, 2011 Corn14853 rated it 4 of 5 stars

The worst part about this book is that in it, GV dishes out scandal like the rent is due tomorrow.
The best part about this book is that in it, GV dishes out scandal like the rent is due tomorrow.

Highly enjoyable - in terms of prose as well as details and secrets. You'll learn things about the Kennedies that many people today don't realize seeing the clean-scrubbed pictures on the History channel. But we also hear many unsavory details about other personalities and politicians.

But Vidal does kee...more

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Nov 25, 2009 Rock rated it 5 of 5 stars

It begins with a retelling of the sexual perversions of John F Kennedy and Gore Vidal's memoir just keeps giving the juicy details. Unfortunately most of that juice is squeezed out of socialites and intellectuals of the 1950s, most of whom are long forgotten (except, obviously, by Vidal). Nonetheless Vidal is a born novelist who could point a reader to the fun stuff in any life, even someone far more boring than him (like Jesus Christ). And he comes up with fun devices, like excerpting passages...more

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Jul 20, 2009 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am a sucker for autobiographies but this one is at least well written. He name drops a lot. I like that too. After all, who wants to read chapter after chapter about a bunch of people you've never heard of? Towards the end I took some of the stories with a grain of salt, however, I did enjoy this.

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Feb 13, 2012 Grizel rated it 2 of 5 stars

You can't really quibble with Vidal's writing talent, which is sufficient to the purpose,but after a while even the joy of revelling in the malicious gossip of which this book primarily consists is tainted by the realization that he's a vindictive, score-settling ***hole.

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Jun 22, 2012 Vicki rated it 5 of 5 stars

Gore Vidal - hugely narcissistic, hugely brilliant, hugely witty. Who ever knows with him what is truth and what is fiction? But it hardly matters because the telling is so entertaining, and he is always the smartest and quickest person in the room.

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Mar 19, 2009 Monica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Vidal's memoir offers insight into this very interesting author. It's a story of unrequited love. Plus there's great dishing about the Kennedy's, Charleton Heston and other political and Hollywood figures. But it's also bittersweet and touching.

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May 06, 2013 Rodrigo rated it 2 of 5 stars

Adoro o Gore Vidal. Estava cheio de expectativas com esse livro...mas é chato! Ele se leva demaisado a sério. Está perdidamente enamorado de si mesmo. Me senti sobrando. As duas estrelas ficam pelo conjunto da obra.

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Dec 26, 2008 David added it

Shelves: memoirs, gayreadinggroup

Gore Vidal has connections to a lot of famous people (Truman Capote, the Beats, Kennedys) and he likes expound on the impressions they made in his life. He is a marvelous writer with a marvelous vocabulary but his memoir sounds like gossip. However, due to his fairly arrogant tell-it-like-he-saw-it attitude these famous people get cut down and become more real. A chapter that will stick with me describes his last visit with Allen Ginsberg, who I find quite visionary, and casually details Ginsber...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars

On my third reading it once again transported into one of the great authors with a stunning imagination. How did he get away with it all - he was in different age than the one he lived in

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Sep 02, 2012 David Buhler rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-or-memoir

This memoir was a good read. I looked forward to opening the pages each evening.

Vidal and Jackie Bouvier Kennedy felt related; although they shared no "blood" they had the same stepfather, Hugh Auchincloss; but different mothers.

Chock full of interesting memories of people - familial, artistic and political; written with a beautiful style.

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Sep 07, 2010 RunRachelRun rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: autobiograph

Oops, now I've bought this book twice, probably from the same Borders on Ponce De Leon in Atlanta. I obviously didn't do a good job reading it the first time since I just picked up the paperback this weekend, skimmed it,and thought "Well, this looks like a good Labor Day weekend read" and bought it. Strangely enough, the people portrayed in this autobiography, didn't seem to work a whole lot. Perhaps the gorgon masquerading as his mothers overshadowed much of the story so I was always anxious th...more

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May 17, 2013 Kenneth Lorence rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a great autobiography. It really gets to the thoughts and soul of a great writer and thinker of the 20th century.

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Aug 01, 2012 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars

An extraordinary read by an extraordinary man. Rich with little known facts, obscure celebrity gossip and political insider dirt.

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Jul 10, 2008 Thirstyicon rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of Gore Vidal, and people who enjoy the combination of gossip and politics.

Recommended to Thirstyicon by: dusty rebel

I learned that Gore Vidal liked John Kennedy, but was not a fan of Bobby. I also learned quite a bit about Tennessee Williams; a little about Truman Capote; and quite a bit about what he thought of Jackie O. He also talks at length about people most people have no interest in; but it turns out they do make for interesting stories, sometimes. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it, if you are interested in reading about Gore's experiences and stories about other writers (Kerouac, Bur...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wonderfully bitchy, but also moving about the lova of his life, Jimmy Trimble, who died in WW2.

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About Gore Vidal

Eugene Luther Gore Vidal was an American writer known for his essays, novels, screenplays, and Broadway plays. He was also known for his patrician manner, Transatlantic accent, and witty aphorisms. Vidal came from a distinguished political lineage; his grandfather was the senator Thomas Gore, and he later became a relation (through marriage) to Jacqueline Kennedy.

Vidal ran for political office twi...more

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