An oral history of the man who befriended and betrayed socialites right and left, by those he befriended and betrayed. Wonderful slice of mid-century America. Loved this work. ( )

I found this book to be very gripping. It was a page turner. It was an oral biography. Various people talked about Capote, from his childhood in Alabama to his death in California. Some people were obviously self-serving, or trying to bury a hatchet, or out to lunch, but it was still interesting, because they said as much about themselves as they did about Capote. It also let you see what type of people he was surrounded by.

It provided information and context about Capote, without being too heavy or detail oriented. It gave you emotional as well as factual information, and opinion. Sometimes you could see the same event described by multiple people.

I have been interested in Capote since seeing the fabulous movie, Infamous, which this book was the basis for. I wanted enough information about him to read his his stories and books about him, and understand the nuances, but I didn't want to get bogged down in the detail. This book was perfect for that.

The anecdotes were arranged in chronological order so they seemed to tell the story of his life. They talked about his early writing successes, his involvement with the Kansas situation, the black and white ball, his flitting with the jet-set, his fall from grace with them when he published their gossip, his dabbling with Broadway and Hollywood, his lack of writing, his boozing and drugging, and his death.

The only lack seemed to me was the lack of explanation about his relationship with Jack Dunphy. Truman seemed to be alone, but he was also with his lover Jack Dunphy. Jack would be there but not around, and the book never explained why ? Also why Jack never seemed to try to save him. ( )

George Plimpton describes this as an "oral biography". Plimpton interviewed a variety of Capotes friends, enemies and acquaintances, cutting and pasting their comments together to form a narrative of Capote's life. He states that the intended effect is like attending a party where Capote is the subject of conversation. The readers moves from group to group (miraculously in chronological order).

I found this a very engaging book - I was constantly promising myself to stop at the next chapter and then continuing to read. Plimpton comments that one of the problems is that he cannot make people's recollections match, but that is one of the charms of the format, in my opinion. This is so intimate and immediate.

The book is illustrated with dozens of photographs; the captions give Plimpton the opportunity to slip in a little inforamation that did not come up in the interviews. There is also a chronology, which I wish every biographer would include, as well as a list of the contributors with brief biographical information.

If I were truly interested in Capote, I would also read a traditional biography (Plimptons recommends Gerald Clarke's Capote), but I would urge anyone interested in the subject to read this as well for a different take. ( )