Rating: 
Summary: Gore Vidal blew it this time!
Review: I have always enjoyed Gore Vidal's humor and talent in his other books. I was however shocked by his total lack of sympathy for his own mother and even going so far as mentioning how a spoon played a role in how his siblings were fathered. I was so offended I took the book back and got my money back.This is a nasty little book. I did not even have the motivation to finish reading it! This book made me lose respect for an author who I always considered among the most enlightened ones.
Rating: 
Summary: History is only agreed upon facts.
Review: I was completly uninitiated with the works or life of Mr. Vidal. But I must say that since I've been reading the book and afterwards I've been fascinated with both him and his times. This can not be a bad thing since we as Americans are quit ignorant when it comes to history of even the last 40 years. I found the book slow in places, yes; bitchy at times, a little; but I always went to work the next day feeling entertained and enlightened not only with the incredible intellect of Gore, but the glittering times, the fantastic people, and the odd political thinking of the author. Oh, and lest I forget; I dearly loved the underplayed yet prevailant descriptions of the sexual activity of the times and the exploits of some. What a treat. I'm not politically the same as Gore, but I do agree with him in art, sex, and a personal work ethic. You Freudians can go take a hike. At least Gore is honest and fun!
Rating: 
Summary: rehash from the best of his essays, and more
Review: If you have read Vidal's essays carefully, you will see many of the same stories recounted here, at least the literary ones. Unfortunately, at least for me, they simply don't have the same comic and bitter vivacity of his earlier work, as they are toned down and moderated somewhat. I felt that either his energy or his drinking - which he alludes to and which was new to me - has dulled his sensibilities. What is new are some of his stories and a more systematic treatment of the man you get so many fleeting glimpses of in his brilliant essays. Perhaps there isn't quite enough to him to make this all that worthwhile. Afterall, he has not had a great emotional life: he loved a boy when he was 18, who was killed in WWII, and he never really loved again. Instead, what he seeks is simple sex with no real involvement, and I don't think he understands what he is missing. That certainly explains the absense of love in so many of his novels, or its continual betrayal in the search for power and glory. Nonetheless, Vidal has had a charmed career, and he built it by himself - "I worked" as he says, in contrast to his step sisters whom he says were 19C women looking for men to support them. There is less of his famed meanness and combativeness in this memoire and more of a man looking back with pride and some forgiveness. His essays are more fun, but perhaps less mature.
Rating:
Summary: rehash from the best of his essays, and more
Review: If you have read Vidal's essays carefully, you will see many of the same stories recounted here, at least the literary ones. Unfortunately, at least for me, they simply don't have the same comic and bitter vivacity of his earlier work, as they are toned down and moderated somewhat. I felt that either his energy or his drinking - which he alludes to and which was new to me - has dulled his sensibilities. What is new are some of his stories and a more systematic treatment of the man you get so many fleeting glimpses of in his brilliant essays. Perhaps there isn't quite enough to him to make this all that worthwhile. Afterall, he has not had a great emotional life: he loved a boy when he was 18, who was killed in WWII, and he never really loved again. Instead, what he seeks is simple sex with no real involvement, and I don't think he understands what he is missing. That certainly explains the absense of love in so many of his novels, or its continual betrayal in the search for power and glory. Nonetheless, Vidal has had a charmed career, and he built it by himself - "I worked" as he says, in contrast to his step sisters whom he says were 19C women looking for men to support them. There is less of his famed meanness and combativeness in this memoire and more of a man looking back with pride and some forgiveness. His essays are more fun, but perhaps less mature.
Rating:
Summary: His story according to himself...
Review: If you learn anything about Gore Vidal by reading his story according to his own memories, is that he is truly a self-centered person, who is not capable of loving life in its entirety because of a 60 year-old broken heart... But one of the wonderful aspects of this book is that you get to know him as he, Vidal, believes he is, and without any self-censoring (at least that's the impression he wants the reader to have), and all aspects of interesting passages in his life are told in a very refined raw manner... one that only Mr. Vidal seems to have, in his own sarcastic way. The book also brings you some good insights of people and events that might have influenced Gore Vidal's life. Some of the best are the ones where he describes his childhood and his relationship with his mother and grandfather. The narrative is constant and one doesn't get bored from reading the stories in the book. Be ready to hate the man at times!! But at the end you'll realize he's just another frustrated man who was never capable of truly giving himself in love to anyone other than his own fantasy of a teenage love story...
Rating:
Summary: Thanks for the memories, Gore
Review: If you're a literary snob like myself, you'll love it. I mostly enjoyed your off the cuff anecdotes regarding literary preferences and celebrities. Gossipy? Hell no! The story of Jimmie, the real story, however brought a few tears. I left feeling grounded again.
Rating:
Summary: The Forrest Gump of the Literary World
Review: It might take less room to list who Gore Vidal hasn't known, as opposed to who he has known. Imagine Forrest Gump in the literary world (I almost expected Vidal to take credit for the smiley face). But you know what? I kept coming back for more. This interesting book is one part history and one part gossip, written in a witty, sardonic, and an intelligent style. Vidal lambastes practically everything and everybody -- everybody except Jimmy Turnball, his long lost love and other half who died in the Pacific during World War II
Rating: 
Summary: Is A Cross Between Jackie Collins and George Plimpton Lit?
Review: Pity Poor Gore Vidal. The man clearly possesses an agile mind with a compassionate political sense. Unfortunately, these have been filtered through the murky cracked lens of a monster's upbringing. His bitter disregard of feelings or opinions not his own palls very quickly, and the idea of rating his entertaining, yet trashy, fiction "literature", is nothing but balls of the highest weight.
Rating:
Summary: The podium that he dug out.
Review: The first chapters were promising and readable: Vidal's craft nurturing the story of his early years. And then he called it a day. Disguising gossip as insight and desperately trying to build his mountain by digging around himself, not even his craft survived. Names, names, guest-list, names....a swirl of them and all "exposed" in their sexual musings, as if to prove an intimacy with an author who desperatly gathers the rays of the golden Fame they emit. Charming in its eagerness to shock. Provincial in its attempts to look patrician. Pathetic in many ways. Gore Vidal survives through wit and a void command of words. And this is unfortunate because one suspects that behind , somewhere, there is more to the court jester than just a defiant pose.
Rating:
Summary: GORE VIDAL'S UNENDING LOVE FOR A LOST YOUTH
Review: THE MEMOIR IS NOT AS WELL WRITTEN AS I WOULD HAVE HOPED. THERE IS KENNEDY GOSSIP, CAPOTE GOSSIP, AND TENNESSEE WILLIAMS GOSSIP BUT WHAT LINGERS IS THE AUTHOR'S REMEMBRANCE OF HIS SOULMATE WHO DIED IN WWII. THE PHOTOS IN THE HARDCOVER (REMAINDERED) WERE WORTH THE PRICE OF THE BOOK. THERE WAS NO EXPLICIT SEX THAT I CAN REMEMBER.
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