Rating: 
Summary: What a mixed bag; what a mess!
Review: "Answered Prayers" was the leading shaggy-dog story of the U.S.
literary world for almost two decades. The first contract for
Truman Capote's "masterpiece" was signed in January
1966. Capote received an advance of $25,000 against
delivery in January 1968 -- delivery of a book which would
rival Proust's masterpiece, "Remembrance of Things Past,"
in portraying the aristocracy of our own times.Well, alarms should have gone off immediately -- they
should go off whenever ANY writer says that he's going
to "do a Proust." But 1968 came and went, so the
publishers gave Capote more money ("substantially" more)
for a three-volume masterpiece, now due in 1973.
And so on, and so on, until they finally settled on
a $1 million advance in 1980, this time payable
only on delivery of the manuscript in 1981. So, who says Truman Capote couldn't spin a captivating
tale? Look at all the greenery he collected for this
shaggy-dog story of his "final masterpiece!!" :-) Unfortunately, the publishers were not the only parties
getting deceived during this fifteen-year escapade.
Truman Capote was also deeply involved in deceiving
himself. He may have told himself that he was gathering
material for a masterpiece, but he was actually turning
himself into the tame lap-dog and court jester of the
very rich. Marcel Proust himself would have warned
Capote against such a foolish, self-defeating course
of action. Capote was of course gay, but his new role as lap-dog
to wealthy heterosexuals led him to adopt a strange,
tortured role familiar to many closeted socialites.
As time passes, you start accepting all the straight
conventions, and begin dismissing any gay love affairs
as trivial, sordid, or merely amusing, while holding
all heterosexual affairs in the highest honor and
respect. In the end, the poor lap-dog may even try
to persuade his straight masters that he himself is
enthralled with love for a beautiful woman, and start
trying to play that tune -- hitting a lot of false
notes but keeping his masters entertained. Unfortunately, all this is on view in "Answered Prayers,"
where the author's "bisexual" alter ego develops a huge,
indeed infinitely large, crush on the msterious beauty
Kate McCloud, and maudlinly dedicates his life to
rescuing the kidnaped son of his princess, which son
is being held in an evil mountain fortress by ogres
from the Teutonic lands. Even as Capote descended into writing this sort of
childish fairy-tale, his self-loathing grew
enormously, from his famous Black And White Ball
onwards. He danced and sang for the entertainment
of the jet set, and hated himself for it. As he
began spinning his shaggy-dog story, his real
literary output fell to nearly zero, while drugs and
alcohol moved to center stage. In his more lucid
moments, however, he took his revenge on his trivial
"masters" by spilling their secrets in a series of
devastating short vignettes -- which he brilliantly
pretended were chapters from his long-promised,
shaggy-dog masterpiece!! It's no such thing, of course: it's an episodic,
unstructured, pornographic mess which DID in fact
accomplish its unconscious purpose: once Capote
began printing excerpts from this "novel," his Cafe
Society buddies dropped him like the proverbial
hot potato. So Capote was free at last -- to be himself and write
whatever he liked. Unfortunately, he had wasted
almost two decades and had a couple of giant monkeys
on his back. As things turned out, the next chapter
in his life was "Dissolution and Death." It is all very sad, but it is also ironic. If Capote
had actually read Proust, this could all have been
avoided, for Proust is a sovereign tonic against
social climbing -- his devastating analysis of
the "top layers" of Parisian society is enough to
put anyone off the idea that such people are worth
pursuing. "Answered Prayers" has some wonderful ... stories
and a lot of gossip about the sex lives of the rich
and famous. There are some funny jokes and anecdotes
of the Marlene Dietrich/Montgomery Clift era. It
is most certainly not in any sense a finished work of
art. Curiosity value only!!
Rating:
Summary: Collection of loosely connected stories
Review: "Answered Prayers" is written as a collection of loosely connected short stories, some of them better than others. Because the book has no ending, the stories kind of hang in the air by themselves, leaving fragmented memories. I thought about Hemingway's collections of stories when reading "Answered Prayers". Observations of life in different colors... The language is superb. One cannot help thinking what the end of the book could have been if Capote cared to finish it.
Rating: 
Summary: Sigh: So Emblematic Of Capote's Wasted Talent
Review: Although I've never considered Capote a great writer (or even capable of resembling one), he did write In Cold Blood, one of the finest non-fiction books of the 20th Century. In short, he had genuine talent, which he threw away with both hands (rather like Fitzgerald, though he certainly didn't have his genius). Answered Prayers is, to my mind, proof of this -- magnificently written in parts, but sloppy, disorganized and ultimately pointless. One questions the judgement and motivations in publishing this singularly unfinished piece.
Rating: 
Summary: A striking keystone in Capote's oeuvre
Review: Capote tells us many stories in Answered Prayers...the story of the Upper East Side lawyer who whores himself to pay his son's way at Exeter, the new wife who murders her husband for fear of losing the money into which she's married, and the hauntingly beautiful Kate McCloud, the toast of St. Moritz, who plots to kidnap her child from her new husband, whom she rightfully suspects is trying to kill her. It is also the story of Capote's dark doppleganger, P.B. Jones, and the self-loathing hue in which he paints his life in episodes of both tremendous scandal and surprising pathos. The greatest story, however, the one with which this fragment tantalizes the reader, is the story of a man and a separate society whose worse fate was to have every prayer they ever offered up answered, in spades. Answered Prayers is the novel Truman Capote never finished, but the one his most ardent fans wish he had finished, above all others.
Rating:
Summary: Unanswered
Review: First of all, let me say this: I am a Truman Capote fanatic, an absolute Truman Capote maniac. I read "Answered Prayers" when I was in the 11th grade, and I was so angry that he died before he could finish it. I devour Capote's work as though it were an edible delicacy, or as though it were a lunar eclipse, something that is so incredibly rare, something to be cherished by all. I love "Answered Prayers" because it is like a man spilling secrets about his high-class, muckety-muck friends. Damaging secrets, secrets that we all knew they would refute, though we knew they were true. Secrets like Montgomery Clift's homosexuality. This book was rather vulgar, depicting Capote's wilder side, the Capote side that rages like a forest fire, rages unchecked. Read this book, do yourself a favor, read this book. ~Steven Harvey
Rating:
Summary: Unanswered
Review: First of all, let me say this: I am a Truman Capote fanatic, an absolute Truman Capote maniac. I read "Answered Prayers" when I was in the 11th grade, and I was so angry that he died before he could finish it. I devour Capote's work as though it were an edible delicacy, or as though it were a lunar eclipse, something that is so incredibly rare, something to be cherished by all. I love "Answered Prayers" because it is like a man spilling secrets about his high-class, muckety-muck friends. Damaging secrets, secrets that we all knew they would refute, though we knew they were true. Secrets like Montgomery Clift's homosexuality. This book was rather vulgar, depicting Capote's wilder side, the Capote side that rages like a forest fire, rages unchecked. Read this book, do yourself a favor, read this book. ~Steven Harvey
Rating:
Summary: Unanswered
Review: First of all, let me say this: I am a Truman Capote fanatic, an absolute Truman Capote maniac. I read "Answered Prayers" when I was in the 11th grade, and I was so angry that he died before he could finish it. I devour Capote's work as though it were an edible delicacy, or as though it were a lunar eclipse, something that is so incredibly rare, something to be cherished by all. I love "Answered Prayers" because it is like a man spilling secrets about his high-class, muckety-muck friends. Damaging secrets, secrets that we all knew they would refute, though we knew they were true. Secrets like Montgomery Clift's homosexuality. This book was rather vulgar, depicting Capote's wilder side, the Capote side that rages like a forest fire, rages unchecked. Read this book, do yourself a favor, read this book. ~Steven Harvey
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing...especially for Capote
Review: I'm a big fan of Capote but unfortunately this book just doesn't do the man justice. Granted it's unfinished...but still, I was forcing myself to try and finish the book - something I have never done in his past novels. The "La Cote Basque" chapter is alright if you are into "Old Hollywood" but still Capote's sloppy writing is all too evident in this unfinished novel. But if you want to remember Capote for his much better works, skip this title
Rating:
Summary: Capote's unfinished masterpiece
Review: If the complete novel had ever been published, "Answered Prayers" would have been no doubt Truman Capote's masterpiece. The novel is nothing like "In Cold Blood" or "Other Voices, Other Rooms." The novel is autobiographical and details the lives of socialites and endless parties. Capote was very familiar with this lifestyle. He was a regular on the New York City and L.A. party circuit. All of Capote's escapades can be read about in Gerald Clarke's biography "Capote." "Answered Prayers" was worked on for more than twenty years, and it's ashamed that no more of the book was found after Capote's death in 1984. "Answered Prayers" is Capote's masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Capote's unfinished masterpiece
Review: If the complete novel had ever been published, "Answered Prayers" would have been no doubt Truman Capote's masterpiece. The novel is nothing like "In Cold Blood" or "Other Voices, Other Rooms." The novel is autobiographical and details the lives of socialites and endless parties. Capote was very familiar with this lifestyle. He was a regular on the New York City and L.A. party circuit. All of Capote's escapades can be read about in Gerald Clarke's biography "Capote." "Answered Prayers" was worked on for more than twenty years, and it's ashamed that no more of the book was found after Capote's death in 1984. "Answered Prayers" is Capote's masterpiece.
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