Customer Reviews

Lost Friendships: A Memoir of Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams & Others

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I thoroughly enjoyed this. It's filled with details that bring to life what it must have been like to be a (gay) man of letters from the 1940's to the 1980's (and Windham, at 90, is still kicking it in 2009).

Windham is fascinated by his two literary friends who achieved a level of success that eludehd him and eludes most writers, Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams. He knew both so well that the reader sees both figures in the round--something that doesn't happen in conventional biographies of both figures. He also probes at the heart of how success can derail an artist's journey. This is a wonderful book.

Despite my admiration for both Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams, this book did them little justice. It appears to have been more for the author to talk about himself rather than trying to get into his subjects. I've read another book by Mr. Windham and did not find this to be problematic. The other issue I had with it is that as the book went on, the author started writing these long, convoluted sentences that he may have thought seemed Proustian but, in reality, made little sense--if not completely contradictory. I was not impressed.

I only read the half about Truman Capote. Windham really revealed more of himself than of Truman - seems to me to be the archtype of a gay man - too, too sensitive to remarks about himself, either verbal or in print. Actually uses the phrase "conspiracy against me". I think a very biased portrait of Capote.