Customer Reviews

Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and His Black and White Ball

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I eagerly pre-ordered this book MONTHS ago, for some reason I thought it was hundreds of photos from the Black & White Ball with narrative. Not. My copy arrived yesterday and instead of finding a large, photographic tome, I found this little book. Disappointed? You bet. However, I read it from cover-to-cover before going to bed last night.

Ms. Davis re-tells a very old story in a new, fresh way. For those of you who have only recently discovered Mr. Capote, this is a wonderful beginners book. I would recommend this book before reading Mr. Clarke and Mr. Plimpton's books on him.

Re-reading the story of the Black & White Ball brought back so many memories of where I was in 1966 and what has transpired in my life since that night, as well as the deep sadness of knowing what, unfortunately, happened to Truman Capote after the ball was over. It's a lovely little book told with respect and admiration. The cast of characters (most of them) have passed on to that great ballroom in the sky. Many of them will be names my daughter's generation has never heard of and will have no relevance to them at all. Penelope Tree anyone?

There are a few photos but certainly not nearly enough. I agree with our friend from the UK in that the book would be better with more photos. Question: Who has the black and white and color photos taken that evening and why haven't they published a large book of them? I would buy it in an instant. To see those young, fabulous faces (Mia Farrow, Candy Bergen) and the Jet Set of Europe and US after all these years re-awakens memories of the sad times of the 60s, but also the good times.

The book is about a night in the history of wealthy America. There is no one like Truman Capote on the scene at present and I daresay there will never be another writer like him again. The social scene that existed in the 60's no longer exists either. You don't have Suzy to read in your morning paper. You read about bimbos with no brains married to male bimbos with no looks. Angelina and Brad excluded. The book does recreate a bygone era never to be seen again. But it makes you sad at the end when you finish it and put it in your bookshelf along with all the other books on Truman Capote. It was perhaps the one day in his life when Truman Capote was truly, truly happy.

I would highly recommend this book to the new generation of Capote lovers. She did a lovely job.

Picture it: The Plaza Hotel, 28 November 1966. This is the setting of "The Party of the Century," an absolutely delicious behind the scenes look at Truman Capote's legendary 1966 Black and White Ball. Two things are true about Truman Capote. One is that he was one of the finest prose writers of the twentieth-century. The other is that he was a shameless media whore and a champion self-promoter (the literary equivalent of Orson Welles and, like Welles, extravagantly talented). Deborah Davis has crafted a hugely entertaining book that captures all the excitement and anticipation of "the" social event of the decade. Who's in with the in crowd was established by who received an invitation and who didn't. Life among the cannibals has rarely been this much fun to read about.

This is a great read about the celebrated party Mr Capote threw back in 1966. After wowing the world with his writing Capote decided to throw the party to end all parties. Reading about it as someone not even born by that year I was interested in how all the people invited seemed to have earnt their celebrity. America's established jet set rubbing shoulders with the new young celebs. I don't think a party of this nature could be thrown today as we're so used to seeing vulgar celebs attending the opening of an envelope. (Paris Hilton would so not have been invited.)

Saying that Capote did seem to be playing all of his guests and this is one area the author fails to explore. Was the party a massive PR stunt or Mr Capote's finest hour?

More pics would have been appreciated but for anyone interested in Capote, the sixties or the social history of New York this is an essential read.

I'd feel a lot more secure on the information in this entertaining read if the author or editor had known that the husband of Kitty Carlsle Hart was director-playwright Moss Hart, not a composer and that the last name of composer Richard Rodgers was not Rogers.

This was an OK read but if promised more than it delivered. It was more of a truncated Truman biography with an extended piece on the party rather than the press-your-nose-up-to-the-glass-and-peek-through-the-gossamer-curtains-to-a-land-of-wonder fable that I, at least, was expecting. Oh well, perhaps the inablility to capture the magic of Mr. Capote's Black and White Ball on paper is what keeps its legendary status intact.

As author Deborah Davis notes about herself in her prologue to PARTY OF THE CENTURY, I, too, remember hearing about this fabulous event when I was a child. I was intrigued by it then and, though I can't say that I've spent the intervening forty years pondering this gala, I was glad to have the opportunity to read a tidily organized report of what had gone on there.

Too, having enjoyed the author's earlier work, STRAPLESS, I had every reason to expect a good read.

Bluntly, it does not seem as if there's enough material in a ball, even a grand ball, to fill an entire book, and PARTY OF THE CENTURY simply confirms this theory.

On one hand, it is fascinating, from this vantage point, and after this passage of years, to read about some of the movers and shakers who had peopled gossip columns long in the past.

Still, to fill out a book, the author must resort to devoting whole chapters to minutiae, such as how the department store Bergdorf Goodman organized its couture department. While this information actually is interesting, well-researched and well-organized, ultimately it has precious little to do with the party.

In fairness to the author, there cannot be much left to say about either Truman Capote or about his party of the century. There are biographies about Truman, and memoirs by his intimates, there are Broadway plays, films and literary criticism. To find new material, the author--understandably--had to mine arcane and barely germane details.

This sketchiness shows up even in the editing and proofreading. Sentences do not end in periods, some sentences are repeated more than once consecutively, certain facts show up over and over--clearly the result of different chapters having been written at separate times but, still, a good editor should have caught these multiple repetitions--and the author clearly is confused by the distinction between British nobility and British royalty.

The result is a mess, and this is a particular shame in light of how good STRAPLESS is. Of course, in STRAPLESS, Davis only had to cover the artist John Singer Sargeant and his subject, Madame X. In PARTY, she attempts to cover dozens of people and the result is a superficial mish-mash.

When all is said and done, PARTY OF THE CENTURY is nothing more than a series of separate pieces, similar to individual articles in those magazines Truman had loved so well. Any chapter could do double duty as a story in VOGUE, W, VANITY FAIR or the NEW YORKER. Obviously, these chapters are not bad--but what they do not add up to is a discrete book.

Nonetheless, PARTY OF THE CENTURY does offer a full report of Truman's famous "black-&-white" masked ball at The Plaza Hotel. With all of the additional detail offered, the book provides a good snapshot of a special place at a special time. As such, reading it well may be a worthwhile effort for anyone with a curiosity about the period.

If you're a Truman Capote fan, I thoroughly recommend this book. I enjoyed my encounter with Truman and his ascendence into society. An easy read,and fascinating to read about his never to be repeated, Black and White Ball.

Great Book! Great semi-biography on Capote, really looks at the society side of his life, which in my opinion is pretty interesting. It's a good reminder of the way society used to be and the granduer that can't be recaptured again. It's pretty light and easy to pick up and put down. Would be an excellent beach read or vacation read, without the feeling of a trashy novel.

After I read this, I asked myself, did I really need to read a book about Truman Capote and the party planning event of the century? I came to the conclusion that i did not need to read this but if I wanted to discover an author who was able to document some of the most intricate details of what Capote did to make all this happen, how his writing of IN COLD BLOOD ties all into this, how he made other people of wealth and privledge yearn to be on his 'kickball' team, then this book is worth its weight in expensive lace.

This was a great book. It was well written and easy to follow. It made you feel as if you were there! I reccomend this for any Capote, Plaza or NYC enthusiasts!