Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era

by Laurence Leamer

New York Times bestselling author Laurence Leamer reveals the complex web of relationships and scandalous true stories behind Truman Capote's never-published final novel, Answered Prayers--the dark secrets, tragic glamour, and Capote's ultimate betrayal of the group of female friends he called his swans.

There are certain women, Truman Capote wrote, who, though perhaps not born rich, are born to be rich. Barbara 'Babe' Paley, Gloria Guinness, Marella Agnelli, Slim Hayward, Pamela Churchill, C.Z. Guest, Lee Radziwill (Jackie Kennedy's sister)--they were the toast of midcentury New York, each beautiful and distinguished in her own way. These women captivated and enchanted Capote--and at times, they infuriated him as well. He befriended them, received their deepest confidences, and ingratiated himself into their lives. Then, in one fell swoop, he betrayed them in the most surprising and shocking way possible.

Bestselling biographer Laurence Leamer delves into the years following the acclaimed publication of Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1958 and In Cold Blood in 1966, when Capote struggled with a crippling case of writer's block. While enjoying all the fruits of his success--including cultivating close friendships with the richest and most admired women of the era--he was struck with an idea for what he was sure would be his most celebrated novel...one based on the remarkable, racy lives of his very, very rich friends.

For years, Capote attempted to write what he believed would have been his magnum opus, Answered Prayers. But when he eventually published a few chapters in Esquire, the thinly fictionalized lives (and scandals) of his closest female confidantes were laid bare for all to see. The blowback incinerated his relationships and banished Capote from their high-society world forever...a world that was already crumbling, though none of them realized it yet. Laurence Leamer recreates in detail the lives of these fascinating swans, their friendships with Capote and one another, and the doomed quest to write what could have been one of the greatest novels of the 20th century.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, Audiobook, Biography Memoir, Historical, New York

Audiobook

First published October 12, 2021

About the author

Laurence Leamer is an award-winning journalist and historian who has written eighteen books including five New York Times bestsellers. He has worked in a factory in France, a coal mine in West Virginia and as a Peace Corps volunteer in a remote village in Nepal two days from a road. He has written two novels and an off Broadway play but is primarily known for his nonfiction. His most recent book, Capote's Women, is being made into an eight-part series starring Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Calista Flockhart, and Demi Moore.

Reviews

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for Nonfiction November.

LOVED it. Juicy juicy juicy, but not in a tabloid-ish way.

I put a lot of work into writing a review for this book because I thought it was worth it. When I went to post the review, it disappeared. I don't have the heart to try to re-create that review.

Let me just say the book is excellent. Even if you're not all that interested in Capote, this book is a fascinating, intimate look at the lives of "socialite" women in the early to mid-20th century. They all grew up very wealthy, and had it pounded into them by their parents that the most important thing they needed to do in life was to marry an extremely wealthy man. Happiness didn't matter. Love didn't matter. Your own ambitions didn't matter. You married for money and made sure to always look glamorous and elegant. That way, when your cold, distant husband was off having his affairs, you could have affairs of your own.

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barbara Babe Paley, Gloria Guinness, Marella Agnelli, Slim Hayward, Pamela Churchill, C. Z. Guest and Lee Radziwill were courtesans whose sole ambition was to marry well (meaning “rich”) and then to marry better. They were attractive, elegant and well-dressed (which shouldn’t be that hard when you have all the money in the world). They were decorative and kept a succession of men happy, at least for a while. Truman Capote found them fascinating and referred to them as his swans. They found him entertaining to have around and they confided in him. That came back to bite them when it turned out that Truman had used them as material in his unfinished (and maybe non-existent) novel “Answered Prayers”. The author thinks the swan species is defunct, but I’m not sure.

The book consists primarily of mini biographies of the swans. There is much less information about Truman. A few years ago, the same territory was covered in “The Swans of Fifth Avenue” by Melanie Benjamin, so I already knew a lot of the details reported here. Frankly, these women seem like a whole different species to me. They went through husbands and lovers (usually married men) in rapid order. “The melancholy fact was that there was only a paltry supply of the immensely rich men the Cushings considered worthy husbands. One could not cavalierly toss away a prospect simply because he was married.”

I think Pamela Churchill must have broken records. There was a mind boggling list of men. One of Slim’s husbands announced that he wanted to separate. By the time Slim returned to their New York home she found red stickers had been placed by Pamela on the articles that she wanted the husband to get in the divorce settlement. That’s the kind of woman the swans were. At one time Truman invited all of the swans to lunch. It amused him to watch their interaction. Understandably, the interaction with Pamela was somewhat strained.

Truman came to a sad end. He couldn’t finish his promised book or overcome his addictions. The swans deserted him after a chapter from the book was published. They felt betrayed and I guess they didn’t like looking in the mirror. When refusing to testify to help Truman in a law suit brought by Gore Vidal, Radziwill told the gossip columnist Liz Smith “I am tired of Truman riding on my coattails to fame. And Liz, what difference does it make? They are just a couple of fags.” He responded by trashing her on a talk show interview. Liz later blamed herself and Lee for breaking Truman’s spirit. He continued to spiral downward, his health failed and he died at 59. The lives of these women had to be irresistible to a writer. You couldn’t make up some of this stuff. The book is gossipy entertainment.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[Morgan]

Having read “The Swans of Fifth Avenue” by Melanie Benjamin and disliking it I should have known that picking up this book was a mistake.

50 pages in I couldn’t stomach one more page of these ridiculous pathetic people whose only claim to fame was their money their looks and their clothes. What a waste.

Even Capote was only really famous for two books and his friendships with these women.

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era is a captivating tale by Laurence Leamer, not only the biography of the life of Truman Capote, but the lives of his swans. This was during the time after the publication of and Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1958 and before the publication of In Cold Blood in 1966 when he was suffering from a writer’s block. Capolte’s Women reveals a complex web of relationships behind the never-published final manuscript by Capote called Answered Prayers. The saying is attributed to Saint Teresa of Avila: “There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.” It was to be a novel about women who had their dreams of riches fulfilled, and for the most part, ended up with the taste of ashes in their mouth. Crucial to Truman’s masterpiece would be his evoking of the sumptuous world of the swans in which he had ingratiated himself. The beautiful women that he considered to be his swans included Barbara “Babe” Paley, Gloria Guinness, Slim Keith, Pamela Churchill Harriman, C.Z. Guest, Lee Radziwill, and Marella Agnelli. They were all, each in their own way, the toast of mid-century New York.

“. . . Truman saw in a woman’s projection of beauty an assertion of a life force, a mystical, magical thing that transformed all who touched it. He liked to be near such women, and he collected his swans the way others did Faberge eggs.”

Believing that his unfinished manuscript of Answered Prayers would be his magnum opus based on the remarkable and racy lives of his swans that he had shared over the years. But after publishing just a few chapters in Esquire, the thinly disguised fictional lives of his closest female confidantes, there was a furor at his betrayal. These women were devastated at Truman Capote’s breech of their trust and friendship, banishing him from their lives.

“‘La Cote Basque 1965’ was a delicious tranche of his masterpiece, and it would turn him once again into the most talked-about author in America.”

All in all, a very sad book. I felt reading this in much the same way as when I recently read what was found of the manuscript of Answered Prayers.

[Justin Tate · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first read from Laurence Leamer. I thoroughly enjoyed his writing style and the way he presented non-fiction in an engaging way. Just because a book is informative doesn't mean it has to be boring!

I've seen a lot of comments that say the show is better than the book. I haven't seen the show yet, but I do think one struggle the book experiences is in making the non-Capote figures engaging to read about. They are largely depicted as a blur of spoiled elites and it's not always clear how Capote interacted with them. At times, it feels like the biography of a dozen totally separate people, rather than a central orbit of characters. I imagine the show reduces that threshold of understanding, making it easier to see how they all interconnect.

Though many entire books have been written on Capote alone, I really enjoyed seeing his life from the perspective of these "swans". It allows us to focus on an identity issue Capote no doubt experienced, being a plaything for elites and gay curiosity. It's totally understandable why someone from his upbringing, thrust into this world, might hold resentment toward the circle of power. I can also see how separating personal feelings enough to craft a captivating novel would be difficult. Perhaps that's part of why his intended masterpiece Answered Prayers went unfinished.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This book absolutely enchanted me. Being a certain age, Capote’s Women were very much part of the fabric of my youth. They were the women I admired. I followed their lives and saved money to eat in the restaurants they visited. I bought Woman’s Wear Daily to see their clothes. I knew their stories, but I’ve read every book written about them. This book was perfect!

Capote surrounded himself with the greatest beauties and wealthiest women who were the socialite/celebrities during the era of the Beautiful People. Despite being a famous writer, he was the darling of these women who he called THE SWANS.


Leamer recounts the stories of the SWANS and their relationship with Truman Capote. Each SWAN is given a short, engaging biography, which connects them to Truman. I do understand that this might be hard for the uninitiated to relate to, but Leamer does a fantastic job of pulling the reader into their stories.

Of course, one of these women was BABE PALEY, the quintessential leader of society. I saw her once, entering a gala at Lincoln Center and I can describe her perfectly, many years later. Leamer brought these women to life, as the reader is brought into the social history of the era.

So, I loved this book! It took me back to the “princesses” that I admired., and reminded me of a very different time.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book which absolutely delighted me.

[Leslie Zemeckis]

Interesting and ultimately frustrating story of wasted lives - incredibly wealthy socialites who squandered their riches, in miserable marriages and betrayed by a genius writer who squandered his talents

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, rounded down.

Although I'd already read The Swans of Fifth Avenue, which covers much of the same territory in fictional format, Leamer's book is the source for the new TV miniseries about Capote and his swans, so I wanted to get the non-fictional facts as well.

Leamer's book is certainly readable and well-researched, but perhaps goes into TOO much detail - and the structure is rather flat. He devotes a chapter or two to each of the women in Capote's orbit, interspersing some anecdotes about the author as deemed necessary - and then only the final 30 pages gets to the nitty-gritty dirt about the fall-out from the publication of his one chapter from his unfinished magnum opus, Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel in Esquire, which led to his downfall in society.

There are lots of juicy details (I didn't know for example, that Jackie's sister, Lee Radziwill, had had an affair with Onassis prior to her sister's involvement with the Greek tycoon!), and it's amazing how these few women exchanged boyfriends and husbands with each other so frequently. Looking forward to seeing how the miniseries does with the story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeE1p...

[John Spiller · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Capote's Women" reads like a book-length Vanity Fair article: well-written, fawning on the rich and stylish, somewhat bitchy, but fairly superficial. I expected the book to focus on the interaction between Truman Capote and his "swans" (towering socialites Babe Paley, Slim Keith, Gloria Guinness, C.Z. Guess, Marella Agnelli, Lee Radziwell, and Pamela Harriman). Instead, Leamer weaves mini-biographies of the swans and Capote. Although Capote's extended vacations with Paley and Agnelli are mentioned in passing, Capote and his swans spend most of this book apart.

I found it interesting that Leamer went out of his way to give sympathetic portrayals to all of the swans, save Lee Radziwill. He savages her as self-absorbed, pretentious, status and money hungry, and generally disdainful of those she feels are beneath her. The thing is, most of the other swans shared many of the same traits, but Leamer was much more indulgent of their shortcomings.

Ultimately, "Capote's Women" paints a bleak portrait of Capote and his swans. It seems that many of these women enjoyed Capote because he was an inveterate gossip, which ironically sunders their friendship when he airs their dirty laundry in a mean-spirited excerpt from his unpublished book, "Answered Prayers". When cautioned that the thinly-veiled caricatures would alienate his friends, Capote dismissively sniffed that they would be too dumb to understand. In a sense Capote and his swans deserved each other.

[Eric Dezenhall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary book. Couldn’t stop reading about the type of people who existed in an era that is long gone. Capote himself was gifted and utterly vicious. On one level he worshipped his “swans,” beautiful women at the top of high society, but on another level he must have held them in contempt to a point where he didn’t give a second’s thought to betraying them in the worst way. He flew on their planes, crashed in their estates and held court at their parties for decades but all the while he was keeping notes on them for his masterpiece, which was never completed. Leamer, a talented and seasoned storyteller, both captures the complexity of Capote and the swans and keeps the pace moving to the point where I had to know what outrage the writer would commit next and what indignity the perfect swans would next suffer. The narrative had me wondering what was wrong with me because I simultaneously loved getting to know these iconic characters and was thankful to live my quiet life never having gotten mixed up with any of them. All of this begs the question, who are the heirs to Capote and his swans? The Kardashians? No, they’ve floated away into Leamer’s literature like Fitzgerald’s Daisy and Jordan and the Jazz Age.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reader certainly gets what is promised by the title of this book. . .the author is skilled and has a wickedly sharp pen from the very first word. Still the reader is misled. This book is about Truman. Mr. Capote. Himself.

And here I had to tuck all my defenses away, in the back of the hall closet, in that hard-to-reach corner, and then begin the tour of His Swans. A pond of incredibly wealthy women whose names I was not at all familiar (shows where my place in the hierarchy of class is here in the good 'ol USA!). But google them, and I'd seen their pictures through the years in marketing materials, on the news and other social vehicles for behavioral display. Most often those came with cautionary warnings and tales of woe. Probably just to remind us that wealth isn't all. (Isn't it? nah.)

Just to have the list out of the way it's about: Babe Paley, Gloria Guinnes, Slim Keith, Pamelia Harriman, CZ Guest, Lee Radziwill and Marella Agnelli, among other bit players. Truman wiggles his way in, and begins years long friendships - real friendships - all the while telling long stories, writing his books, and keeping everyone amused. And he listens. And listens. If not taking notes, then his brain is one of those that forgets nothing.

He is working out his earthly salvation, and trying to find his way to fame and independence (these girls have all been paying his way in many cases), and he mysteriously does the one thing that ends it all, not just a shot through the foot, but one through the head! All consequences lead him to the truth that is you can't keep friends when you spill all their deeply held secrets. . .the author opines that he may have been trying to help, or free them or ?

I ended with a hearty sigh, full of thankfulness that I have no money to attract a soul, and no friends that come at the price Truman did.

[Caro the Helmet Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've watched "Feud: Capote vs Swans" recently and yes, it brought me here, to this book. And you know what?

First thing - the series is better if you want to save time and just enjoy the "views" and learn the general idea of what the hell happened. Although I'd cut the couple of episodes nonetheless.

Second thing - yeah, there were some swans absent in series and present in the book exclusively but it's a not a big deal since all of their bios look almost copy-pasted in general - was born then and there, wanted to marry wealthy, married wealthy, divorced, married wealthy again, had some kids, died alone, the end.

Third thing - I can somewhat understand Capote's mischievous publishing of the unfortunate chapter of his never written book that broke his friendship with the ladies forever. Apart from looking good and having fun partying and travelling these people didn't have any purposes in life, no real passions, nothing interesting or deep to say. I bet their memoirs are colourful, they probably met a lot of celebrities, artists etc, etc, but in general, on surface they didn't seem worth any. I'm pretty sure that in, like, 100 years nobody will remember them.

And I do understand that these women in some way had no choice, because they were brought up in such families and with such traditions, and bla bla. They weren't the rebellious ones. They were the good girls that should go to heaven which appeared to be boring as hell. And they suffered too. But I'm pretty sure that their suffering on the yacht with a cocktail in hand somewhere near Bahamas was a bit more comfortable from the one that other, lower social class mortals went through...

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ran into cultural mashup here as I read this book while also watching Succession (S3) and Selling Sunset (S4) so I will point out that Capote’s era of obsession with the rich and superficial has not ended, just morphed into something even richer, skinnier and more surgically enhanced. I related to a paragraph early on about a manicurist who serviced all the Swans and hated Capote as she saw first hand the way he spread their stories from one to the next. And I nearly cheered at the end when Marella Agnelli dropped him cold in 1970 because she finally (finally!) saw through him.

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A trashy book, mildly entertaining. The writing is on the level of:

"At Templeton, C.Z. directed the gardeners to weed the soil, prune the flowers, and water what had to be nourished. If one watered too much, the plant died. If one didn't water enough, the plant died too. That was a lesson to be learned by trial and error and never forgotten."

The author repeatedly misspells plebeian, misspells mordant, uses "righteous" instead of "rightful", "rightfully" rather than "rightly", and "cache" when he means "cachet." He has no idea when to use who and whom (ten whos needed to be whoms). Words are missing ("There was no wittier or inviting person to come to your party..."). Subjects and verbs sometimes disagree. Modifiers dangle ("An likely Democrat, President Roosevelt was unwilling to give Averell a powerful role in the New Deal").

Did Jacqueline Bouvier have a "fierce intellectual spirit"?

The book finishes with a bizarre and dubious story about Capote's ashes. He died at Joanne Carson's house. She drove the ashes to the cemetery near her house and was shown into the columbarium. All the crypts were taken, she was told. However, the slot occupied by Peter Lawford's remains was offered to her. "The Kennedys haven't paid, and we would be willing to cut a special deal with you and remove Mr. Lawford." Carson drove Capote's ashes home, emptied out half of them, and added her dog's ashes, returning to the cemetery to have the urn sealed in. Lawford's ashes "were cast out on the ocean."

[Anita Pomerantz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I watched FX's The Feud which supposedly was based on this book. I loved the show, so thought I'd feel the same about the book. Alas no. The book is definitely more focused on the women in Capote's life as opposed to Capote (or even their relationships with him), and is almost like a series of mini biographies. The most interesting thing about all these women is that they ran in high society, were rich, and had lots of husbands. In other words, not really all that interesting.

It was very well researched, and I listened to a lot of it on audio, and the reader did a great job. But it took me forever to finish, and my mind kept wandering. It's as though one of their stories were all of their stories. I think the author did a good job of understanding each woman, characterizing her, and describing her unique quirks. It's written in an engaging way. It's just not a topic I really care about all that much . . .so that's more on me!

[Sarah ~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era - Laurence Leamer



يحكي الكتاب بالتفصيل عن الكاتب "الشهير" ترومان كابوتي وقصة كتابه الأخير "صلوات مستجابة"، والفضائح التي أحيطت به وبحياته وعلاقته وخيانته لاحقًا لمجموعة من النساء اللائي وثقن به واعتبرنه صديقًا وكان يطلق عليهن اسم: "البجعات".

يحسب للكاتب محاولته اختصار كل هذه الشخصيات والقصص بين ضفتي كتاب متوسط الحجم وسريع القراءة وتجميعه كل تلك الحكايات وإن كنت آخذ عليه اختصاره للقصة الرئيسية للكتاب وهي قصة فشل كتاب كابوتي "صلوات مستجابة"، حيث كان كل ما حظى به في النهاية كان فصلًا صغيرًا قرب النهاية.


سيتحول الكتاب إلى مسلسل سيعرض قريبًا.

~

فجر يوم الأحد، الثاني والعشرون من شعبان - 1445 هـ

[C.G. Twiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the more fascinating aspects of Truman Capote's life, and which was not delved into in the Oscar-winning movie made of it, was probably the most fundamental part, equal to his honing of his writing talent - Capote absolutely adored a certain kind of woman, and he carefully selected and then tended to and eventually betrayed those women. He called these women - all beautiful, thin, rich, talkative, entertaining, and varying degrees "of good birth"- his "swans." They were "socialites" - a breed hardly anyone even thinks about anymore, certainly not with the degree of awe and fascination they inspired for what author Laurence Leamer astutely concludes was only one generation.

Leamer devotes his book equally to Capote and to the swans, who all get their own mini-biographies - and now I have much more reading to do! Some of the swans are insufferable (C.Z. Guest), some fascinating (Pamela Harriman), and some tragic (Babe Paley). Virtually all of them, if alive today, would have been completely different people - probably with millions of Instagram followers, brand ambassadors, licensing deals for home furnishings, etc. They would have been aristocratic Martha Stewarts.

But all of these women, all of them intelligent -they HAD to be to hang with Truman - were products of their time, raised with one goal in mind - marry a rich "proper" (ie "well-bred") man. Would the man cheat? Of course. Would he be an alcoholic? Sure. Would he be an abuser? Possibly. Would he be much older and boring? Likely. None of it mattered so long as he could afford a country estate, a yacht, and a Manhattan penthouse.

It's clear why Truman was obsessed with these women - they are surrogates for his own mother, who repeatedly charmed and then abandoned Truman throughout his life. His mother too was a product of her time - obsessed with class, social structure, "breeding," and marrying well. Her plans didn't include a flamboyantly gay son, no matter how talented.

In the end, Truman's love for his swans was dwarfed by the writer who wanted to be the next Proust, and he mined the ladies' secrets and intimacies for a couple of gossipy articles. These were supposedly part of his magnus opus - Answered Prayers - and it's debatable whether or not he even wrote any more of it than that. The book is far more famous for having NOT been written than it likely would have been if it had. Perhaps, on some level, Truman, who has a keen sense of publicity, knew this.

At the end of his life, all of his "swans" - in true tragic style - abandoned him. But this only added to Truman's posthumous allure.

Author Laurence Leamer is balanced in his reporting - and he saves his almost gushing admiration for the swans for his liner notes. Otherwise, he is clear-eyed, seeing not only the swans' many attributes, but their many faults, and also has empathy for their being such victims of their era, one that did not value women for their brains, but only their faces, their husbands, and their clothes.

Today, I think Truman would have thrived. He would have had millions of Twitter followers hanging on his every bitchy bon mot. In reading many of his hilariously grandiose pronouncements, I couldn't decide whether he was trolling. Perfect for Twitter!

In the end, Truman will be known for three things - In Cold Blood, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and his swans.

Thank you so much to Laurence Leamer for personally gifting me this ARC of this fabulous book.

[3 Things About This Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everyone knows about Capote's swans. They were the creme de la creme of the world's jetsetters. They got best of everything: houses, cars, yachts, dresses, dinners and of course surnames. While divorce was such a no no thing in the society, it was nothing for these women. They did not want to drop those surnames when they signed divorce agreements because more they had more status they got. All they thought about was thinking what to wear on next occasion... I cannot blame Capote when he thought swans were nothing but a prop.

But he forgot that when it came to protecting their image and their privilege, these swans would write off anyone in the blink of an eye. Capote thought he was irreplaceable for all he knew and all he could say; however, what makes his knowledge valuable was value the swans put on him. The moment he was no one for swans, he was no one for everyone.

This book is a bite size biographies of those swans who both made and broke Truman Capote. If he wasn't part of their clan, he could have been the all American author everyone praising. Yet he fell into their trap and lost all he was and all he could be.

[Renatta Gorski · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 leaning 2.5 stars. i’m pretty disappointed by this, in part because i was so looking forward to it. each person featured sounded fascinating, including obviously truman himself, but the writing was all over the place. chapters were poorly organized, pacing was weird, and i frequently lost track of who was who. if you’re interested in truman, i suggest the swans of fifth avenue (fiction) or the movie capote (also fiction).

[Debbie Robson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has taken me a lot longer than I expected to read Capote’s Women and that’s not because of Leamer’s writing but because you sort of get mired in the pointlessness of these womens’ lives. They were born at a time in the early decades of the last century when it was quite a respectable occupation to hunt down a wealthy husband and when you get bored with him, find another generally more wealthy one.
Leamer documents each of the seven swan’s lives before they met Truman and after.
These chapters are interspersed with updates on Truman’s life – who he’s dating, what he’s writing and where he’s living. Here are the seven swans and for those who don’t know the unforgiveable betrayal by Capote occurs in 1975 when most of the women are in their fifties.
Barbara “Babe” Paley 1915-1978
Gloria Guinness 1912-1980
Slim Keith 1917-1990
Pamela Harriman 1920-1997
C Z Guest 1920-2003
Lee Radziwill 1933-2019
Maria Agnelli 1927-2019
By the time I got to the chapter about the betrayal I am afraid I was really let down. For me this book was leading up to this crucial chapter when it would all unfold but it didn’t. There was only ten pages and I just felt it was skipped over. Also towards the end there seemed to be quite a bit of repetition regarding some details in a few of the swans’ lives. A disappointing three and a half stars.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book rang all my bells for juicy,
gossipy, nonfiction tell-all books. I've read other books about Capote and his "swans" both collectively and individually. It's a fascinating transitional time period in our history and this book captures that era beautifully. Capote was a flawed sad literary genius. His ability to gather women of high society, create close friendships then exploit and expose their flaws and vulnerabilities for his own gain is ruthless and ugly.
I'm not fond of many of these women or Capote as portrayed in this book but the story is terrific.
5 big shiny stars.

[Carla Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long ago (when I was a teenager to early 20s) I read Truman Capote’s work and I even read the Gerald Clarke bio of him. So I did know who these women (his “swans”) were. I mean, vaguely. I read the bio when I was 22…… This tells the story of Truman’s life, interspersing biographies of all his women friends. There was a lot I didn’t know…. I watched the Hulu series Capote versus the Swans. It was good and it’s based on this book.

[Steve Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished it. It was intresting concerning " The Swans ". I enjoy books about this era, which is now a bygone one. And books about Truman Capote in general.

[Crystal FloridaGrams Of3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book was a fun read. Basically, I'm reading gossip while sipping my coffee.
I only heard of the swans when FX Feud: Truman Capote vs. The Swans.
This gives you tidbits of information on each swan and, of course, Truman Capote.
I knew of him through the book Breakfast at Tiffany's, but that's all. But I do remember reading about him in my grandma's National Enquirer 🤣 back when he died.

[Meredith Taunton · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would describe this as a collection of poorly written gossip columns. Both the writing style and the presentation of content were disjointed, hard to follow, and hard to enjoy.

[Daniel Myatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional!

[whitney (taylor's version) ༅:*･ﾟ · Rating 3 out of 5]

꧁ 3 stars ꧂
I enjoyed the premise of this biography, but the execution was lacking in depth and focus. The author tries to focus on too many people in this short book, and the result is shallow character developments and fleeting plots. Joanne whatever-her-last-name-is, who *has Truman's ashes* isn't even introduced until the last chapters.

I picked up this book partly because I need the context for my English presentation, and partly because I enjoy reading about dramatic historical events and people. The book definitely did not disappoint in that aspect, as it delves into each Swan's multiple (failed) marriages and affairs, and Truman's faults. The story falls flat around 50%, where there are too many characters to juggle and the author is probably running out of words. I would have liked to see more about each Swan's later lives, as the book only includes a paragraph's obituary for each woman.

All in all, this book was educational but I could have learned the same information on Wikipedia.

[Disclaimer: this eARC was generously gifted to me by PRH. All opinions and statements are my own.]

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[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book seemed a bit disjointed and all over the place. I think the author tried to cover too many people in too short a book. Truman Capote was an even more tortured soul than I had thought. I can't imagine what he thought the outcome of trashing his friends was going to be but it sure didn't work out for him.

[Wlmcbride · Rating 2 out of 5]

lifestyles of the wealthy and unappreciative...no thanks

[Mewa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inaczej wyobrażałam sobie Capotego, ale poznanie go lepiej oraz przede wszystkim poznanie kobiet, jakimi się otaczał, dało mi perspektywę, dzięki której lepiej zrozumiałam magię jego opowiadań (bo niestety tylko je jak dotąd czytałam i POLECAM). Poza tym „Kobiety Capotego. Śniadanie i Tiffany'ego, mroczne sekrety i zdrady w świecie glamour“ (bardzo nietrafione tłumaczenie tytułu „Capotes Women: A True Story of Love, Betratal, and a Swan Song for an Era“) było po prostu przyjemną lekturą, w której łatwo się zatopić i zanim człowiek się zorientuje, nagle jest w połowie. Mam sporo zastrzeżeń do strony technicznej książki, ale jednocześnie nie mogę jej odmówić uroku. A raczej podejmowaniemu przez nią tematowi, bo Leamer niestety pisze słabo.