Leamer, a prolific biographer, deftly tells the stories of the stylish, glamorous women whose trust Capote cultivated and then betrayed ... Mr. Leamer has delivered a fast-paced, sensitive tale of the swans, their tumultuous lives and their dismay at Capote’s treachery.
Capote’s own life story was so intertwined with his remarkable friendships that it’s impossible to understand the man without the friends. What Capote's Women captures is how these myriad and multilayered friendships came about and nourished him for so long, until his inner demons proved too damning for all but a few of his faithful.
As one reads, again and again, the stories which could fill so many juicy gossip columns, all the affairs and scandals and catty slights, there is dawning realization of banality and repetition to the glamorous lives of these women. What is refreshing about Leamer, though, is that while here and there he will make remarks condemning the morals and attitudes portrayed by these women and their often-repulsive husbands, he allows the reader to mostly draw their own conclusions. He is no soporific moralist ... Always intriguing and averse to philosophic musings, Leamer thankfully does not try to do what Truman could not. His prose is brisk and clean, making only minor indulgences in lavish details that are appropriate given the material. He is also not bogged down by the need for endless quotations inserted cumbersomely into the text, though that is not to say it is poorly researched. In a way, the book’s style reflects more of a celebrity tell-all rather than a historical biography ... Leamer can be critical when he wants, but he’s always subtle and conscientious of the complexity of these women’s circumstances. His subjects are treated with a delicacy and care that reveal a great sympathy and even occasional admiration.
... frothy prose ... The trouble with reading about Capote’s swans, all so fluffy and flighty, is that it soon becomes hard to tell them apart, a struggle further complicated by the increasingly dizzying Venn diagram of their intersecting love affairs.
To judge from the dated gossip that Laurence Leamer regurgitates, Capote’s women were a coven of witches sleekly adorned in haute couture ... Leamer can only grub up the sad, sordid facts, which are a reminder of why we need fiction.
Juxtaposing Capote’s life against those of the women who fascinated him and exploring the novelist’s capacity for friendship and betrayal, Leamer’s prose is as tantalizing as the lives he studies. This juicy and engrossing narrative recaps the swans’ and Capote’s transgressions within the historical context of gender, politics, and economics ... A must-read for fans of Capote. Leamer’s carefully curated blend of gossip and citation is sure to also engross anyone interested in midcentury New York society.
Leamer provides society-page profiles of each, describing their lives and relationships with Capote and delivering numerous anecdotes and much name-dropping ... Engagingly gossipy, Leamer provides extensive behind-the-scenes peaks into Capote’s tangled social life.
