Review of
Instaread Summary of The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin
Five out of five stars
Historical
fiction is one of the most fascinating areas of literature and one of the most
difficult to do well. For it must be based on facts and for the most part, the
deviations from history must stay within the bounds of the “it could have
happened.”
Truman Capote
was a superb writer and an openly gay man. The people that were the swans
were a small group of wealthy society
women in New York City in the fifties through the seventies. These were women
that were expected to be beautiful and dutiful, looking good at the arm of
their husband, accepting his faults and always performing to specifications at
social functions.
Despite their
wealth and position, the swans were emotionally vulnerable and inherently
unstable. In the early years, Capote proved to be a very loyal and safe friend,
a person to which they could expose their vulnerabilities. In that respect, the
book is a reaffirmation of the adage that the best friend that a woman can have
is a gay man. However, as Capote began to self-destruct in his later years, he
turned on the swans, dragging them down as well.
From this
summary, it appears that the book if far more fact than fiction, and the
fiction is all a logical extrapolation of what is known. It makes the book
sound very interesting in the way that the masses want to be titillated. I was
reminded of something I heard during the height of the popularity of the
prime-time soap “Dallas.” The comment was, “People are excited to learn that
wealthy people are miserable beneath their facade of wealth and power.” In
reading this summary, the reader will learn that at least in this case, the
wealthy people are indeed miserable. Although I am a fan of Capote, I would not
have read the book until I read the summary. Now I intend to read it.
This book was made available for free for review
purposes.
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