What do You think about Point To Point Navigation (2006)?
Palimpsest, for all Vidal's narcissism, was an achievement in autobiography, a genre generally to be avoided. For a man I'm inclined to think of as exceptionally cold it was lyrical and warm, surprisingly frank on the heart, and well structured. He didn't feel compelled to tell us all - self aware enough to edit even life for the good bits.But this. If you rate Vidal, best not read it.The voice is still there, the wonderfully shaded irony, his acidic cutting through spin in commentary on events. But it's mostly the final telegrams of an old man missing his dead partner and lamenting the death and decline of his America, his friends, his glittering life. Even the chapter length tells of his waning powers - a page or two at most, before he must rest. The queerest thing of all was the three or so chapters where he rated academic and biographical writings on his own life and significance. One chapter is a complete quote from the book of an academic - like he was reading you his book review over the breakfast table. Or perhaps he was worried that his words, his important words, were impermanent after all. Not etched on tablets for eternal reference. I'll be reading his collected essays for the rest of my life, as he himself never put down his Montaigne.I am hoping for some unreleased essays and his correspondence to be published. But this second autograph of his life made me feel like I was feeding on carrion.
—Anna
Maybe not quite as epic and deep (and much thinner) than his first memoir, Palimpsest, this still had me hooked from beginning to end. On top of the usual droll and witty rants, he offers us some wonderful anecdotes about, y'know, Grace Kelly, Huey Long, Princess Margaret (he calls her "PM", LOL), Tennessee Williams , Johnny Carson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rudolf Nureyev, etc... The reason some of these stories didn't appear in Palimpsest was very simple: the protagonists weren't dead yet. Which leads me to the melancholy flipside of this "last memoir" (so Vidal calls it): not only does he describe what it's like for so many friends and enemies to be dying all around him, for the first time, he tells us what he felt when Howard Auster died. (The secret to their fifty-three year relationship? They never had sex.) The recollection is mostly dispassionate reportage: he never once tries to get inside Howard, nor does he allow us even a toehold inside himself during these bleak proceedings. And that's when you notice he's utterly bereft. Powerful stuff.And to top it all off, he concludes with the real story behind the JFK assassination -- to his mind the most tragic ironic moment in recent history. Yes, it is true that this book's a bit jumbled thematically and chronologically, but that just makes this a more vivid, decentered tale: you never know what's coming next when this acidic octogenarian gets going (well, probably some more Tennessee Williams gossip, but you don't know what's next after that) . Also, duh, the book's title. One last note: I'm still not sure what's going on in chapter fifty-three, which seems to consist entirely of a tedious, unattributed quote from Marcie Frank (I'm guessing). Bad editing? Absentmindedness? Some odd Montaigne stylistic allusion I just don't get? Anyway: weird.
—Mark Desrosiers
I became interested in Gore Vidal when Barry and I stayed at Hotel Palumbo in Ravello and I saw Vidal's villa perched on a cliff overlooking the gulf of Amalfi.I am amazed at how much I have in common with an 83 year old gay man from a prominent southern political family. I obviously don't agree with everything Gore believes but I love the way he has lived his life. His writing is full of references to great writers and philosophers from history, many of who he has known. His vocabulary is extensive and I appreciate learning new words. He shares how Faulkner went to his grave believing that coeval meant evil(!).He shares so candidly about his life yet sets boundaries around things that are sacred to him, like his 50 year partner relationship with a Jewish writer, Howard Austen.Great book for those interested in popular culture from the 40's to today.
—Jill
