HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

The Swans of Fifth Avenue: A Novel by…
Loading...

The Swans of Fifth Avenue: A Novel (original 2016; edition 2016)

by Melanie Benjamin (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,02511419,865 (3.74)49
Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ? The author of The Aviator??s Wife returns with a triumphant new novel about New York??s ??Swans? of the 1950s??and the scandalous, headline-making, and enthralling friendship between literary legend Truman Capote and peerless socialite Babe Paley.

People??s Book of the Week ? USA Today??s #1 ??New and Noteworthy? Book ? Entertainment Weekly??s Must List ? LibraryReads Top Ten Pick
Of all the glamorous stars of New York high society, none blazes brighter than Babe Paley. Her flawless face regularly graces the pages of Vogue, and she is celebrated and adored for her ineffable style and exquisite taste, especially among her friends??the alluring socialite Swans Slim Keith, C. Z. Guest, Gloria Guinness, and Pamela Churchill. By all appearances, Babe has it all: money, beauty, glamour, jewels, influential friends, a prestigious husband, and gorgeous homes. But beneath this elegantly composed exterior dwells a passionate woman??a woman desperately longing for true love and connection.
Enter Truman Capote. This diminutive golden-haired genius with a larger-than-life personality explodes onto the scene, setting Babe and her circle of Swans aflutter. Through Babe, Truman gains an unlikely entrée into the enviable lives of Manhattan??s elite, along with unparalleled access to the scandal and gossip of Babe??s powerful circle. Sure of the loyalty of the man she calls ??True Heart,? Babe never imagines the destruction Truman will leave in his wake. But once a storyteller, always a storyteller??even when the stories aren??t his to tell.
Truman??s fame is at its peak when such notable celebrities as Frank and Mia Sinatra, Lauren Bacall, and Rose Kennedy converge on his glittering Black and White Ball. But all too soon, he??ll ignite a literary scandal whose repercussions echo through the years. The Swans of Fifth Avenue will seduce and startle readers as it opens the door onto one of America??s most sumptuous eras.
Praise for The Swans of Fifth Avenue
??Exceptional storytelling . . . teeming with scandal, gossip and excitement.???Harper??s Bazaar
??This moving fictionalization brings the whole cast of characters back to vivid life. Gossipy and fun, it??s also a nuanced look at the beauty and cruelty of a rarefied, bygone world.???People

??The era and
… (more)
Member:MHanover10
Title:The Swans of Fifth Avenue: A Novel
Authors:Melanie Benjamin (Author)
Info:Delacorte Press (2016), Edition: 1st, 368 pages
Collections:Your library, Currently reading, Wishlist, To read, Read but unowned, Favorites
Rating:
Tags:to-read

Work Information

The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin (2016)

  1. 00
    Twain's End by Lynn Cullen (akblanchard)
    akblanchard: Both novels depict the less flattering aspects famous American authors' private lives.
  2. 00
    Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel by Truman Capote (alanteder)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 49 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 115 (next | show all)
Although this was a fictionalised account of New York society, I thoroughly enjoyed it and will seek out some non fiction about the subjects. Very good! ( )
  secondhandrose | Oct 31, 2023 |
After years of seeing Babe Paley, Slim Keith, C.Z. Guest, etc., name-dropped in Vogue as style icons, I was interested to learn more about these women, but this just felt more gossipy and intrusive than insightful.

I did feel like this book captured the glamour of the era, but maybe reading about real life people in fiction isn’t for me, or I guess if a novel does feature real people I’d prefer to feel as though there was more fact mixed into the fiction. I spent too much of this reading experience questioning whether conversations happened (like would the head of CBS really have let Truman Capote’s swipe at Lucille Ball’s age and talent go unchecked?). I also wondered how anyone could begin to guess at what went on in their bedrooms (or frankly why their sex lives would be any of my business?). I just don’t know that this account was any more fair to these women than the contentious short story Truman wrote.

The only swan depicted here with a modicum of depth is Babe. I had moments where I felt for her, but there were also many moments where I struggled with her depiction, could someone really be such a naive doormat yet also rule the New York high society roost? That didn’t entirely add up, the Babe I met in this book didn’t seem savvy enough or steely enough to marry her way up or stay on top as long as she did. It just seemed liked there had to be more to Babe, and really more to all of these women than this story imagined. ( )
  SJGirl | May 7, 2023 |
DNF. I am not interested. I don’t like the writing style, although I generally like this authors books, and I was bored by the Truman Capote/ swans story. ( )
  bereanna | Oct 2, 2022 |
This book took me forever to finish. I thought it would be a more fantastic telling of the 1940's and 1950's in New York and the fashionable women who influence style and culture, but no. It was an odd conglomeration of present and past as well as allegory that was too on the nose to be considered clever. I also couldn't tell if this was supposed to be someone who had it out for Truman Capote (for one reason or another) just writing a lying tale and hoping people would take it as fact. There was some weird dialogue between Truman and Babe about homosexuality, and the entire book just skimmed being homophobic. I think the author's intentions were good, and with the time, of course, homosexuality was not socially accepted, but it was written like the author wanted to be with Truman but couldn't because he was gay. This was honestly the most boring book I've read in a long time, simply because the plot was extremely hard to grasp, as it switched so often from different perspectives and time periods with little to no indication that it was changed, so the reader had to just catch up with the author's mind. There was also no depth in character, and I say that because while Babe was written as a character to be a dimensional character, the reader only saw her as a desperate housewife with no direction and no passion, so in the attempt to make her multi-layered, you end up with a pathetic main character and the reader doesn't understand her other life (the one not described in the book).

Overall, the book was just disappointing. I wanted so much more from it. I wanted that Breakfast at Tiffany's feel, but was left with rich white women complaining about every little thing. ( )
  TLon03 | Sep 13, 2022 |
I had a hard time with the story. I usually finish an audio book in about 3 days. I have been trying with this one for about two weeks. It was interesting, but I had only heard of one of the characters prior to starting. I'm not sure if that helped the story or if I lost out on some context. ( )
  christyco125 | Jul 4, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 115 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (1 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Melanie Benjaminprimary authorall editionscalculated
Bachman, Barbara M.Designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Boehmer, PaulNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Campbell, CassandraNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

Belongs to Series

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
The best time to leave a party is when the party's just beginning.

-- Diana Vreeland
Dedication
To my father,
Norman Miller
First words
Languid, lovely, lonely; the swans arched their beautiful necks and turned to gaze at him as he stood rooted to the shore, his feet encased in mud.
Quotations
Instead, she raised her glass once more, and it was miraculously filled. Oh, being rich was simply lovely, when it came right down to it. Hold out a glass, and it was filled. Hold out an arm, and it was thrust into a satin-lined fur coat. Hold out a finger, and it was encrusted with jewels.
What if something worse was made known to the world via the poison of Truman Capote's pen?
Bastard! Gloria detested men who lied more than she detested women who did. Women, after all, were trained to do nothing else from birth. We lie about pain, we lie about happiness, we lie about how happy men make us, how good they make us feel when really all we want is to sleep in a clean, warm bed. Alone.
Slim, she noticed, had apparently applied her makeup with a trowel, and now it was sliding down her face, like melted frosting.
She never voiced these fears, these demons that chased after her with flaming daggers.
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ? The author of The Aviator??s Wife returns with a triumphant new novel about New York??s ??Swans? of the 1950s??and the scandalous, headline-making, and enthralling friendship between literary legend Truman Capote and peerless socialite Babe Paley.

People??s Book of the Week ? USA Today??s #1 ??New and Noteworthy? Book ? Entertainment Weekly??s Must List ? LibraryReads Top Ten Pick
Of all the glamorous stars of New York high society, none blazes brighter than Babe Paley. Her flawless face regularly graces the pages of Vogue, and she is celebrated and adored for her ineffable style and exquisite taste, especially among her friends??the alluring socialite Swans Slim Keith, C. Z. Guest, Gloria Guinness, and Pamela Churchill. By all appearances, Babe has it all: money, beauty, glamour, jewels, influential friends, a prestigious husband, and gorgeous homes. But beneath this elegantly composed exterior dwells a passionate woman??a woman desperately longing for true love and connection.
Enter Truman Capote. This diminutive golden-haired genius with a larger-than-life personality explodes onto the scene, setting Babe and her circle of Swans aflutter. Through Babe, Truman gains an unlikely entrée into the enviable lives of Manhattan??s elite, along with unparalleled access to the scandal and gossip of Babe??s powerful circle. Sure of the loyalty of the man she calls ??True Heart,? Babe never imagines the destruction Truman will leave in his wake. But once a storyteller, always a storyteller??even when the stories aren??t his to tell.
Truman??s fame is at its peak when such notable celebrities as Frank and Mia Sinatra, Lauren Bacall, and Rose Kennedy converge on his glittering Black and White Ball. But all too soon, he??ll ignite a literary scandal whose repercussions echo through the years. The Swans of Fifth Avenue will seduce and startle readers as it opens the door onto one of America??s most sumptuous eras.
Praise for The Swans of Fifth Avenue
??Exceptional storytelling . . . teeming with scandal, gossip and excitement.???Harper??s Bazaar
??This moving fictionalization brings the whole cast of characters back to vivid life. Gossipy and fun, it??s also a nuanced look at the beauty and cruelty of a rarefied, bygone world.???People

??The era and

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

LibraryThing Early Reviewers Alum

Melanie Benjamin's book The Swans of Fifth Avenue was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.74)
0.5
1 4
1.5
2 17
2.5 7
3 56
3.5 23
4 109
4.5 13
5 47

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 202,657,964 books! | Top bar: Always visible