Sympathy for the Devil: Four Decades of Friendship with Gore Vidal Paperback – January 19, 2016

In a wonderfully well-written page-turner that certainly acknowledges Gore Vidal's brilliance and insights, both political and as a man of letters generally, Michael Mewshaw has written the most engaging and revealing memoir of the remarkable Vidal I have read to date.After a long friendship spanning decades Mewshaw decided that the posthumous accounts of Vidal's long career were in the main so unbalanced as to resemble either unbalanced diatribes filled with bile directed at the man or the kind of hagiographies that Vidal himself despised his whole life in the "biographies" of others, each serving rather the purposes of outright propaganda better than any real approximation of the truth and history.In order to present, or at least get close to presenting the real Vidal that he knew for so long, Mewshaw had to do what could not have been pleasant for a friend but which was absolutely critical to a fair assessment, an historical "corrective" to what had been previously neglected. He had to present the truth about Vidal beyond his obvious, real and sustained brilliance. He had to zero in on Gore Vidal the Performer, and yes, Vidal the Con-man rehearsing his punch lines in the mirror to make it all seem so spontaneous on TV or the podiums, because, truth be told, it was all there in him, in almost equal proportions. We're just not used to such stark truths coming from friends.So from Mewshaw comes the fuller, even if darker side of the famous man who remains a revered figure in American history. Highly recommended. 5 Stars.

This is all you need to read about a gifted writer and seriously nasty man. There is some ponderous authorized biography by a fan boy, but ignore that and buy this.

On its face, Michael Mewshaw’s remembrance of Gore Vidal works as an entertaining and finely crafted tapestry of the American expat literary community in Rome late 20th century, replete with salacious and often hilarious anecdotes of writers, rockstars, Hollywood actresses and Italian cognoscenti. But on a deeper, more resonate level it stands as a haunting disquisition on fame, fortune, ambition and celebrity, a social history chronicling the disintegration of a man who seemed to have everything but came to appreciate so little of it. Despite Vidal’s vaunted intellectual prowess, Mewshaw shows him here to have had diminishing self-knowledge, leading to a bitter alcoholic tailspin and death. Ultimately the meaningful work and wealth, the awards and adulation, the loyal friends and privileged lifestyle weren’t enough to soothe his soul, suggesting that the devils that drove him and formed his unique vision as a writer and political pundit were the same ones that ultimately destroyed him. This is a fine book and a good companion to Mewshaw’s earlier literary memoir “Do I Owe You Something?”

I am a fan of Mr. Vidal, and have read several of the emerging biographies. Sympathy for the Devil does offer a unique glimpse of his life in what is, at first, a refreshing iconoclastic way. Since Vidal is often presented as a cold and inhumanly stoic, reading a more human, and flawed biography was interesting. Sadly, this refreshing angle becomes mean-spirited in a passive aggressive way, and strangely vindictive for a supposed friend. Did the author really have to go in to such graphic detail about Vidal's weight gain in old age? Or his dandruff? I mean seriously. The best part of the book are the vivid, small portraits of Rome, and he does evoke a particular epoch in time, of Rome in the latter part of the last century. The writing is that of a journalist with a juicy subject. Lots of name dropping and a good bit of self aggrandizing in sly ways. I'd give it a 3 or 3 1/2. How I wish Vidal himself were here to comment. That would be epic.

Gore Vidal in his declining years, but still sharply observant and a unique sense of humor. Very entertaining as well as sad. The ravages is aging.

A candid look at this fascinating individual by someone who knew him very well. Very well written,,well sequenced, enjoyably anecdotal. From someone (me) who loved Gore Vidal's writing, his blazing intelligence and his political and social commentary, I recommend this book. It fleshed out Vidal's character and gave me fresh insight into the man as well as the writer.

I suppose there's quite a lot of "truth" in this remembrance of Gore Vidal He was an alcoholic and more miserable than he needed to be. That said, he wrote some very fine books and essays and he lived to be 86. All the best lines in this book are Vidal's. Mister Meshaw is right about his own writing. He's strictly mid-list.

a fun read for anyone interested in Rome

An thoroughly absorbing read of the later and final years of Mr. Vidal. I've never read his work, but want to after reading this account of his friendship with the author.

It is fair to say that most autobiographies are biased - can you imagine an author who writes about less charming sides of himself or does not want to omit facts which he tries to forget? But the omitted parts are important to get a better grasp of a person. Here Mewshaw gives you a good opportunity to understand the life and person of Gore Vidal better. The precondition is, however, having read Palimpsest (which is, page by page, a fascinating book). Sympathy for the Devil comes over very naturally, is well written on 180 pages, so you can have another perspective on Gore Vidal during just a weekend.After the reading I could not help being melancholic as well as fascinated again - what a life!

Gore Vidal always loomed larger than life, and even more so in death. He was an erudite and urbane individual, a popular writer but also one who earned praise and critical acclaim. As a person, he continues to fascinate, as complex and unique as some of the characters he created in his novels. I found this book by one of his friends to be a compelling read, and in fact I read it quickly because the subject (GV) is engrossing. The book covers the four decades of Michael Mewshaw's friendship with Vidal, honestly portraying the man at his best and sometimes even his worst. Vidal would no doubt have taken pride at the former, and umbrage at the latter. However, one expects that he would be pleased that his life and works continue to live on, even if he is sometimes depicted "warts and all". Gore Vidal, you are indeed missed by your readers and admirers.

There can never be too many compilations of Gore Vidal's witticisms: even the ones that are familiar, are a joy and a chuckle to read again. It is questionable whether there is any necessity for another account of Vidal's descent into alcoholism, incoherence and ill health. Whether we admit it or not, most of us are eager and inclined to read yet another rehash of Vidal's sexual proclivities. But it is utterly useless to have Vidal's sexual habits analyzed by a slightly homophobic (or perhaps just clueless) heterosexual.And that is the odd space that Sympathy for the Devil: Four Decades of Friendship with Gore Vidal by Matthew Mewshaw sits: the book is totally unnecessary and redundant but it is a lot of fun - mainly salacious fun - to read.When Mewshaw talks about Vidal's writing - "the sentences had the snap of a dominatrix’s whip" - or intellect, it makes one want to re-read Vidal's work. Especially as Mewshaw's sentences often ramble on and pile on the metaphors until they snap like a weak strand of the pasta they are constantly dining on. The passages charting Vidal's decline - more than once Mewshaw luridly describes the stumbling, fumbling and sloppiness of a drunken evening before stating that he expects Vidal to die of alcohol poisoning during the night - are hard to read and made me want to reach for a drink.Unfortunately Mewshaw met Vidal when the great writer was already in decline so the book can't help but be tinged with a sadness. Mewshaw claims he wrote Sympathy for the Devil to reveal Vidal's warmer, human and generous side. It is a back-handed compliment, he also revels in and focuses on what is most shocking or sordid. But then so did Vidal when he wanted a best seller, Mewshaw learned well.Full review at: http://drewrowsome.blogspot.ca/2015/09/symphony-for-devil-four-decades-of.html

A good pre-biography. Whilst we all await for the (one hopes) definitive biography of Vidal by Jay Parini, this serves very well as a short portrait of GV. One just hopes that we will get something that might concentrate on the work a bit more.