See: http://www.amazon.com/Frightened-Heart-Me-Tennessee-Williamss/dp/147596594X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369499958&sr=1-1
5.0 out of 5 stars Although "written in a bubble", Tony Narducci's book on Tennessee Williams is EXTRAORDINARY in many ways!!! May 13, 2013
By Scott Kenan
Format:Paperback
It is an unusual challenge to review the book by someone you once worked with -- and who has included YOU in it as a significant character. Please keep this in mind as you read my comments here.
IN THE FRIGHTENED HEART OF ME rings TRUE in every word (much I witnessed and I see not a single false word), and better yet, it is well-written and QUITE informative -- that due largely to Tony's writing it as if he both experienced that time with Tennessee Williams and his life since then (including the writing of it), while isolated in a bubble of his own preoccupations. And in THIS rare case, that WORKS WELL for ALL of us -- and especially the matter of straightening out the record of the end of Tennessee Williams' life when the forces that Jackie Kennedy Onassis had WARNED Tennessee Williams about (in front of me), at Jean Stein and George Plimpton's party, January 11, 1982, had entered Thomas Lanier Williams's life like a SWARM OF LOCUSTS.
This was the first time Jackie recommended Tom change his will because she had heard that Sewanee (The University of the South), was already plotting to kill him first, as they had heard the rumors he was thinking of CHANGING his will to leave all to someone else. Jackie thought this would STOP THEM, but it is a matter of public record that Tennessee DID as Jackie suggested, but that did NOT stop the death that was made to look accidental -- and then Sewanee BRIBED several people that both Tony Narducci and I knew to LIE about Tom's competence when signing the Codicil to the Will.
This included Leoncia McGee, Tom's maid who had ALSO served Ernest Hemingway discretely -- Hemingway having told Tennessee that he TOO had sex primarily with men (something that is obvious to anyone reading Hemingway's work in which no one relates well to women). Gary Tucker and Schuyler "Skye" Wyatt were two others, they living in Tennessee's compound the second half of the time I worked for Tennessee.
Unfortunately, Tony only uses first names in this book -- but maybe he never researched anything and did not know their full names during his experience with Tennessee. Tony nevertheless tells his tale truthfully and with MANY IMPORTANT INSIGHTS. It is DEFINITELY worth the read to anyone interested in Tennessee Williams.
Tony also gives away something in the telling of his callous choosing to go to a Gay Circuit Party rather than STICK WITH his commitment to have dinner with Tennessee and his sister Rose, who'd had the second pre-frontal lobotomy ever performed in the United States. Tennessee's relationship with Rose and his sorrow over the loss of her proper brain functions due to their mother having been upset over Rose's "sexual precociousness" (many sources paint this in different ways -- and I don't claim Rose was not somewhat unhinged), was in fact the STRONGEST reason Tennessee Williams was such a close friend of President and Mrs. Kennedy (and Jack's siblings too) -- THEIR crazed "Christian" mother had had Rosemary Kennedy lobotomized TOO -- and according to Tom, for the EXACT SAME REASON: that pubescent young women openly interested in sex were a CHRISTIAN SCANDAL too much for GOOD CHRISTIANS to have to bear, so CUT THIS OUT OF HER HEAD!!.
Tony's having no awareness of any of that even when he recently wrote this book is a large part of the reason I wonder about Tony's "deep interest" and "hero worship" of Tennessee Williams -- and yet the story of their relationships is TRUE IN EVERY WAY that I have first-hand knowledge of. It's a mystery!
Tony has written me suggesting that he and I market our books about working for TW together -- and I've replied that I think that would be perfect. Whatever the peculiarities of Tony's consciousness, his story and mine do NOT conflict at all and have some overlap. My book can be bought, too, if you are interested: WALKING ON GLASS: A MEMOIR OF THE LATER DAYS OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
And to read more about my view about the politics and TRUE STORY of Tennessee Williams's murder (Tom's brother, Dakin Williams -- 'til the day he died -- as well as others of Tennessee Williams's friends have also claimed that John Uecker murdered Tennessee, on behalf the Episcopal Church/Sewanee -- a theory I offer much EVIDENCE OF), google my name for my political blog "The Weather Up Here" (I'm 6' 11").
But please buy and read Tony's memoir. Despite its several peculiarities, it is FRESH, TRUE, and -- to my observation -- ENTIRELY DIVORCED of any political influence, THIS a RARITY given the storm clouds gathering on the TRUE STORY finally coming out!
You too will find it well-written, naively charming, HIGHLY informative, and ultimately: DEEPLY DISTURBING. What MORE could you ask for in a book???
* * *
Many of Tony Narducci's marketing materials -- EVEN HIS SELF-POSTED "LINKED-IN" PROFILE -- have odd TYPOS in them.
Tony claims a life-long marketing/business-consulting career.
What's up with THAT???
Scott
That's NOT typos -- it's Latin. Translation: "Live Life to the Fullest" .
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