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Wonderful read; perfect blend of fact and fiction

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"The Mrs. Grenvilles" is a mixture of the true-life events of the wealthy Woodward family, the acid of Truman Capote's "Answered Prayers" (which also had a section based on the Woodwards), and a few original ideas of the author's, Dominick Dunne. Dunne is not shy about "borrowing" names and events from Capote; in fact most alterations are so slight it seems hardly worth the bother. The names and events are also closely tied to their real-life counterparts; so close that the fictional elements, which often paint a very unflattering portrait of the central characters, do a horrible disservice to those involved. Many readers will assume that what Dunne has written is the gospel truth. In a nutshell, the story is about Ann Arden, born Ursula Mertens. Ann will do almost anything to rise above her Kansas farm upbringing. Finding modest success as a showgirl and actress, she scores the big time by landing William Grenville Jr., heir to one of the wealthiest families in New York. Although "Junior" falls for her, his snobbish family does not. After the central climax of the novel (no plot spoiler here!), The Woodwards protect Ann at all costs, rather than risk the dirty laundry of their son's life being aired. It is a truly fascinating commentary on the morals and lifestyles of the rich and famous, with an ending that is also very heartbreaking as Ann realizes all her work to climb up the social ladder has left her very lonely. The novel is written through the eyes of Basil Plant, a gay writer & extra for society dinners who wants to exact revenge on Ann for making fun of his sexual persuasion; it is his revenge that becomes the final straw for the exhausted Ann Arden at the end of the novel. Plant is obviously Truman Capote, whose unfinished novel "Answered Prayers" caused him expulsion from society (for telling all their behind-closed-doors tales) and was the final embarrassment for the real-life Ann Woodward.

Well written with fascinating characters and events, this book is a fun and breezy read; those who have seen the TV-Movie with Ann-Margret will note that the characters in Dunne's book are less sympathetic, and the rollercoaster temperament of Ann Arden has also been somewhat neutered. I enjoyed both book and movie, but they should not be compared to each other.

American etiquette in murder

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When a scion of an East coast banking family is shot by his starlett wife, the family purses its lips. Dominick Dunne masterly describes how two worlds passionately met and clashed. Truman Capote's unfinished novel 'Answered Prayers' was inspired by the same real life events. Compassionate, intriguing, and, yes, scandalous.

repetitive, unsympathetic, and repetitive

Customer Rating:
I bought this book as something light to read on the airplane. And I didn't realize that the story was based on fact until I read these reviews later. But that should not matter - the book is presented as a fictional novel and should be judged as such.

The story, such as it is, is simple - a beautiful showgirl from Kansas falls in love with the scion from one of the richest, old money families in NY. The family, especially the always-proper mother, is aghast, but they are in love and elope and marry anyway.

However, as time goes on, they each realize the other is a vapid, malicious, lying cheat and the marriage disintegrates until the wife finally kills the husband in a supposed accident.

There could have been an interesting, tingly, evil, fun story here, but there wasn't. None of the characters are sympathetic, or even interesting.

The technique of telling the story from the point of view of a third character, a novelist, adds nothing, and leads to horrible repetition. First we hear part of the story at the beginning, then we learn the story in flashback, then we hear the story again, parts of it word-for-word, as the novelist convinces the wife to tell him the secret truth of what happened, which we, the readers, have already been told. This could have worked well had we learned something different each time, found out some secrets that puts everything in a different light, but instead we get nothing new or interesting.

The first 100 or so pages are actually fairly well written and quite engaging. But the book slowly falls apart after that, to the point that the last 50 pages are unreadably awful.

If you want a fun book about the rich, adulterous, horse-breeding set, read Jane Smiley's Horse Heaven instead.

Great guilty pleasure!

Customer Rating:
I am always reading a book on the subway. Most recently, that book was "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles." Bad choice. Twice I got so caught up in the detail of the lives of the Grenvilles that I read on past my stop. That has never happened before, and hopefully never again. Reading about the high society lives, the passion, the intrigue, the snobbishness of the society-registered upper crust is indeed a guilty pleasure, and a great pleasure as well. This novel, supposedly based on the true-life murder of William Woodward by his wife, presents the older Mrs. Grenville (mother-in-law): born well, married well, lived well. And it presents the younger Mrs. Grenville (daughter-in-law): born dirt poor in Pittsburgh, Kansas (yes Kansas), deserted by her father as a young girl, brought up by her mother and her various men of the moment, then turning to the glamorous life of a showgirl as she danced in a line behind Ethel Merman. But Ann Arden did marry well, William Grenville, Jr., don't you know, and she lived very well, to a point. To a point that her trashy, ill-tempered, paranoid roots took over and "Annie got her gun." Told by Billy Plant, one of the author's alter egos, this is classic Dominick Dunne without the incessant name-dropping, but with the terrific attention to detail he has brought to most of his writing. I found this book thoroughly enjoyable

Another world

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If you're looking for a great vacation beach book or just something to curl up with for an afternoon, this is it. Great escapism.. . I really enjoyed this tale. I felt like I was a snoopy neighbor looking in the windows at someone else's troubles.