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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
Such a sweet and beautifully written short story fragment from Capote's childhood. A perfect read as the weather's getting a bit chillier now that it's the first day of November. I'll be reading it again around Christmas for sure.
The story surrounds the friendship of him, as a seven-year-old boy, and his distant cousin, Miss Sook, a sixty-something lady, as they prepared for Christmas.
Although it was set around Christmas in the 1930s, Alabama, where late November was "fruitcake weather", so distant from my own childhood, his writing still struck a nostalgic bone in me. It made me think of my own relationship with my childhood best friend, my grandma, as we danced in the kitchen to the dance version of "Tell Laura I Love Her" playing from the cassette player, among other activities that might make one feels like "I could leave the world with today in my eyes."
The story surrounds the friendship of him, as a seven-year-old boy, and his distant cousin, Miss Sook, a sixty-something lady, as they prepared for Christmas.
Although it was set around Christmas in the 1930s, Alabama, where late November was "fruitcake weather", so distant from my own childhood, his writing still struck a nostalgic bone in me. It made me think of my own relationship with my childhood best friend, my grandma, as we danced in the kitchen to the dance version of "Tell Laura I Love Her" playing from the cassette player, among other activities that might make one feels like "I could leave the world with today in my eyes."
I enjoyed this book. It had a positive message. I’ve enjoyed several of Truman Capote’s works.
I am always confused when i feel i have to rate poorly a book. Especially when it has such a great rating. Nevertheless, there was barely anything i liked about this story. It had no plot, no meaning, nothing. Just some random stuff happening. The worst story i read of Truman Capote's work.
This is one of the best short stories I’ve ever read — and feels like an annual “must read” for the Christmas season.
“‘You know what I’ve always thought?’ she asks in a tone of discovery, and not smiling at me but a point beyond. ‘I’ve always thought a body would have to be sick and dying before they saw the Lord. And I imagined that when He came it would be like looking at the Baptist window: pretty as colored glass with the sun pouring through, such a shine you don’t know it’s getting dark. And it’s been a comfort: to think of that shine taking away all the spooky feeling. But I’ll wager it never happens. I’ll wager at the very end a body realizes the Lord has already shown Himself. That things as they are’ — her hand circles in a gesture that gathers clouds and kites and grass and Queenie pawing earth over her bone — ‘just what they’ve always seen, was seeing Him. As for me, I could leave the world with today in my eyes.”
“‘You know what I’ve always thought?’ she asks in a tone of discovery, and not smiling at me but a point beyond. ‘I’ve always thought a body would have to be sick and dying before they saw the Lord. And I imagined that when He came it would be like looking at the Baptist window: pretty as colored glass with the sun pouring through, such a shine you don’t know it’s getting dark. And it’s been a comfort: to think of that shine taking away all the spooky feeling. But I’ll wager it never happens. I’ll wager at the very end a body realizes the Lord has already shown Himself. That things as they are’ — her hand circles in a gesture that gathers clouds and kites and grass and Queenie pawing earth over her bone — ‘just what they’ve always seen, was seeing Him. As for me, I could leave the world with today in my eyes.”
fast-paced
A Christmas Memory starts as if already half way through a story, creating a sense of being with a friend.
Despite first being published in 1956, Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory still feels incredibly relevant and current. As Buddy describes the experience of making fruitcake, they also mention in passing a horse & cart and the 1880s, but these details could be swapped with the 2000s and cars and the warm, nostalgic feelings of Christmas traditions would remain.
I found this a poignant read and a much needed discovery in what has been a difficult year for all.
Despite first being published in 1956, Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory still feels incredibly relevant and current. As Buddy describes the experience of making fruitcake, they also mention in passing a horse & cart and the 1880s, but these details could be swapped with the 2000s and cars and the warm, nostalgic feelings of Christmas traditions would remain.
I found this a poignant read and a much needed discovery in what has been a difficult year for all.