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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
Review copy from NetGalley.
This is a lovely collection of stories and I was impressed with Capote's skill with the prose, having not read him before. I think my favourite stories were the ones with Sook, his aunt who never quite grew up, but can still impart wisdom on the young Capote.
Now I'll finally get around to that copy of In Cold Blood I've had lying around for months...
This is a lovely collection of stories and I was impressed with Capote's skill with the prose, having not read him before. I think my favourite stories were the ones with Sook, his aunt who never quite grew up, but can still impart wisdom on the young Capote.
Now I'll finally get around to that copy of In Cold Blood I've had lying around for months...
‘’It’s fruitcake weather.’’
‘’Now a nude December fig branch grates against the window. The kitchen is empty, the cakes are gone; yesterday we courted the last of them to the post office, where the cast of stamps turned our purse inside out. We’re broke.’’
A boy takes our hand to lead us to the USA of the (not so distant) past when equality was non-existent, when everything was either good or evil, when money was everything. Left by a mother who decided her career mattered more, left by a father who seemed more like a weird stranger than an actual father, the body tries to fathom the world around him. And, frankly, the world isn’t doing him any favours…
But a gentle friend is there to look after him and guide him down a road that is loaded with all kinds of hurdles. And Christmas. Christmas is there to form a different reality, even if it is only for a few days. This collection is a journey to an outrageous, sad, yet strangely nostalgic era.
‘’Think of the quietest thing. Like snow. I’m sorry you didn’t get to see any. But bow show is falling through the stars.’’
A Christmas Memory: Buddy introduces us to his quirky family and his very peculiar friend, a woman named Sook. This story contains some of the most beautiful descriptions of the familiar Christmas hullabaloo.
The Thanksgiving Visitor: Buddy has to face his nemesis when Sook invites the class bully to their Thanksgiving dinner. A story with a moving closure.
One Christmas: Buddy travels to New Orleans to spend Christmas with his father and discovers the truth of his mother’s words. Brilliant, moving writing.
Master Misery: I encountered this story of thwarted dreams and surreal ambitions in the brilliant collection New York Stories by Everyman’s Library. I devoured it for the second time and my fear for Central Park has grown no less…
Children on their Birthday: Buddy introduces to a very special lady with pretty original ideas on God and the Devil.
Jug of Silver: A contest becomes the ground for feuds, secrets and magic births.
‘’By now it was almost nightfall, a firefly hour, blue as milkglass; and birds like arrows swooped together and swept into the folds of trees. Before storms, leaves and flowers appear to burn with a private light, colour, and Miss Bobbit, got up in a little white skirt like a powderpuff and with strips of gold - glittering tinsel ribboning her hair, seemed, set against the darkening all around, to contain this illuminated quality.’’
Many thanks to Penguin Classics and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/
‘’Now a nude December fig branch grates against the window. The kitchen is empty, the cakes are gone; yesterday we courted the last of them to the post office, where the cast of stamps turned our purse inside out. We’re broke.’’
A boy takes our hand to lead us to the USA of the (not so distant) past when equality was non-existent, when everything was either good or evil, when money was everything. Left by a mother who decided her career mattered more, left by a father who seemed more like a weird stranger than an actual father, the body tries to fathom the world around him. And, frankly, the world isn’t doing him any favours…
But a gentle friend is there to look after him and guide him down a road that is loaded with all kinds of hurdles. And Christmas. Christmas is there to form a different reality, even if it is only for a few days. This collection is a journey to an outrageous, sad, yet strangely nostalgic era.
‘’Think of the quietest thing. Like snow. I’m sorry you didn’t get to see any. But bow show is falling through the stars.’’
A Christmas Memory: Buddy introduces us to his quirky family and his very peculiar friend, a woman named Sook. This story contains some of the most beautiful descriptions of the familiar Christmas hullabaloo.
The Thanksgiving Visitor: Buddy has to face his nemesis when Sook invites the class bully to their Thanksgiving dinner. A story with a moving closure.
One Christmas: Buddy travels to New Orleans to spend Christmas with his father and discovers the truth of his mother’s words. Brilliant, moving writing.
Master Misery: I encountered this story of thwarted dreams and surreal ambitions in the brilliant collection New York Stories by Everyman’s Library. I devoured it for the second time and my fear for Central Park has grown no less…
Children on their Birthday: Buddy introduces to a very special lady with pretty original ideas on God and the Devil.
Jug of Silver: A contest becomes the ground for feuds, secrets and magic births.
‘’By now it was almost nightfall, a firefly hour, blue as milkglass; and birds like arrows swooped together and swept into the folds of trees. Before storms, leaves and flowers appear to burn with a private light, colour, and Miss Bobbit, got up in a little white skirt like a powderpuff and with strips of gold - glittering tinsel ribboning her hair, seemed, set against the darkening all around, to contain this illuminated quality.’’
Many thanks to Penguin Classics and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/
Actually read this last year and didn't even know it. Hahaha. Great set of short stories.
A Christmas Memory: 4 Stars
One Christmas: 3 Stars
A Thanksgiving Visitor: 2 Stars
Average: 3 Stars
One Christmas: 3 Stars
A Thanksgiving Visitor: 2 Stars
Average: 3 Stars
Very sweet. A young boy has one real friend - a 60 year old female cousin who may be a bit shy and slow, but is also very wise. They live with an extended family. They shop together, cook together and discuss life. The book is not all that long. It's really a series of short stories, each one centering around Christmas or Thanksgiving in southern America during the depression. It's a touching book, with a strong narrative voice. A lovely read.
I've had this for a month and it is due at the library. I was going to return it unread but I am glad I decided to read it. Lovely story and beautiful writing.
Sweet story of a young boy baking fruitcakes with with his caregiver after scraping together money to buy the ingredients. Lovely, a little sad.
The short, straightforward story of a 7 year old boy and his childlike elderly cousin, who are partners in crime and best friends. They bake fruitcakes together at Christmas, fly kites, and let the disapproval of the other family members roll off their backs. It's about the unlikely people that you love, that never get to be around for long enough.