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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
Gosh, but I love this one. It makes me alternately sad and near-deliriously happy, and it's so, so beautifully written. Such a treat.
ETA: I reread this one every year and it's always just as wonderful as ever.
ETA: I reread this one every year and it's always just as wonderful as ever.
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.
An enjoyably warm yet sad memory from Capote's childhood. A wonderful edition to my Christmas Eve Eve!
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Truman Capote is quickly climbing the charts as my all time favorite author. This short story is an absolute gem, evidenced not only by the 5 stars I gave it, but the many other 5 star reviews I saw that made my heart swell a bit. Capote is at his best when he is depicting complex characters in simple sentences.
“Oh my,” she exclaims, her breath smoking the windowpane, “it’s fruitcake weather!”
This has become one of my favorite declarations in holiday literature. It begins this short and beautiful tale about a young boy in rural Alabama, looking back with nostalgia about his old, but childlike, friend whose face is "not unlike Lincoln's." They save their pennies throughout the year to make 30 fruitcakes as soon as fruitcake weather arrives. They share them with only the most deserving persons, including the one they send to the White House each year, wondering if the President serves it thereafter.
Together, they share more holiday cheer as the old friend comes to the realization, "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.”
This short story, and the short stories that follow in this book, which flesh out the character of the boy, are classic American holiday literature at their finest. I intend to re-read this book each year and hope you do too.
As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Buy A Christmas Memory here: https://amzn.to/2RvGCgR
“Oh my,” she exclaims, her breath smoking the windowpane, “it’s fruitcake weather!”
This has become one of my favorite declarations in holiday literature. It begins this short and beautiful tale about a young boy in rural Alabama, looking back with nostalgia about his old, but childlike, friend whose face is "not unlike Lincoln's." They save their pennies throughout the year to make 30 fruitcakes as soon as fruitcake weather arrives. They share them with only the most deserving persons, including the one they send to the White House each year, wondering if the President serves it thereafter.
Together, they share more holiday cheer as the old friend comes to the realization, "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.”
This short story, and the short stories that follow in this book, which flesh out the character of the boy, are classic American holiday literature at their finest. I intend to re-read this book each year and hope you do too.
As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Buy A Christmas Memory here: https://amzn.to/2RvGCgR
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
reflective
fast-paced
“Quite deliberately my friend drops a kettle on the floor. I tap-dance in front of closed doors. One by one the household emerges, looking as though they'd like to kill us both; but it's Christmas, so they can't.”
--
A beautifully written book, filled to the brim with quirky, lovable characters, and bittersweet moments from a child's innocent eyes, painted with golden nostalgia.
Capote's autobiographical work is a wonderful read to get into that cozy and warm Christmas mood, and to feel ALL the feels.
Is there anything sweeter, sadder and more human than this quote that embodies the season's charitable feelings injured by poverty and the feeling of inadequacy?
“It's bad enough in life to do without something YOU want; but confound it, what gets my goat is not being able to give somebody something you want THEM to have.”
--
A beautifully written book, filled to the brim with quirky, lovable characters, and bittersweet moments from a child's innocent eyes, painted with golden nostalgia.
Capote's autobiographical work is a wonderful read to get into that cozy and warm Christmas mood, and to feel ALL the feels.
Is there anything sweeter, sadder and more human than this quote that embodies the season's charitable feelings injured by poverty and the feeling of inadequacy?
“It's bad enough in life to do without something YOU want; but confound it, what gets my goat is not being able to give somebody something you want THEM to have.”
I had only read Capote before in Spanish (In Cold Blood). This is the ultimate proof that one has to read the author in s/he's original language whenever possible.
I liked his style, it seems gentle, there's a softness in it, something I wouldn't have associated with him before. And I liked those sentences where he mixed nouns and verbs that one wouldn't normally string together ("...the beginnnings of dawn slapsh us like cold water..." or when talking about kites: "...twiching at the string like sky fish as the swim into the wind.")
It's a Christmas tale, of course, and it has a lot of christian imagery with references to heaven, the Lord, and the like, which I'm not particularly fond of, but suited the story non the less.
It's an easy, a little on the bittersweet end, read.
I liked his style, it seems gentle, there's a softness in it, something I wouldn't have associated with him before. And I liked those sentences where he mixed nouns and verbs that one wouldn't normally string together ("...the beginnnings of dawn slapsh us like cold water..." or when talking about kites: "...twiching at the string like sky fish as the swim into the wind.")
It's a Christmas tale, of course, and it has a lot of christian imagery with references to heaven, the Lord, and the like, which I'm not particularly fond of, but suited the story non the less.
It's an easy, a little on the bittersweet end, read.
This is not my first rodeo with Truman Capote. I read 'In cold blood' and 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' years ago, and I liked them both. I didn't know Capote as a short story teller though, until I got his book.
I don't think there's much to add to his writing style, or that it can be argued against his style or his prose, so I'll focus on the content instead.
This is a collection of short stories that take place over December in different years. The first three are specifically Christmassy stories (although perhaps not the type of Christmas you would expect), and they tell the story of Buddy and his friend Sook. It's a beautiful bond and it left me wanting to know more about Sook's story. I'm not sure how much of these stories are actually a reflection of Capote's own childhood, but based on other reviews it does seem to be auto-biographical to some extent, which adds an extra layer of beauty to them, now that I've read them. Perhaps I would have seen even more into them if I had known it in advance.
The last three stories are not related to Buddy and Sook anymore, and not related to each other either. They take place in December, but they're not Christmas stories, so that's something a reader should probably be warned about. In them we meet, (1) Sylvia and Master Misery, a mysterious man that buys people's dreams (this is quite a dark story); (2) Miss Bobbit, a child that definitely leaves an impression on the reader; and (3) Appleseed and Middy, a pair of siblings that will leave you wanting to know "how did he do it?"
Not your typical jolly Christmas, but beautifull prose and stories. Definitely worth reading if you enjoy short stories.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Press UK for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.
I don't think there's much to add to his writing style, or that it can be argued against his style or his prose, so I'll focus on the content instead.
This is a collection of short stories that take place over December in different years. The first three are specifically Christmassy stories (although perhaps not the type of Christmas you would expect), and they tell the story of Buddy and his friend Sook. It's a beautiful bond and it left me wanting to know more about Sook's story. I'm not sure how much of these stories are actually a reflection of Capote's own childhood, but based on other reviews it does seem to be auto-biographical to some extent, which adds an extra layer of beauty to them, now that I've read them. Perhaps I would have seen even more into them if I had known it in advance.
The last three stories are not related to Buddy and Sook anymore, and not related to each other either. They take place in December, but they're not Christmas stories, so that's something a reader should probably be warned about. In them we meet, (1) Sylvia and Master Misery, a mysterious man that buys people's dreams (this is quite a dark story); (2) Miss Bobbit, a child that definitely leaves an impression on the reader; and (3) Appleseed and Middy, a pair of siblings that will leave you wanting to know "how did he do it?"
Not your typical jolly Christmas, but beautifull prose and stories. Definitely worth reading if you enjoy short stories.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Press UK for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.