Customer Reviews (3)

ENTERTAINING, EASY READING
While I am not particularly a fan of Truman Capote's writing, I found this book to be highly entertaining. It gives a true and accurate account of life in small-town Alabama and is filled with humorous tales of the escapades of three young friends during the Great Depression. It is also a moving and poignant tale of a young boy's struggle to belong, and offers insight into the eccentricities of Mr. Capote. The stories are short, so this book makes for good reading when time is short (like during break-time at work!). I think this book would be entertaining to people from small towns as well as large cities, and Capote fans as well as non-Capote fans.

Insightful and Charming
Essentially the recollections of Truman Capote's cousin, Jennings Faulk Carter, this book recounts the childhood years that Truman spent in Monroeville, Alabama growing up with Jennings and Nelle Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird." It contains descriptions of actual events that appear in Capote's later writings, and thus will be of interest to readers of his fiction, but the writing is pleasurable in its own right.

Fascinated by the number of good writers who have come out of such a small town (there are others), I drove two hours each way to visit Monroeville while on a business trip to Mobile several years ago. Even though it has grown substantially since Truman grew up there, it remains a lovely southern town, with wide verandas, shade trees and a courthouse that is not to be missed.

This account of Capote's early years-funny and also sad
I was drawn to this book because the man who provided these anecdotes about Capote's early years to the author, Marianne Moates, is my first cousin, Jennings Faulk Carter.He is Capote's first cousin also.Thestories told by Carter mostly came on summer visits to his Alabama home byyoung Truman Capote who was partly raised by divorced parents in NewOrleans and New York and his eccentric aunts and uncles in Monroeville,Alabama.There are many accounts of the childhood experiencenes of thethreesome-Jennings Carter, Truman Capote and Nell Harper Lee("To Killa Mockingbird") Although some of the stories are hilarious, there isan underlying theme of brokenness, divorce, and alcohol abuse that shapedyoung Truman Capote into a talented but confused, effiminate, alcoholichomosexual. The book was more interesting to me for the simple fact thatit deals with some of my relatives and some of my childhool memories.I amsaddened, however, that many of Truman Capote's adult problems seem to havecome from a childhood full of strife, mistrust, conflict, substance abuseand family instabiliy. ... Read more

Product Description
By the age of 21, Truman Capote was seen as the most promising young talent of 1945. His masterpiece, In Cold Blood, proved to be an amalgamation of his journalistic talent, his astute observations, and his skill at creating lifelike dialogue and characterizations. Learn more about Capote with this edition of Bloom's Modern Critical Views.

This title, Truman Capote, part of Chelsea House Publishers’ Modern Critical Views series, examines the major works of Truman Capote through full-length critical essays by expert literary critics. In addition, this title features a short biography on Truman Capote, a chronology of the author’s life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A gem collection.
If you are a fan of Truman Capote you shouldn't be without this superb collection."Breakfast at Tiffany's" is represented in it's entirety, along with numerous short stories and non-fiction pieces."A House on the Heights" is a special treat."A Christmas Memory" is one of the most beautiful prose pieces in all American literature.What makes this volume an absolute must is the inclusion of Capote's first non-fiction novel "The Muses Are Heard" - a delightfully funny account of a trip to the USSR with a traveling company of "Porgy and Bess."If you can find a copy of this BUY it, you will never regret it.This gem collection should be sold in Tiffany's instead of book stores. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Truman Capote's Southern Years: Stories from a Monroeville Cousin
Gives you a picture of his growing up years that helped form the man.

This Book Was The Best I've Ever Read!!!
If you are a true fan of Truman Capote like I am, you will truly enjoy reading Truman Capote's Southern Years. Told through the eyes of his cousin, this book gives you a lot of details of his life, both the good and the bad of it. It was both a hilarious look at his life, and a very sad one too. You get a glimpse of the pain that he suffered throughout his life, and while it doesn't go into it in great detail, it gives you a small glimpse into his homosexuality. Take it from me, once you read this book, you will want to read it again, and again.

Capture the Magic & History of Capote's Childhood
If you are fan of writer Truman Capote's works, this is a biography that you won't want to miss. Told from the recollections of family and friends of Capote, Southern Years captures Truman's childhood years and gives us a brief glance at his roots and how he came to be who he was as an adult. We also get an interesting glimpse into Truman's friendship with To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee, who was a childhood and lifelong friend.

Most of the book is told from the perspective of Jennings Faulk, Truman Capotes cousin. Long summer days were spent as curious children growing up in Monroeville. Page after page detail the antics and schemes these young ones got into and you can see how many of the children's real life experiences were translated to the pages of both Capote and Harper Lee's novels. We also get a sad peek into some of the turmoil that Capote faced because of his troubled family life. Knowing his history will give you a better appreciation for his writing and will entertain you at the same time. This is an easy, light read and in many ways will bring you back to your own childhood days of playing outside in the summer time.

Stories told beautifully!
The stories were told beautifully.Truman was portrayed as a folk hero of Monroeville, kind of like an Anansi or Brer Rabbit.When I first bought the book, I thought it was going to be boring and scholarly, but not so.A movie could be made of the book.The sadness came through strongly.God gave Truman great abilities, but they were even greater, because Trumanhurt. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

All the dirt that's fit to print.
Truman Capote was a media whore - not unlike Orson Welles.His writing talent was prodigious, but nothing compared to his talent for self-promotion.He was a true master of the short form, producing a series of award winning short stories -"The Headless Hawk," "Miriam," "Children on Their Birthdays, "Shut a Final Door," the novels "Other Voices, Other Rooms" and "The Grass Harp," with all of his talents finally coalescing with the brilliant "Breakfast at Tiffany's."He wrote the film scripts of "Beat the Devil" and "The Innocents," and the musical "House of Flowers."He adapted his great short story "A Christmas Memory" for television and won an Emmy Award.1966 brought his masterpiece - "In Cold Blood."His achievements were justly celebrated.Then came the famous Black and White Ball - and when the party was over, it was truly over.Want to know what happened?Read this wickedly funny book.It's an honest portrait of a shining literary star whosimply burned himself out.My hat goes off to the late, great George Plimpton. ... Read more

Product Description
Soy un homosexual, soy un drogadicto, soy un genio. Estas afirmaciones de Truman Capote, cuyo alcance revela en este libro, se hicieron justamente celebres.

Estas conversaciones, que se celebraron duranmte unperiodo de dos anos, justo antes de la muerte de Capote, conforman la definitiva entrevista enprofundidad del gran escritor. ... Read more

Product Description
La obra bucea con implacable lucidez en la poesia y el horror de la vida; es el esplendido resultado de una necesidad de comunicacion directa entre lector y materia narrativa. En palabras suyas: hacer del lector un observador o mejor aun, un testigo de una experiencia verdadera que, contada bajo tal optica, resultara mucho mas subyugante que si el autor la interepretase al modo clasico. ... Read more