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A Christmas Memory: One Christmas / The Thanksgiving Visitor
Selected from across Capote's writing life, they range from nostalgic portraits of childhood to more unsettling works that reveal the darkness beneath the festive glitter. In the Deep South of Capote's youth, a young boy, Buddy, and his beloved maiden 'aunt' Sook forage for pecans and whiskey to bake into fruitcakes, make kites - too broke to buy gifts - and rise before dawn to prepare feasts for a ragged assembly of guests; it is Sook who teaches Buddy the true meaning of good will. In other stories, an unlikely festive miracle, of sorts, occurs at a local drugstore; a lonely woman has a troubling encounter in wintry New York. Brimming with feeling, these sparkling tales convey both the wonder and the chill of Christmas time.
107 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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5451 people want to read
About the author
Truman Capote
345 books7,249 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Truman Capote was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognised literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a "non-fiction novel." At least 20 films and TV dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.
He was born as Truman Streckfus Persons to a salesman Archulus Persons and young Lillie Mae. His parents divorced when he was four and he went to live with his mother's relatives in Monroeville, Alabama. He was a lonely child who learned to read and write by himself before entering school. In 1933, he moved to New York City to live with his mother and her new husband, Joseph Capote, a Cuban-born businessman. Mr. Capote adopted Truman, legally changing his last name to Capote and enrolling him in private school. After graduating from high school in 1942, Truman Capote began his regular job as a copy boy at The New Yorker. During this time, he also began his career as a writer, publishing many short stories which introduced him into a circle of literary critics. His first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, published in 1948, stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks and became controversial because of the photograph of Capote used to promote the novel, posing seductively and gazing into the camera.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Capote remained prolific producing both fiction and non-fiction. His masterpiece, In Cold Blood, a story about the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, was published in 1966 in book form by Random House, became a worldwide success and brought Capote much praise from the literary community. After this success he published rarely and suffered from alcohol addiction. He died in 1984 at age 59.
Truman Capote was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognised literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a "non-fiction novel." At least 20 films and TV dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.
He was born as Truman Streckfus Persons to a salesman Archulus Persons and young Lillie Mae. His parents divorced when he was four and he went to live with his mother's relatives in Monroeville, Alabama. He was a lonely child who learned to read and write by himself before entering school. In 1933, he moved to New York City to live with his mother and her new husband, Joseph Capote, a Cuban-born businessman. Mr. Capote adopted Truman, legally changing his last name to Capote and enrolling him in private school. After graduating from high school in 1942, Truman Capote began his regular job as a copy boy at The New Yorker. During this time, he also began his career as a writer, publishing many short stories which introduced him into a circle of literary critics. His first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, published in 1948, stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks and became controversial because of the photograph of Capote used to promote the novel, posing seductively and gazing into the camera.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Capote remained prolific producing both fiction and non-fiction. His masterpiece, In Cold Blood, a story about the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, was published in 1966 in book form by Random House, became a worldwide success and brought Capote much praise from the literary community. After this success he published rarely and suffered from alcohol addiction. He died in 1984 at age 59.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 854 reviews
December 15, 2024
“Outside the birds crowd together, chilled;
their wings are benumbed under the grey tints of the skies; and the New Year,
with her train of mist, trailing the folds of her snowy garment,
smiles through her tears, and shivering, sings...”
Arthur Rimbaud – The Orphans’ New Year’s Gift
A Christmas Memory is a sad and wistful Christmas tale.
A seven-year-old boy and an old woman – they’re lonely souls… They have no one but each other… They’re friends, sort of…
They’re always together… They bake thirty fruitcakes and send them to some accidental acquaintances… They hunt for a Christmas tree in the wood and adorn it… They make gifts for each other… And at last, when the Christmas arrives they have a little fun…
In One Christmas the boy goes to New Orleans to spend Christmas with his estranged father…
And during this undesirable visit some of his childish illusions evaporate…
In The Thanksgiving Visitor the boy is tormented by his bête noire – a classmate bully… In order to ameliorate situation the boy’s aged friend invites the wicked classmate to the Thanksgiving sinner… But everything goes not the way it was planned…
Even the tiny joys and sorrows can be remembered for a lifetime.
their wings are benumbed under the grey tints of the skies; and the New Year,
with her train of mist, trailing the folds of her snowy garment,
smiles through her tears, and shivering, sings...”
Arthur Rimbaud – The Orphans’ New Year’s Gift
A Christmas Memory is a sad and wistful Christmas tale.
A seven-year-old boy and an old woman – they’re lonely souls… They have no one but each other… They’re friends, sort of…
A woman with shorn white hair is standing at the kitchen window. She is wearing tennis shoes and a shapeless gray sweater over a summery calico dress. She is small and sprightly, like a bantam hen; but, due to a long youthful illness, her shoulders are pitifully hunched. Her face is remarkable – not unlike Lincoln’s, craggy like that, and tinted by sun and wind; but it is delicate too, finely boned, and her eyes are sherry-colored and timid. “Oh my,” she exclaims, her breath smoking the windowpane, “it’s fruitcake weather!”
They’re always together… They bake thirty fruitcakes and send them to some accidental acquaintances… They hunt for a Christmas tree in the wood and adorn it… They make gifts for each other… And at last, when the Christmas arrives they have a little fun…
There, plunging through the healthy waist-high grass, we unreel our kites, feel them twitching at the string like sky fish as they swim into the wind. Satisfied, sun-warmed, we sprawl in the grass and peel Satsumas and watch our kites cavort.
In One Christmas the boy goes to New Orleans to spend Christmas with his estranged father…
I don’t know what scared me most, the thunder, the sizzling zigzags of lightning that followed it – or my father. That night, when I went to bed, it was still raining. I said my prayers and prayed that I would soon be home with Sook. I didn’t know how I could ever go to sleep without Sook to kiss me good-night. The fact was, I couldn’t go to sleep, so I began to wonder what Santa Claus would bring me. I wanted a pearl-handled knife. And a big set of jigsaw puzzles.
And during this undesirable visit some of his childish illusions evaporate…
In The Thanksgiving Visitor the boy is tormented by his bête noire – a classmate bully… In order to ameliorate situation the boy’s aged friend invites the wicked classmate to the Thanksgiving sinner… But everything goes not the way it was planned…
Now, because of Annabel’s flattering receptivity to my friend’s request, his ears became so beet-bright it made your eyes smart. He mumbled, he shook his head hangdog; but Annabel said: “Do you know ‘I Have Seen the Light’?” He didn’t, but her next suggestion was greeted with a grin of recognition; the biggest fool could tell his modesty was all put on.
Giggling, Annabel struck a rich chord, and Odd, in a voice precociously manly, sang: “When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin’ along.”
Even the tiny joys and sorrows can be remembered for a lifetime.
December 25, 2024
“‘My, how foolish I am!” my friend cries, suddenly alert, like a woman remembering too late she has biscuits in the oven. ‘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 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…’”
- Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory
When I think of Truman Capote, two things spring to mind.
First, his most famous book, the “nonfiction novel” In Cold Blood, about the vicious murder of a Kansas family in their lonely house by two thugs who – by a feat of literary alchemy – Capote transformed into complex and tortured figures.
Second, I think of the diminutive Capote’s outsized life, the drugs and booze, the name-dropping and tale-telling, the candle of his being burning at both ends.
When I think of Christmas…well, let’s just say that my thoughts of Christmas and my thoughts of Capote seldom intersect.
Yet here we are, with the Modern Library’s slim (just over one-hundred pages) collection of three holiday stories written by Capote at different points in his career.
Gathered here are A Christmas Memory (first published in 1956), One Christmas (first published in 1983), and A Thanksgiving Visitor (first published in 1967). Though they are not interconnected, they share the same setting (Alabama in the 1930s) and same central character: Miss Souk Faulk.
(Aside: I highly recommend finding a version of A Christmas Memory read by Capote himself in his inimitable voice. Well worth the time).
All three short stories are written in the first-person by a narrator who is nicknamed Buddy. It stands to reason that Buddy is Capote who, in his youth, lived with extended family, and in straitened economic circumstances, in rural Alabama. Yet, because this is Capote, it is unrealistic to declare these stories are strictly autobiographical. As anyone who has studied the circumstances of In Cold Blood knows, Capote’s relationship to the truth was tenuous at best. He was not above massaging facts – or even inventing scenes – to make for better drama.
Strict fidelity is not important here. For one, a memoir – as the word implies – comes from memory – and memory is necessarily fallible. Memory does not give us an objective truth, but rather something that is polished with time. This is not postmodern wishy-washiness, but modern brain science. For another, absolute, corroborated truth is not required when dealing with holiday reminisces, at least not to the extent it is required for reporting true crime.
The three stories presented in this collection are simplicity itself. In A Christmas Memory, Buddy and Miss Souk (here, referred to only as Buddy’s “friend”) bake fruitcakes, craft Depression-era gifts, and bask in their love for each other. In One Christmas, Buddy has to leave Miss Souk to visit his father – a distant, unknowable figure – in New Orleans. Buddy does not want to go, but with Miss Souk’s advice, he gets through the experience having learned a thing or two. Finally, in A Thanksgiving Visitor, Buddy’s Thanksgiving is made unforgettable when Miss Souk invites the town bully, the wonderfully named Odd Henderson, as a guest. Again, lessons are learned.
Capote writes in a deceptively straightforward manner. As I read, I periodically thought to myself: “What makes this so special?” Then Capote would land a sentence or craft a scene of such spare, effortless power, that I realized I’d probably remember snippets of these stories forever, even if I forget the overall particulars.
The linchpin of these three stories – the beating heart – is Miss Souk, an elderly old-maid cousin of Buddy’s, whose homespun wisdom and childlike faith are both utterly contrived and absolutely perfect for the holiday milieu. It is almost axiomatic that a Christmas story needs a moral. Here, Miss Souk is a gentle combination of Scrooge’s spirits, the Old Man from A Christmas Story, and Angel Second-Class Clarence from It’s a Wonderful Life.
The engine that drives Christmas – for those who celebrate it – is nostalgia. When I think of Christmas, I think of all the Christmases that came before; I think of the Christmases of my childhood. So many memories of youth get lost in the swirling passage of time. Not just days or weeks, but entire years become vague and mist-shrouded gaps in the chronology. The Christmases stand out, though, brilliantly lit and preserved as in amber. I remember the anticipation; the songs; the movies; the snow; the ornaments on the tree; the impossible sensation of wishing for something and then having it appear, suddenly, in your hands. I recognize that at a certain point, I stopped living in the moment, and started pursuing the elusive “perfect Christmas” of the past.
Capote hits the nostalgia hard in this trilogy of short stories. He writes as a man looking backwards. He plays every string that you expect to be played. Knowing what we know about Capote, it thus becomes hard to decide whether this is a cynical ploy to play upon the reader’s emotions, or whether it is a genuine longing for days to which he cannot ever return.
I would like to think it is the latter. I want to believe that even as Capote tightened the spiral of his own self destruction, he still clung to holiday memories, that he found comfort in the humble anonymity of Miss Souk’s kitchen, in the simple expressions of her love.
- Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory
When I think of Truman Capote, two things spring to mind.
First, his most famous book, the “nonfiction novel” In Cold Blood, about the vicious murder of a Kansas family in their lonely house by two thugs who – by a feat of literary alchemy – Capote transformed into complex and tortured figures.
Second, I think of the diminutive Capote’s outsized life, the drugs and booze, the name-dropping and tale-telling, the candle of his being burning at both ends.
When I think of Christmas…well, let’s just say that my thoughts of Christmas and my thoughts of Capote seldom intersect.
Yet here we are, with the Modern Library’s slim (just over one-hundred pages) collection of three holiday stories written by Capote at different points in his career.
Gathered here are A Christmas Memory (first published in 1956), One Christmas (first published in 1983), and A Thanksgiving Visitor (first published in 1967). Though they are not interconnected, they share the same setting (Alabama in the 1930s) and same central character: Miss Souk Faulk.
(Aside: I highly recommend finding a version of A Christmas Memory read by Capote himself in his inimitable voice. Well worth the time).
All three short stories are written in the first-person by a narrator who is nicknamed Buddy. It stands to reason that Buddy is Capote who, in his youth, lived with extended family, and in straitened economic circumstances, in rural Alabama. Yet, because this is Capote, it is unrealistic to declare these stories are strictly autobiographical. As anyone who has studied the circumstances of In Cold Blood knows, Capote’s relationship to the truth was tenuous at best. He was not above massaging facts – or even inventing scenes – to make for better drama.
Strict fidelity is not important here. For one, a memoir – as the word implies – comes from memory – and memory is necessarily fallible. Memory does not give us an objective truth, but rather something that is polished with time. This is not postmodern wishy-washiness, but modern brain science. For another, absolute, corroborated truth is not required when dealing with holiday reminisces, at least not to the extent it is required for reporting true crime.
The three stories presented in this collection are simplicity itself. In A Christmas Memory, Buddy and Miss Souk (here, referred to only as Buddy’s “friend”) bake fruitcakes, craft Depression-era gifts, and bask in their love for each other. In One Christmas, Buddy has to leave Miss Souk to visit his father – a distant, unknowable figure – in New Orleans. Buddy does not want to go, but with Miss Souk’s advice, he gets through the experience having learned a thing or two. Finally, in A Thanksgiving Visitor, Buddy’s Thanksgiving is made unforgettable when Miss Souk invites the town bully, the wonderfully named Odd Henderson, as a guest. Again, lessons are learned.
Capote writes in a deceptively straightforward manner. As I read, I periodically thought to myself: “What makes this so special?” Then Capote would land a sentence or craft a scene of such spare, effortless power, that I realized I’d probably remember snippets of these stories forever, even if I forget the overall particulars.
The linchpin of these three stories – the beating heart – is Miss Souk, an elderly old-maid cousin of Buddy’s, whose homespun wisdom and childlike faith are both utterly contrived and absolutely perfect for the holiday milieu. It is almost axiomatic that a Christmas story needs a moral. Here, Miss Souk is a gentle combination of Scrooge’s spirits, the Old Man from A Christmas Story, and Angel Second-Class Clarence from It’s a Wonderful Life.
The engine that drives Christmas – for those who celebrate it – is nostalgia. When I think of Christmas, I think of all the Christmases that came before; I think of the Christmases of my childhood. So many memories of youth get lost in the swirling passage of time. Not just days or weeks, but entire years become vague and mist-shrouded gaps in the chronology. The Christmases stand out, though, brilliantly lit and preserved as in amber. I remember the anticipation; the songs; the movies; the snow; the ornaments on the tree; the impossible sensation of wishing for something and then having it appear, suddenly, in your hands. I recognize that at a certain point, I stopped living in the moment, and started pursuing the elusive “perfect Christmas” of the past.
Capote hits the nostalgia hard in this trilogy of short stories. He writes as a man looking backwards. He plays every string that you expect to be played. Knowing what we know about Capote, it thus becomes hard to decide whether this is a cynical ploy to play upon the reader’s emotions, or whether it is a genuine longing for days to which he cannot ever return.
I would like to think it is the latter. I want to believe that even as Capote tightened the spiral of his own self destruction, he still clung to holiday memories, that he found comfort in the humble anonymity of Miss Souk’s kitchen, in the simple expressions of her love.
November 9, 2017
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote is an upcoming read in the group On the Southern Literary Trail in December. As my last two months of the year looked to be packed as I finish up challenges, I decided to take the time to read this story collection. I had previously read both Breakfast at Tiffany's and other stories as well as In Cold Blood, so I had already experienced Capote's expert storytelling skills. With any story he has written, however long, I knew I would be in for a treat as I took the time to read his skillfully written prose.
Although the three stories here are fictional, Capote's holiday recollections stem back to a time when he was seven years old, living with his maternal family in rural Alabama. His parents divorced when Capote was young and neither was in a position to claim custody of him, so he was sent to live with kin. Even though young Truman was unwanted by either of his parents, he was not unloved as he developed into an unlikely but loving friendship with his great aunt Sook and her dog Queenie. Sook, who referred to Truman as Buddy, taught the future writer lessons of humility, religion, and other skills which she had acquired over the course of a life skills. Not socially adept, Sook preferred to spend her time in Truman's presence, and the two went on to develop a special relationship that was not lessened by time or distance. As a result, Capote took this relationship and lessons to heart, shaping them into short stories which have endured for decades.
In A Christmas Memory, Sook wakes one day and declares that it is fruit cake weather. November has started and with it holiday preparation. Sook and Buddy take all the money they have earned over the course of the year, a mere $12.73, to bake fruit cakes for more than thirty distinguished recipients: every one from President Roosevelt to a visitor who once passed through the parlor. Baking the cakes is a labor of love and an act that strengthens this unique friendship. The story moves from baking cakes to obtaining the perfect tree and then creatively crafting decorations on a Depression era budget. Capote's prose is straight forward yet a chock full of descriptive language that had me smiling alongside seven year old Buddy as he prepares for the holidays. The end of this short tale teaches additional life lessons and had me hearkening to a simpler, but in many ways, happier time period. As a result, I eagerly moved on to the other two stories in this collection.
The Thanksgiving Visitor also has Sook teaching Buddy valuable life lessons. At a time when one's education was at a premium and any school past the eighth grade was not guaranteed, Buddy attended school with Odd Henderson who had already been made to repeat first and second grade, and was a twelve year bully in a class of eight year olds. Always one to tease and torment Buddy, Sook suggests that he invites Odd to the family's yearly Thanksgiving celebration. Buddy does not want anything to do with his nemesis but relents as Sook teaches him to empathize with other's stations in life. This story was a short fifty pages and moved quickly as Capote pays attention to detail in describing a southern Thanksgiving. In addition to Sook's lessons, this story had my mouth watering and looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday ahead.
Truman Capote is one of America's master story tellers from the mid 20th century. His In Cold Blood was genre transforming and captivating to read, while Breakfast at Tiffany's told a different story from the one I envisioned from the movie. Yet, neither of these stories is as personal to the author as A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, and The Thanksgiving Visitor. These three short tales take the reader back to the author's early childhood and teach valuable life lessons. Combined with soothing, detailed prose, they have been a joy to read, and have me relishing the brief time I spent in Capote's presence.
4+ stars
Although the three stories here are fictional, Capote's holiday recollections stem back to a time when he was seven years old, living with his maternal family in rural Alabama. His parents divorced when Capote was young and neither was in a position to claim custody of him, so he was sent to live with kin. Even though young Truman was unwanted by either of his parents, he was not unloved as he developed into an unlikely but loving friendship with his great aunt Sook and her dog Queenie. Sook, who referred to Truman as Buddy, taught the future writer lessons of humility, religion, and other skills which she had acquired over the course of a life skills. Not socially adept, Sook preferred to spend her time in Truman's presence, and the two went on to develop a special relationship that was not lessened by time or distance. As a result, Capote took this relationship and lessons to heart, shaping them into short stories which have endured for decades.
In A Christmas Memory, Sook wakes one day and declares that it is fruit cake weather. November has started and with it holiday preparation. Sook and Buddy take all the money they have earned over the course of the year, a mere $12.73, to bake fruit cakes for more than thirty distinguished recipients: every one from President Roosevelt to a visitor who once passed through the parlor. Baking the cakes is a labor of love and an act that strengthens this unique friendship. The story moves from baking cakes to obtaining the perfect tree and then creatively crafting decorations on a Depression era budget. Capote's prose is straight forward yet a chock full of descriptive language that had me smiling alongside seven year old Buddy as he prepares for the holidays. The end of this short tale teaches additional life lessons and had me hearkening to a simpler, but in many ways, happier time period. As a result, I eagerly moved on to the other two stories in this collection.
The Thanksgiving Visitor also has Sook teaching Buddy valuable life lessons. At a time when one's education was at a premium and any school past the eighth grade was not guaranteed, Buddy attended school with Odd Henderson who had already been made to repeat first and second grade, and was a twelve year bully in a class of eight year olds. Always one to tease and torment Buddy, Sook suggests that he invites Odd to the family's yearly Thanksgiving celebration. Buddy does not want anything to do with his nemesis but relents as Sook teaches him to empathize with other's stations in life. This story was a short fifty pages and moved quickly as Capote pays attention to detail in describing a southern Thanksgiving. In addition to Sook's lessons, this story had my mouth watering and looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday ahead.
Truman Capote is one of America's master story tellers from the mid 20th century. His In Cold Blood was genre transforming and captivating to read, while Breakfast at Tiffany's told a different story from the one I envisioned from the movie. Yet, neither of these stories is as personal to the author as A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, and The Thanksgiving Visitor. These three short tales take the reader back to the author's early childhood and teach valuable life lessons. Combined with soothing, detailed prose, they have been a joy to read, and have me relishing the brief time I spent in Capote's presence.
4+ stars
August 7, 2020
It's the last week of November, but we've had so much snow here in Colorado, I feel like we've already crawled past both Thanksgiving and Christmas and have entered the doldrums of January.
I'm feeling like Doctor Zhivago's wife today, ready to wrap myself in a wool blanket and sip vodka while I stare out the window, disconsolately. I'd like to tell our guests who are invited for Thursday for the Thanksgiving meal. . . no soup for you.
Now a nude December fig branch grates against the window.
Buddy and Miss Sook get me today, understand my mood. They don't have the snow to contend with in their small town in Alabama, but they understand, all too well, a desolate landscape.
They've been abandoned by parents, misunderstood by peers, and they have nothing much on earth but each other. . . which is everything to them. They are a team and they must rally to make their own magic, and never do they do so better than when they summon—this very week—the making of the fruitcakes for the holiday season.
Caarackle! A cheery crunch, scraps of miniature thunder sound as the shells collapse and the golden mound of sweet oily ivory meat mounts in the milk-glass bowl.
Oh, my dark heart can rejoice!
I have avoided this little treasure, this collection of three short stories about Thanksgiving and Christmas. I suspected it would be schmaltzy, cheesy. Boring, too. Wow, was I wrong.
This book surprised me by summoning three of my all-time favorite American novels: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Age of Innocence and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
I want to eat this little pocket-sized book. Pop it into my mouth like a roasted, buttered pecan. Ponder its stark beauty forever.
The light from this story is small; it is one tealight candle in a dimly lit room, but the images still manage to jump out at me, flash briefly in my eyes, cast their dimensions on the otherwise blank wall.
How happy I am to be reminded today that joy can be kindled from one small, spark of cheer.
I'm feeling like Doctor Zhivago's wife today, ready to wrap myself in a wool blanket and sip vodka while I stare out the window, disconsolately. I'd like to tell our guests who are invited for Thursday for the Thanksgiving meal. . . no soup for you.
Now a nude December fig branch grates against the window.
Buddy and Miss Sook get me today, understand my mood. They don't have the snow to contend with in their small town in Alabama, but they understand, all too well, a desolate landscape.
They've been abandoned by parents, misunderstood by peers, and they have nothing much on earth but each other. . . which is everything to them. They are a team and they must rally to make their own magic, and never do they do so better than when they summon—this very week—the making of the fruitcakes for the holiday season.
Caarackle! A cheery crunch, scraps of miniature thunder sound as the shells collapse and the golden mound of sweet oily ivory meat mounts in the milk-glass bowl.
Oh, my dark heart can rejoice!
I have avoided this little treasure, this collection of three short stories about Thanksgiving and Christmas. I suspected it would be schmaltzy, cheesy. Boring, too. Wow, was I wrong.
This book surprised me by summoning three of my all-time favorite American novels: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Age of Innocence and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
I want to eat this little pocket-sized book. Pop it into my mouth like a roasted, buttered pecan. Ponder its stark beauty forever.
The light from this story is small; it is one tealight candle in a dimly lit room, but the images still manage to jump out at me, flash briefly in my eyes, cast their dimensions on the otherwise blank wall.
How happy I am to be reminded today that joy can be kindled from one small, spark of cheer.
December 27, 2022
Cuentos navideños que se leen y se leen y se vuelven a leer.
October 11, 2020
This is a collection of short stories mostly focusing on the Author’s Alabama Christmas memories as a young boy growing up with distant relatives, especially his much older cousin ‘Sook’ Faulk. The first from 1956 reflects on it being ‘fruitcake weather’ and is one of the sweetest and most moving Christmas stories I have ever read. It evokes so many warm Christmas memories such as ‘Stir up Sunday’, preparing the Christmas puddings with my mother. The story is vividly told, it’s very touching with a little hint of sadness. Sook is just wonderful and everyone needs someone like her in their lives to brighten their world and make it magical for a child. I loved it.
The second is written in 1967 and I assume is dedicated to his friend Harper Lee. It’s a memory from 1932 surrounding Odd Henderson, a bully who made his life a misery. Sook teaches him a valuable life lesson at a Thanksgiving dinner and this is another colourful, excellent story. A 1982 story reflects on his desire to spend Christmas with Sook but he has to spend it with his father in New Orleans. It’s a sad and poignant story and again demonstrates how precious Sook is to him but also despite the distance from Truman, his father loves him. Also included is a 1949 story in which Sylvia sells her dreams and although it’s very good it’s a bit depressing and there’s a 1948 story of ten year old Miss Bobbit which is also not especially cheery but is also extremely intriguing. Finally, there’s a 1945 story about Mr Marshall’s Valhalla Drugstore and his ingenious attempt to win back customers from a newly arrived competitor, this is also very good with a little touch of magic!
Overall, it’s absolutely worth reading just for the first three and the last one which are all fantastic five star reads. They are all well written and colourful (well, you’d sort of expect that!!) and they bring Truman’s childhood vividly to life. Highly recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Penguin Press UK for the much appreciated arc for an honest review.
The second is written in 1967 and I assume is dedicated to his friend Harper Lee. It’s a memory from 1932 surrounding Odd Henderson, a bully who made his life a misery. Sook teaches him a valuable life lesson at a Thanksgiving dinner and this is another colourful, excellent story. A 1982 story reflects on his desire to spend Christmas with Sook but he has to spend it with his father in New Orleans. It’s a sad and poignant story and again demonstrates how precious Sook is to him but also despite the distance from Truman, his father loves him. Also included is a 1949 story in which Sylvia sells her dreams and although it’s very good it’s a bit depressing and there’s a 1948 story of ten year old Miss Bobbit which is also not especially cheery but is also extremely intriguing. Finally, there’s a 1945 story about Mr Marshall’s Valhalla Drugstore and his ingenious attempt to win back customers from a newly arrived competitor, this is also very good with a little touch of magic!
Overall, it’s absolutely worth reading just for the first three and the last one which are all fantastic five star reads. They are all well written and colourful (well, you’d sort of expect that!!) and they bring Truman’s childhood vividly to life. Highly recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Penguin Press UK for the much appreciated arc for an honest review.
December 23, 2019
4.8 rounded to 5 stars
What a delightful little package of Truman Capote’s holiday short stories. All three are based on Mr. Capote’s childhood memories when he was 7-8 years old living in Alabama with his elderly cousins. His best friend is his shy and somewhat eccentric distant cousin, Miss Sook, whom he refers to as “my friend.” My favorite was “A Christmas Memory,” followed closely by “The Thanksgiving Visitor,” and then “One Christmas,” which wasn’t too shabby for coming in last place, scoring a solid 4.5 with me.
Capote is an outstanding writer. His words are simple but are put together so artfully and meaningfully that their impact on me was as strong as anything I have read from other authors this year, and I have read a lot from talented authors in 2019.
It is a real treat to escape to the old days (1932-1934 in this case) where Christmas was celebrated in a much more valid and relevant way. Mad dash shopping, running around like mad to hit all the extended family homes along with the requisite airport nightmares and crowded weather-endangered highways, and gritted teeth to get the whole thing over worth were not the scene back then. It was more the fellowship of local friends and family all gathered to enjoy the holiday feast and the good company and the honoring of the reason for the holiday that were important. And no one was watching their cell phone like a hawk. If people do not have holidays like that anymore, at least they can escape to stories like these to warm the heart and soothe the soul.
I highly recommend “A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, and The Thanksgiving Visitor” to all readers yearning for holiday stories with real human relationships, life lessons, and warm feelings. And as a bonus, no tech in sight. I am now the owner of a copy of “The Complete Short Stories of Truman Capote” and can’t wait to dig into more.
What a delightful little package of Truman Capote’s holiday short stories. All three are based on Mr. Capote’s childhood memories when he was 7-8 years old living in Alabama with his elderly cousins. His best friend is his shy and somewhat eccentric distant cousin, Miss Sook, whom he refers to as “my friend.” My favorite was “A Christmas Memory,” followed closely by “The Thanksgiving Visitor,” and then “One Christmas,” which wasn’t too shabby for coming in last place, scoring a solid 4.5 with me.
Capote is an outstanding writer. His words are simple but are put together so artfully and meaningfully that their impact on me was as strong as anything I have read from other authors this year, and I have read a lot from talented authors in 2019.
It is a real treat to escape to the old days (1932-1934 in this case) where Christmas was celebrated in a much more valid and relevant way. Mad dash shopping, running around like mad to hit all the extended family homes along with the requisite airport nightmares and crowded weather-endangered highways, and gritted teeth to get the whole thing over worth were not the scene back then. It was more the fellowship of local friends and family all gathered to enjoy the holiday feast and the good company and the honoring of the reason for the holiday that were important. And no one was watching their cell phone like a hawk. If people do not have holidays like that anymore, at least they can escape to stories like these to warm the heart and soothe the soul.
I highly recommend “A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, and The Thanksgiving Visitor” to all readers yearning for holiday stories with real human relationships, life lessons, and warm feelings. And as a bonus, no tech in sight. I am now the owner of a copy of “The Complete Short Stories of Truman Capote” and can’t wait to dig into more.
January 4, 2023
Capote’s storytelling is smooth and personal. He talks to the reader in a natural conversational tone and the reader is hooked with the easy and steady tempo of his words and the exposition of this complicated family. The three holiday stories in this book are heart warming and offer an inside look at 1930’s life in rural Alabama.
December 3, 2024
I could read a hundred recollective stories from Buddy, Capote’s depression-era childhood alter ego. I think I’ll want to do a closer reading and revisit this. I did not expect this humble trilogy to do what it did to me.
Stand by.
Stand by.
December 24, 2023
Three poignant autobiographical stories about love and friendship. Sweet memories, tinged with sadness.
November 8, 2016
The Hook - A review by my GoodReads friend Mike. I could not say it better than him. You can find Mike’s reviews at
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3...
be certain to search his shelves for A Christmas Memory
The Line - The first two paragraphs will draw you in:
”Imagine a morning in late November. A coming of winter morning more than twenty years ago. Consider the kitchen of a spreading old house in a country town. A great black stove is its main feature; but there is also a big round table and a fireplace with two rocking chairs placed in front of it. Just today the fireplace commenced its seasonal roar.
A woman with shorn white hair is standing at the kitchen window. She is wearing tennis shoes and a shapeless gray sweater over a summery calico dress. She is small and sprightly, like a bantam hen; but, due to a long youthful illness, her shoulders are pitifully hunched. Her face is remarkable—not unlike Lincoln's, craggy like that, and tinted by sun and wind; but it is delicate too, finely boned, and her eyes are sherry-colored and timid. "Oh my," she exclaims, her breath smoking the windowpane, "it's fruitcake weather!"
The Sinker - I chose to read The Modern Library edition, A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, & The Thanksgiving Visitor to have the experience of all three special remembrances of Capote’s holidays. I loved them all but particularly was drawn to A Christmas Memory. It strongly evokes the feeling of coming or going home, the smells, the sounds and sights of a busy kitchen as preparations are made for Christmas Day. It’s all about the memories. Perfect gift to yourself or for someone you love.
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3...
be certain to search his shelves for A Christmas Memory
The Line - The first two paragraphs will draw you in:
”Imagine a morning in late November. A coming of winter morning more than twenty years ago. Consider the kitchen of a spreading old house in a country town. A great black stove is its main feature; but there is also a big round table and a fireplace with two rocking chairs placed in front of it. Just today the fireplace commenced its seasonal roar.
A woman with shorn white hair is standing at the kitchen window. She is wearing tennis shoes and a shapeless gray sweater over a summery calico dress. She is small and sprightly, like a bantam hen; but, due to a long youthful illness, her shoulders are pitifully hunched. Her face is remarkable—not unlike Lincoln's, craggy like that, and tinted by sun and wind; but it is delicate too, finely boned, and her eyes are sherry-colored and timid. "Oh my," she exclaims, her breath smoking the windowpane, "it's fruitcake weather!"
The Sinker - I chose to read The Modern Library edition, A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, & The Thanksgiving Visitor to have the experience of all three special remembrances of Capote’s holidays. I loved them all but particularly was drawn to A Christmas Memory. It strongly evokes the feeling of coming or going home, the smells, the sounds and sights of a busy kitchen as preparations are made for Christmas Day. It’s all about the memories. Perfect gift to yourself or for someone you love.
December 9, 2017
There are reasons that some books become classics. This is one that captures moments from childhood and freezes them for all time, moments from treasured holidays, moments of love, fright, embarrassment, belonging. Moments that many of us can relate to even if we did not grow up during the Depression in the deep South as did Truman Capote with his beloved cousin Sook.
I believe I will eventually need to obtain a copy of this book for myself or just continue liberating the library copy at Christmastime each year.
A huge thank you to On the Southern Literary Trail for scheduling it now so that I was doubly inspired to read it.
(Addendum, 12/08/17, I have purchased a kindle copy of this book finally so that I can read this whenever I fancy.)
I believe I will eventually need to obtain a copy of this book for myself or just continue liberating the library copy at Christmastime each year.
A huge thank you to On the Southern Literary Trail for scheduling it now so that I was doubly inspired to read it.
(Addendum, 12/08/17, I have purchased a kindle copy of this book finally so that I can read this whenever I fancy.)
December 27, 2020
2020 was a pretty darn awful year— I won’t recount the ways as many of us suffered loss.
First, my sincere thanks to a dear GR friend who mentioned Capote’s timeless story, A Christmas Memory.
The tears are still gently running down my face, but that’s okay. This was just the story I needed to read a few days before Christmas.
I’m crying for Buddy, Queenie, and their beloved friend. But most of all I’m crying for two wonderful women who aren’t here to share this Christmas with me. My memories of them shall last a lifetime too.
Merry Christmas to you and yours! And a heartfelt thank you to my fellow bookworms for all the books that I would have never read without your reviews!❤️
First, my sincere thanks to a dear GR friend who mentioned Capote’s timeless story, A Christmas Memory.
The tears are still gently running down my face, but that’s okay. This was just the story I needed to read a few days before Christmas.
I’m crying for Buddy, Queenie, and their beloved friend. But most of all I’m crying for two wonderful women who aren’t here to share this Christmas with me. My memories of them shall last a lifetime too.
Merry Christmas to you and yours! And a heartfelt thank you to my fellow bookworms for all the books that I would have never read without your reviews!❤️
December 21, 2019
Update: re-read A Christmas Memory and think it might make a nice Christmas tradition to read it yearly. Just as lovely the second time around.
I was delighted to find this collection on sale this week. I had not expected to be able to read it with the Southern Literary Trail this month, and I had wanted to.
What a sweet, nostalgic collection this is and a real tribute to Truman Capote's talents. The only other thing I have read from him was In Cold Blood, and while I admired his talented writing, I abhorred the book. I never read Breakfast at Tiffany's because I did not want to spoil the warm glow I have from the movie version.
Well, that was off-topic, so back to this volume. I love the character of Miss Sook, the way Buddy relates to her and the lessons he learns from her gentle teaching. I wonder how many of us have known souls like this, who have a less bit of worldly intelligence but a lot more of Godliness about them. I have known a few.
I came away with the fragrance of an Alabama kitchen in my head and a great desire to go whip up a batch of my mama's hot buttermilk biscuits and smell them freshly exiting the oven. Of course, I would need the chatter of the cooks to make it just like home and a hug from everybody who came through the door.
I really loved this!
I was delighted to find this collection on sale this week. I had not expected to be able to read it with the Southern Literary Trail this month, and I had wanted to.
What a sweet, nostalgic collection this is and a real tribute to Truman Capote's talents. The only other thing I have read from him was In Cold Blood, and while I admired his talented writing, I abhorred the book. I never read Breakfast at Tiffany's because I did not want to spoil the warm glow I have from the movie version.
Well, that was off-topic, so back to this volume. I love the character of Miss Sook, the way Buddy relates to her and the lessons he learns from her gentle teaching. I wonder how many of us have known souls like this, who have a less bit of worldly intelligence but a lot more of Godliness about them. I have known a few.
I came away with the fragrance of an Alabama kitchen in my head and a great desire to go whip up a batch of my mama's hot buttermilk biscuits and smell them freshly exiting the oven. Of course, I would need the chatter of the cooks to make it just like home and a hug from everybody who came through the door.
I really loved this!
July 1, 2021
Creo que es el relato más tierno y de amor puro que he leído jamás. ❤😥
December 23, 2019
This is a collection of three short stories. All of them about the holidays, they are all set in the South of the U.S. and they are all recollections of childhood. The first short story A Christmas Memory has received a lot of positive reviews from friends these past few days, and it is an excellent story, perhaps the best from the collection and it revolves around the recollection at seven of the narrator's friendship with an older cousin who is in her sixties as well as their rat terrier companion (both feature in all the stories) and their preparations for Christmas.
The second story One Christmas is set mostly in New Orleans, where the narrator leaves to spend Christmas with his father, away from his cousin Miss Sook whom he greatly loves and later experiences a harsh disillusionment as regards to Santa Claus. The third story The Thanksgiving Visitor is about the narrator and his bully Odd Henderson, a poor boy who picks on him because of his being a "sissy" and as a form of "straightening" him out. The narrator gets a chance at revenge when Odd is invited to his house for thanksgiving.
It is difficult to not give away too much plot of short stories when describing what they are about. These short stories are excellent, fine writing which I think captured the essence of holidays at the end of the year as one grows older, a lot of reminiscing and nostalgia. I loved the friendship in all the stories and the learning and growth of the protagonist and I certainly understood the Capote and Carson McCullers comparisons after reading them. I highly recommend The Member of the Wedding if you liked these short stories and recommend both if you haven't read them.
The second story One Christmas is set mostly in New Orleans, where the narrator leaves to spend Christmas with his father, away from his cousin Miss Sook whom he greatly loves and later experiences a harsh disillusionment as regards to Santa Claus. The third story The Thanksgiving Visitor is about the narrator and his bully Odd Henderson, a poor boy who picks on him because of his being a "sissy" and as a form of "straightening" him out. The narrator gets a chance at revenge when Odd is invited to his house for thanksgiving.
It is difficult to not give away too much plot of short stories when describing what they are about. These short stories are excellent, fine writing which I think captured the essence of holidays at the end of the year as one grows older, a lot of reminiscing and nostalgia. I loved the friendship in all the stories and the learning and growth of the protagonist and I certainly understood the Capote and Carson McCullers comparisons after reading them. I highly recommend The Member of the Wedding if you liked these short stories and recommend both if you haven't read them.
December 1, 2020
★★★★☆
Compré este ejemplar hace cosa de un año con el fin de tener una lectura navideña para saborear y disfrutar durante esta festividad. Truman Capote era un autor que no había leído, aun teniendo pendiente su famosa novela «A sangre fría», la cual no tardaré mucho en leer después de lo satisfecha que me ha dejado esta breve lectura.
«Tres cuentos» cuenta con tres relatos (como su título indica) protagonizados por Buddy, aunque en realidad son vivencias de la infancia del propio autor. Por ello, este es un libro muy curioso y valioso, no solo por lo que explica sino por toda la parte autobiográfica que guarda entre sus páginas.
“Un recuerdo navideño” nos relata la tradición que lleva a cabo junto a su querida Miss Sook el día de Navidad y sus preparativos previos. En “Una navidad”, Buddy viaja a Nueva Orleans a pasar esta festividad con su padre, que apenas conoce y con el que no quiere estar. Y para finalizar Truman analiza en “El invitado del día de Acción de Gracias” el amor, la maldad y la amistad de forma sublime.
Los cuentos transmiten nostalgia, ternura y en general unos recuerdos intensos que resultan sensiblemente emotivos. Sin duda me quedo con «La navidad», en él, el autor nos muestra un relato desgarrador y que conmueve al lector gracias a su exquisita habilidad para transmitir los sentimientos de los diferentes personajes que aparecen.
En conclusión esta es una buena primera toma de contacto con Capote, un libro corto que evoca muchas emociones centradas en estas fechas que nos vuelven a transmitir el espíritu navideño de la infancia. No puedo recomendarlo en mejor época, leerlo ahora ha supuesto una gran elección.
Compré este ejemplar hace cosa de un año con el fin de tener una lectura navideña para saborear y disfrutar durante esta festividad. Truman Capote era un autor que no había leído, aun teniendo pendiente su famosa novela «A sangre fría», la cual no tardaré mucho en leer después de lo satisfecha que me ha dejado esta breve lectura.
«Tres cuentos» cuenta con tres relatos (como su título indica) protagonizados por Buddy, aunque en realidad son vivencias de la infancia del propio autor. Por ello, este es un libro muy curioso y valioso, no solo por lo que explica sino por toda la parte autobiográfica que guarda entre sus páginas.
“Un recuerdo navideño” nos relata la tradición que lleva a cabo junto a su querida Miss Sook el día de Navidad y sus preparativos previos. En “Una navidad”, Buddy viaja a Nueva Orleans a pasar esta festividad con su padre, que apenas conoce y con el que no quiere estar. Y para finalizar Truman analiza en “El invitado del día de Acción de Gracias” el amor, la maldad y la amistad de forma sublime.
Los cuentos transmiten nostalgia, ternura y en general unos recuerdos intensos que resultan sensiblemente emotivos. Sin duda me quedo con «La navidad», en él, el autor nos muestra un relato desgarrador y que conmueve al lector gracias a su exquisita habilidad para transmitir los sentimientos de los diferentes personajes que aparecen.
En conclusión esta es una buena primera toma de contacto con Capote, un libro corto que evoca muchas emociones centradas en estas fechas que nos vuelven a transmitir el espíritu navideño de la infancia. No puedo recomendarlo en mejor época, leerlo ahora ha supuesto una gran elección.
November 23, 2014
A Christmas Memory
This heartfelt story of an eccentric old woman, Miss Sook, with the shorn white hair, calico dress and tennis shoes, her young best friend and cousin she calls Buddy, and the little orange and white rat terrier Queenie is one of my favorite Christmas stories. Such a memorable ending......two lost pair of kites flying in the sky hurrying toward heaven.....
One Christmas
Young Buddy is forced to visit his estranged father in New Orleans at Christmas time and finds out the answer to the question.......Is there really a Santa Claus?......Miss Sook does a good job of answering the big question in this short heartwarming tale.......but the best part of the story is what Buddy writes on the postcard to his father at the end.....
The Thanksgiving Visitor
Buddy decides to seek revenge on the school's bully this Thanksgiving, but the tables turn on him resulting in another good lesson from his best friend Miss Sook......"two wrongs don't make a right, and the one unpardonable sin in her book......deliberate cruelty."
All three short stories in this book were based on actual loving memories of Miss Sook from Mr. Capote's childhood while living with distant relatives in Alabama. Highly recommend for a fast and rewarding Christmas read!
September 22, 2019
I read this book in 2009- Believe it or not I have been keeping a reading journal since 1981! what I loved about it was that it felt like a touch of a real Christmas! Truman Capote’s memories highlighted in these stories.
Very enjoyable!
Very enjoyable!
November 29, 2013
This is a perfect little book, with 3 stories of remembered Christmases and Thanksgiving, that illuminate Capote's early life in Monroeville, Alabama. He and his cousin/friend Sook, (she was 60, he was 8) were both misfits who made life bearable for each other. It has been a while since I read Capote, and I had forgotten what an artist he was with words. I think I'll pull this one off the shelf every year at the holidays, just to be reminded of a simpler time, and the beauty of Miss Sook's spirit.
January 31, 2021
This is a very special book. Truman Capote demonstrates to all readers the craft of writing.
First, the characters are so well described that at times I thought I actually knew them.
Second, they’re down home stories about Alabama. Sometimes the descriptions are so very well done that this reader had no doubt about the item
Finally, it was a fast read.
Awesome volume. Highly recommend.
First, the characters are so well described that at times I thought I actually knew them.
Second, they’re down home stories about Alabama. Sometimes the descriptions are so very well done that this reader had no doubt about the item
Finally, it was a fast read.
Awesome volume. Highly recommend.
December 23, 2017
Acabo de descubrir a Truman Capote y ha sido MARAVILLOSO.
October 13, 2020
What a wonderful collection of short stories! There are only 6 stories in this slim volume so they have to be savoured. Most are autobiographical and are moving without being excessively sentimental. The only exception is Master Misery which is much darker than the rest and reminiscent of Poe, or Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected. With that exception, the stories are suitable for all ages and would be wonderful to read with children as they will learn the true meaning of goodwill.
Capote uses words sparingly but describes people, situations and places often in great detail. His choice of words and the rhythm of his sentences is often beautiful.
An easy 5 stars from me. I will read this collection over and over.
With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for a review copy.
Capote uses words sparingly but describes people, situations and places often in great detail. His choice of words and the rhythm of his sentences is often beautiful.
Snow-quiet, sleep-silent, only the fun-fire faraway song singing of children; and the room was blue with cold, colder than the cold of fairytales: lie down my heart among the igloo flowers of snow.
An easy 5 stars from me. I will read this collection over and over.
With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for a review copy.
December 10, 2023
Estos tres cuentos de Truman Capote están cargados de nostalgia y tienen una ambientación excepcional. Asistimos en ellos a la infancia de el propio autor. Dos de los cuentos transcurren en Alabama, junto a las entrañables Miss Sook y su perrita Queenie. El otro nos lleva hasta Nueva Orleans, donde el protagonista va a pasar la Navidad con su padre. Una lectura muy breve y más que recomendable para leer en diciembre.
November 22, 2019
I adore these stories. Such bittersweet love letters to a home, a culture, and especially an eccentric and very special human, a grandmotherly cousin who was young Truman’s caretaker and childhood best friend.
November 29, 2022
Christmas 2020 - Nice!!
I haven't read anything by Truman Capote before. I adored all three of these bittersweet, nostalgic holiday stories about his offbeat childhood in Depression-era Alabama. I'm glad I purchased the hardcover version. Reading these will become a Christmas tradition for me.
I haven't read anything by Truman Capote before. I adored all three of these bittersweet, nostalgic holiday stories about his offbeat childhood in Depression-era Alabama. I'm glad I purchased the hardcover version. Reading these will become a Christmas tradition for me.
December 18, 2024
"Tres cuentos" de Truman Capote, recopilación de tres relatos: "Un recuerdo navideño", "Una navidad" y "El invitado del Día de Acción de Gracias", que, con una atmósfera de ternura y melancolía, un estilo sencillo, sensorial y una prosa bella, nostálgica y evocadora de emociones profundas, conectados por la festividad de Navidad y el día de Acción de Gracias, crean personajes inolvidables: la señora Sook, mujer de avanza edad, inspirado en quien cuidó de Capote durante su infancia, Buddy, trasunto de Capote de niño, y la perrita terrier Queenie, abordando los temas de: las relaciones humanas y familiares, la inocencia de la infancia, las tradiciones, el amor, los sueños, la maldad, los deseos y los vínculos humanos perdurables en el tiempo, hurgando, mediante el lente de estas festividades, en la importancia de los momentos simples.
December 19, 2013
Now that was 107 pages of good, no great, literature. This collection of Capote's packs a punch through a very small package. Capote's memories encouraged me to remember some of my own childhood memories. I laughed and I cried, but I enjoyed every word. The whiskey scene reminded me of Aunt Bee off of The Andy Griffith show getting drunk off of "medicine" and Sook reminded me of my great aunt who wasn't exactly all there, but was probably more there then we realized. Who in the South doesn't know how to play Rook and anyone that's lived on a farm should remember the smell of creosote just by reading the word. I think these short stories were written for you to "remember and reflect".
December 16, 2015
These three stories touch the heart and just might take you back to your own childhood holidays, whether or not you live in the American South. Capote has a way of drawing you in with writing so enjoyable and vivid that you see and experience his memories of Christmas and Thanksgiving with his "cousin" Sook when he was a child. They will make you smile, laugh and probably bring a tear or two. I checked this out from the library, but intend to get a copy so I can read this slim volume again around future holidays.
December 15, 2020
I love the writing of Truman Capote and wanted to read a book to get me in the mood for the Christmas holidays. The book contains three stories that are connected tales that help to raise that Christmas spirit. Told with the accomplishment of an excellent author these stories are tender and bittersweet.
Buddy recalls his distant Christmases that he shared with aging relatives on their Alabama Farm. We hear of his unlikely friendship with Sook, his beloved maiden ‘aunt’, The stories are gentle and warming and ideal to get you in the Christmas mood.
Enjoyable read.
I would like to thank both Netgalley and Penguin Classics for supplying a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Buddy recalls his distant Christmases that he shared with aging relatives on their Alabama Farm. We hear of his unlikely friendship with Sook, his beloved maiden ‘aunt’, The stories are gentle and warming and ideal to get you in the Christmas mood.
Enjoyable read.
I would like to thank both Netgalley and Penguin Classics for supplying a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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