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Loading... Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948)by Truman Capote
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Truman Capote's debut novel is amazing. It's been described as hallucinogenic or "gothic on steroids". I would have to agree with both descriptions. I listened on audio, which was a full immersion experience. The story is reportedly semi-autobiographical. It opens with Joel Knox, a young 12-year old boy traveling to meet his father for the first time in his life. Up till now he's lived in New Orleans, but his father lives at a place called Skully's Landing - very remote and difficult to reach place in the deep south. At Skully's Landing Joel encounters a menagerie of characters and odd incidents. Some of the incidents seem to actually occur, where others are only in Joel's imagination. Altogether a wonderful listen and a good distraction! I generally love Capote's use of language, but in this one it was not as enjoyable as in his later works. There were some paragraphs that were breathtaking. The bigger problem for me was that I felt the story and the characters were not capturing my attention. I have noticed this is often the case with these gothic style novels; maybe because they focus so much in creating the atmosphere? And, to be honest, atmosphere is rarely enough to make a book interesting for me. I was left with a quite empty feeling after finishing this. This books, written in 1948 by famed author Truman Capote, has long passages of beautifully descriptive prose. It also has long passages where I have no idea what the author is trying to say, and I’m not quite sure he knew, either. I believe that the author purposely skewed the intended meaning as a form of art, a way in which to create atmosphere and a better sense of the world in which the character lives. What it lacks in realism and clarity, it almost makes up for in the poetry and symbolism. The story is a combination of coming of age and longing for a sense of belonging. It explores complex themes which today still balance on the borderline of taboo. Not my favorite book, but being so short, it’s worth picking up to form your own opinion. Four stars. no reviews | add a review
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Truman Capote's first novel is a story of almost supernatural intensity and inventiveness, an audacious foray into the mind of a sensitive boy as he seeks out the grown-up enigmas of love and death in the ghostly landscape of the deep South. At the age of twelve, Joel Knox is summoned to meet the father who abandoned him at birth. But when Joel arrives at the decaying mansion in Skully's Landing, his father is nowhere in sight. What he finds instead is a sullen stepmother who delights in killing birds; an uncle with the face--and heart--of a debauched child; and a fearsome little girl named Idabel who may offer him the closest thing he has ever known to love. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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