Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1043140 in Books
• Published on: 1994-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Synopsis
A boy matures amidst the odd characters who live in Skully's Landing.

Customer Reviews

Almost a good book.
At times Capote's first novel is brilliant: as all the other reviews have said, the imagery is wonderfully evocative. Yet, compared to later work (Breakfast At Tiffany's, In Cold Blood) this novel seems fussy, ellusive and (at times) over-written. Moreover, certain characters are either frustratingly two-dimensional or pretentious. In short, Capote was trying too hard. But then he was only 17, and there's enough in this book to hint towards what a superb writer he was to become.

An unsettling story of coming of age in the rural South.
Never having read a Capote novel or short story before this novel was probably the best way to go. The premise was simple enough: a boy whose beloved mother has died, sets out to live with his estranged father in a rural southern town. The story, however, is not that...ordinary. The mysterious father does not immediately appear, and the young boy is left virtually alone with a mentally imbalanced extended family headed by an aging artist. Capote introduces a Carson McCullers-esque tomboy, a witch doctor, a circus sideshow, and you begin to understand that this novel is about many stories--not just Joel's story. Capote never lets you imagine for a moment that his novel will turn into one of those "feel good" coming of age stories in which, despite setbacks and loopy family arrangements, the young hero or heroine finally "makes it." Our hero moves on in the best way that he can, which is all anybody really can do. I appreciate Capote's sense of reality.

This is a great novel and a classic
A powerful novel that addresses initiation through the innocence the Joel loses from his stay at Skully's landing. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves the classics.