Penguin Random House
Publication October 27, 2015
$25.00 hard cover
ISBN: 9780812998221
These fourteen stories were written during Capote's teenage years. They are brief snippets with memorable and vivid characters. It is amazing to realize that at fourteen or seventeen Capote had already discovered his voice and displayed an understanding of human nature.
The stories are about boys who enter the woods in search of an escaped convict and a school girl wracked with jealousy and spite; a frightened woman who unwittingly sends an escaped mad woman to her doom and a boy who falls in love with a dog whose boy is ill; a jaded older tramp who has a change of heart regarding his idealistic and younger companion on the road and a woman who saves a snake-bit child regardless of her own safety; a Southern African American cook goes to New York City and is homesick for the South, despite its Jim Crow laws. The characters are caught at turning points and crisis points, revealing truths about human nature.
This collection is noted as of interest to readers wanting to understand the writer and his maturing craft. But readers will find enough interest in the stories on their own.
I received a free ebook in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
