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A review by book_concierge
A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, & The Thanksgiving Visitor by Truman Capote
5.0
I've read and reviewed [b:A Christmas Memory|9919|A Christmas Memory Book and CD|Truman Capote|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320404365s/9919.jpg|386792] previously. Here I'll concentrate on the other two stories in this collection.
One Christmas relates how the young Truman is summoned to New Orleans to spend the holiday with his father – a man who is as foreign as any stranger, and equally as frightening to the impressionable boy. The child doesn’t really want to make the trip; he’d rather stay with his old-maid cousins in the familiar, rural Alabama setting where he feels loved and protected. Still New Orleans does have its charms and his father’s lovely, large home in the French Quarter is a marvel. He is disturbed by what he witnesses during a Christmas Eve party, and doesn’t come to understand until later when his beloved friend (and elderly cousin) Miss Sook explains to him.
In The Thanksgiving Visitor the seven-year-old Truman is being bullied by an older and bigger boy, who has been held back several times and is in his class. He describes the Henderson family as poor put proud, and Odd Henderson as a boy who is “just plain mean.” Worried that her beloved young friend is having nightmares, Miss Sook seeks to help him convert Odd into a friend, and invites the bully to join their family Thanksgiving feast.
Capote’s writing is never so brilliant as when he is mining his childhood for stories such as these. The emotion is evident and genuine. His descriptions are gloriously vivid without overwhelming the story. The lessons learned – about kindness, tolerance, family, love and forgiveness – are gently told but ring loud and clear in the reader’s heart.
One Christmas relates how the young Truman is summoned to New Orleans to spend the holiday with his father – a man who is as foreign as any stranger, and equally as frightening to the impressionable boy. The child doesn’t really want to make the trip; he’d rather stay with his old-maid cousins in the familiar, rural Alabama setting where he feels loved and protected. Still New Orleans does have its charms and his father’s lovely, large home in the French Quarter is a marvel. He is disturbed by what he witnesses during a Christmas Eve party, and doesn’t come to understand until later when his beloved friend (and elderly cousin) Miss Sook explains to him.
In The Thanksgiving Visitor the seven-year-old Truman is being bullied by an older and bigger boy, who has been held back several times and is in his class. He describes the Henderson family as poor put proud, and Odd Henderson as a boy who is “just plain mean.” Worried that her beloved young friend is having nightmares, Miss Sook seeks to help him convert Odd into a friend, and invites the bully to join their family Thanksgiving feast.
Capote’s writing is never so brilliant as when he is mining his childhood for stories such as these. The emotion is evident and genuine. His descriptions are gloriously vivid without overwhelming the story. The lessons learned – about kindness, tolerance, family, love and forgiveness – are gently told but ring loud and clear in the reader’s heart.