The Complete Stories of Truman Capote

The Complete Stories of Truman Capote

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4.21 of 5 stars 4.21  ·  rating details  ·  1,923 ratings  ·  126 reviews
A landmark collection that brings together Truman Capote’s life’s work in the form he called his “great love,” The Complete Stories confirms Capote’s status as a master of the short story.
Ranging from the gothic South to the chic East Coast, from rural children to aging urban sophisticates, all the unforgettable places and people of Capote’s oeuvre are here, in stories as...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published September 13th 2005 by Vintage (first published January 1st 2004)
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Cormac Zoso
Truman Capote is one of the three true masters of the American short story, along with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, and this complete collection of his short stories would be a well-loved gift to any fan of great literature. Capote, like his fellow masters, makes the small scenes of the short story so lifelike you might mix them up with your own memories at times. They feel that genuine and lived in.

Where literary style is concerned, Capote is far closer to F. Scott than Hemingway...more
Diann Blakely
The nearly apopletic horror of Flannery O'Connor's first view of Truman Capote, on the book jacket of OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS—with the author lying recumbent on a couch and looking, according to one wag, like a cherubic rent boy—is well known. Nor did she much care for one of Capote's comrades in arms, Georgian Carson McCullers, who was an alcoholic-in-training starting in adolescence, a lesbian, and for most of her life a partial paralytic, owing to a succession of small strokes. Nevertheless...more
Laia
I don't know whether to give this more stars for the quality of writing, but it brings into focus such unpleasant things, it is hard to say I "really LIKED it." Which of course is part of the brilliance of his writing.
Really fun as a book club pick...lots of short stories, each one of them giving you something to talk about. Wasn't particularly taken with the first half of the book, but fell in love with some of the later stories, and found all of the stories a nice complement to each other whe...more
Ti
The Short of It:

This is a wonderful collection of stories. Meaningful and thought-provoking. Perfect for this time of year.

The Rest of It:

I really enjoy Capote’s writing. A book group friend of mine brought this for a book exchange one year, and it ended up in my lucky hands. I’ve been reading bits of it here and there for over two years now. It’s the type of book that you can pick up and put down and not really lose anything from it. Open to any page and you will be swept away. Some of the stor...more
Benjamin
*I skipped three of the stories - the holiday pieces - until winter when I'm in the mood*

For some reason I thought all of the stories would be about glitterati and their fancy things. Some are, but there was also a very satisying offering of Southern Gothic magic. 'Children On Their Birthdays' and 'A Diamond Guitar' were especially moving.

One rant: In the first two paragraphs of 'The Bargain', I was convinced that I was rereading 'A Mink of One's Own'. Was the idea of two hoity toity ladies meet...more
Todd
A smattering of stories from the late 1940's up to the end of Truman Capote's life (he passed away in the mid-1980's), this body of work appears to represent more of a fictionalized auto-biography than a complete anthology of short stories. It is interesting to see the author as a hurt character who never recovered from a childhood of neglect from parents whose fulfillments did not include the support of the only child that resulted from their marriage. Because of this hurt, Truman comes across...more
B.E. Scully
There are those rare and precious short stories—James Joyce’s “The Dead” and Leo Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” come straight to mind--that are so perfectly written, and so profoundly speak to some place in my soul, that I never forget them, and never tire of rereading them. Upon finishing The Complete Stories of Truman Capote, I’ve added another to the list: “A Christmas Memory,” a gorgeously bittersweet tale of a young boy and his beloved aunt, both misfits in the outside world who fit p...more
Adam
Having read and loved “Other Voices Other Rooms,” I was interested in checking out more by Capote. I didn’t know he was a short story writer until I came across this anthology in a ridiculous consignment used book store in Vermont, organized by seller!

Capote’s earliest stories felt surprisingly amateur. Some of them dating back to the 40’s, they read a bit cheesy in a dated way. A few reminded me of Bradbury stories, though less fantastical. Some, like “Jug of Silver,” painted scenes of small-t...more
Natalie
Feb 09, 2008 Natalie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: elizabeth, malena, maura
Truman Capote's writing is perfect. Not the least bit pretentious. He brings out the disappointments people and situations can bring, but he does so with such a quick and clever wit that you don't feel awful after reading. I would have been one of his fag hags.
Josh Black
Monroeville, AL has this mural with a big mockingbird on it that says, "The Home of Harper Lee". Where's the mural for Truman Capote?
Jen
I liked some stories better than others, naturally. Some were too bleak and/or Southern gothic for me. The ones I gravitated towards were more touching or humorous (sometimes darkly), and they developed characters that were quirky and somehow innocent ("Jug of Silver," "Children on Their Birthdays," "Preacher's Legend," "A Diamond Guitar"). I think what I disliked in some of the others was not only the bleak outlook or lack of resolution, but also the harsh and pessimistic development of the cha...more
Christopher Conlon
What is it about Truman Capote? Despite the fact that he was unquestionably a minor writer, with an uncommonly thin portfolio of published work considering his forty-year career, he remains a figure of fascination. There have been books about him, movies, a Broadway play—and most of his own writing is still in print, still celebrated nearly thirty years after his death. And, even if I’m not always sure quite why, I’ve loved his work above that of virtually any other American writer for more than...more
Ruth
297 pages. Donated 2010 May.

Most readers know Truman Capote as the author of Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood; or they remember his notorious social life and wild and witty public appearances. But he was also the author of superb short tales that were as elegant as they were heartfelt, as grotesque as they were compassionate. Now, on the occasion of what would have been his eightieth birthday, Random House presents the first collection that includes all of Capote's short fiction - a volu...more
Andrew
Capote is best known for his genre-breaking non-fiction/faction book 'In Cold Blood',& the novella that gave the world Holly Golightly,immortalised though transformed,by Audrey Hepburn in the film 'Breakfast At Tiffany's'. His short stories,however,are somewhat overlooked;they deserve both a readership & admiration, being some of the finest short stories written by 20th century Americans.The stories in ths collection illustrate Capote's brilliance at evoking childhood memory & adult...more
Kathy
Ok so when I first read a Truman Capote story it was my first year of college in 1989 and it was that "Christmas Memory" story and after we read that story as a class, we then wrote a paper detailing some memory/experience. That story triggered me writing about finding and reading my dad's letters that he had written home while he was in Vietnam, which was a very rewarding experience for me so I was excited to read this collection of his other stories. When I read the first story (written in 194...more
Joel Simon
Truman Capote"s short stories are thoroughly enjoyable. This is the first time I have ever read the entire set of any author's short stories. It gave me a real appreciation of how an author becomes better as he/she gets more experienced. Of course the great thing about a collection of short stories is that you can dip into it for as long or as short a time as you like without feeling like you have lost track of the plot. And when there's not a bad story in the bunch, you enjoy it every time you...more
Tracey
I couldn't remember having read anything by Capote, except perhaps a short story in English class. The recent movie (which I haven't yet seen) helped me decide to try out this collection.

I enjoyed nearly every story, even the more depressing ones. Several were definitely in the Southern Gothic tradition - "Miriam" with the spooky little girl who invades the life of a spinster, and "A Tree of Night", where a young woman returning home from a funeral is accosted on a train. Other stories had more...more
Andrew
this review first appeared on [http://intraspace.blogspot.com]

you may not know this - i hadn't clicked - but truman capote wrote 'breakfast at tiffany's', which was turned into a classic film starring audrey hepburn. a classic film which, while i'm mentioning it, you should watch. all this, by the way, really doesn't have anything to do with this review, except as a piece of trivia about truman capote.

reading short stories is probably a good way of getting a taste of an author. from a literary s...more
Michelle
I really wanted to love this because all of the stories are very well written, but they were also so disturbing that I struggled to get through them. Capote captures, quite beautifully at times, the sadness of humanity. In each story, there was usually an element of redemption - some character that acts out of pure love or someone showing true compassion - but there was so much more that was troubling. His word-choice is descriptive and so unexpected that it is no wonder he remains among the bes...more
Ellen
Sooo good. Some of the stories that the book (or at least, my edition of it) starts off with are... eh... but they get heaps better. Most of the stories are pretty abstract, and you don't really know what the hell the whole "point" of the story is but they're (to me, at least) stories simply in that they tell a story. Maybe there were hidden meanings or big metaphors I was missing but even if there were, and even if I missed them, the stories were still fun to read by themselves. His characters...more
Ash Brizard


This book is truly fascinating in the sense that all of his short stories were collected in chronological order - watch what developed as technique and what themes became prominent later in his life is really. Interesting. Truman Capote's writing is, to my mind, wonderful. His earlier stories left me confused and wondering at the endings, but days later I would understand what he was saying. Part of the appeal of his stories is the abruptness, the sharpness of every ation, and the reality that...more
Katie
These stories were really hit and miss for me... I liked the ones best where they were actually about him and his childhood. Some of the other fiction ones just seemed kind of rambling, although I did find some interesting. He is twisted in a way that I like (sometimes). A lot of these stories would just go along and go along, and then boom - something completely twisted or disturbing would happen in the last paragraph. I appreciated that even though it could leave me feeling creepy.
Bistra Ivanova
По принцип не си падам много по разкази, но за тези бях чувала голями хвалебствия, така че се престраших. Прочетох първите десетина (~150 страници) и сред тях имаше само 2-3 нелоши... Ех, този провинциален Юг, ех тези гейове, Капоти, май никога няма да ми се харесаш!
Remy
I've read most of these before, but it's nice to read them all together, and in chronological arrangement. I loved the way this book printed the year of each story before it; I wish more collections would do this. Some of the earlier works didn't live up to my memories. "Miriam" and "A Tree of Night" weren't half as sharp and creepy as I'd previously thought. In general, with some exceptions, I didn't really dig the stories themselves. But his writing is a dream. Wonderful. My favorite was "Mast...more
Karen
haunting. many of these stories are whimsical, with a sense of foreboding that makes them incredibly beautiful and sad at the same time. the characters are often interesting in a creepy way: one of his favourite types seems to be young girls aged beyond their physical years, sometimes indecently knowing. other than this, of the works of Truman Capote i've only ever read Breakfast At Tiffany's, which is beautiful.
Fabrizio Valenza
Imparare a scrivere da Truman Capote vuol dire sviluppare la capacità di fotografare sentimenti e ricordi.
In questo l'autore ci riesce benissimo, regalando parte della sua vita e dei suoi ricordi d'infanzia - sempre pervasi di nostalgia, sogno e malinconia, oltre che di dolcezza - a ogni lettore che voglia accostarvisi alla ricerca della bellezza.
Lo consiglio a tutti, anche se un paio di racconti possono risultare pesanti.
Rory
He is a master story teller but his real strength still seems to be his true crime works. The one thing that held me up with this book was how long it has taken to read--each story needs to truly sink in before I could move on through to the next one which held up my book reading project. But it is very much worth the effort
Jackson Burnett
Truman Capote was one of the great American writers of the 20th Century. It's a shame he didn't better utilize his talent.

This is a fine collection of Capote's short stories. Most have a glossy magazine feel to them, but they are well-crafted and interesting to read. The holiday stories are masterpieces.
Hannah
I'm touched by Capote's writing style... he weaves his words and builds sentiment, rather than just tells a story. Not much may happen within the plot of his stories, but characters become real and their lives are touchable. My favorite so far is Children on Their Birthdays. The conclusion to that story choked me with its satirical finale.. I mean, I hope its satire! shocking and peculiar, to say the least. Mojave also hit home, as it takes place where I grew up, but during its heyday, and it ex...more
Maquoketa Public Library
I thought that the beginning stories were too much like Flannery O'conner (who I like but not when I am wanting to read Truman Capote). As I kept reading the book I found that the later stories were trademark Capote and I loved them! Very southern grotesuque.
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Complete Stories of Truman Capote 1 21 Mar 23, 2009 12:20pm  
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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...more
More about Truman Capote...
In Cold Blood Breakfast at Tiffany's Other Voices, Other Rooms A Christmas Memory Music for Chameleons

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“He’d always been willing to confess his faults, for, by admitting them, it was as if he made them no longer exist.” 21 people liked it
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