Customer Reviews

A House on the Heights

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I rated this one four stars because I can't help compare it to my two personal favourites, 'Music For Chameleons' and 'In Cold Blood.'
Nonetheless, this book has all the beautiful Capote observations in it as well. Whenever Capote describes something or someone I am completely amazed. The visuals he brings forth in the readers mind are like no other. This one's a quick read. I was a lil' angry it was short because I wanted more beautiful sentences.

Yes, it is a tiny book. Even though I read the review here that mentions that, when it arrived this week I was surprised. It is something he wrote for a magazine way back when. The Brooklyn he wrote about has changed, yet again. Did any of us think we would live to see Brooklyn become so expensive you couldn't afford to live there! It has happened, my friends. This book is a history of the borough and the area. NYC changes like the fall leaves. It grows and grows and changes and changes. He captured the Brooklyn of his time so elloquently you feel as if he lived 100 years ago. I am going to give this book to all my friends for the December holidays. It will fit nicely in a Christmas stocking. Truman Capote's books, now more than ever, are a must read. Other than Dominick Dunne, who do we have that writes so well and transports us to these exotic places with exotic people we would never have an opportunity to meet? You will put this book in a special place so everyone can see it. I already have.

Short, descriptive, life in Brooklyn Heights as seen through Capote's keenest of powers of observation. A lot of space between the lines invites reading between the lines . . . . Plimpton's intro is as Fun as the little book.

I'll post a more extensive review later, when I've had time to do more than scan the book. But I want to warn buyers that it's a very slim, undersized book of only 43 pages, with lots of space between the lines. If Capote was paid by the word for this article-turned-book, he didn't make much.<g>

Only reason I'm docking it a star is the typically tiresome bloviations of gadabout dilettante Georgie in the introduction. The presence of Georgie between the same covers as Truman might have some value for bulmics, but to me it's just repulsive. Beloved Truman wrote all too little, and Georgie keeps typing, typing, typing! When will it all end?