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#5 Platform - Music for Chameleons
Feb. 17th, 2008 05:37 pmShort stories and conversations with a dash of flair and a trifling of substance.
Book #6: Music for Chameleons
Author: Truman Capote
Provenance: Bought used from Regent
I picked this up some time last year, partly because I never read anything by the guy, and partly because I recalled![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
andreait saying this was one of her favorite books. Capote definitely has a style, and it's on display here in this collection of non-fiction stories and conversations. At least, one assumes it's non-fiction; he says so, at any rate.
He did live a very varied life, so it's easy enough to accept the stories as true; the old woman with the cats in her freezer, being smuggled onto a plane by Pearl Bailey, etc. Some of the stories are definitely better than others, and the showpiece, Handcarved Coffins, was only all right, all around. Most of the "conversational portraits" in the third section of the book, except for the last one, were very well done, and even that one (a conversation with himself) wasn't that bad. The earlier ones didn't get into my head as much, I have to say.
His writing style does draw in the reader, though, and the decision to include himself in the stories probably was a good one; his influence on what's going on is a big key to the reactions of people around him. Not a great book, for me, but a good introduction to Capote, I s'pose.
Next up: You Gotta Have Wa. Because it's getting on towards baseball season.
Book #6: Music for Chameleons
Author: Truman Capote
Provenance: Bought used from Regent
I picked this up some time last year, partly because I never read anything by the guy, and partly because I recalled
andreait saying this was one of her favorite books. Capote definitely has a style, and it's on display here in this collection of non-fiction stories and conversations. At least, one assumes it's non-fiction; he says so, at any rate.He did live a very varied life, so it's easy enough to accept the stories as true; the old woman with the cats in her freezer, being smuggled onto a plane by Pearl Bailey, etc. Some of the stories are definitely better than others, and the showpiece, Handcarved Coffins, was only all right, all around. Most of the "conversational portraits" in the third section of the book, except for the last one, were very well done, and even that one (a conversation with himself) wasn't that bad. The earlier ones didn't get into my head as much, I have to say.
His writing style does draw in the reader, though, and the decision to include himself in the stories probably was a good one; his influence on what's going on is a big key to the reactions of people around him. Not a great book, for me, but a good introduction to Capote, I s'pose.
Next up: You Gotta Have Wa. Because it's getting on towards baseball season.
