These two tender stories have at their core a young boy, Buddy, with only one friend, his elderly cousin, Miss Sook. The relationship they share may be an unusual one, but they complement each other, each fulfilling a need in the other one. In “The Thanksgiving Visitor,” a schoolmate who torments Buddy is invited to Thanksgiving dinner by Miss Sook. An action committed by the guest results in a surprising lesson that changes lives. In “A Christmas Memory,” Miss Sook and Buddy make their traditional fruit cakes, thirty of them, to give to special people. It’s a touching story, written in a lyrical style that differs from much of Capote’s other works. A passage from it was read at Capote’s memorial service, when Joanne Carson quoted Capote as saying that it was his most perfect work. ( )

I hope I get to read more of this new-to-me author.

http://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/the-thanksgiving-visitor-a... ( )

I hope I get to read more of this new-to-me author.

http://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/the-thanksgiving-visitor-a... ( )

I am second to none in my admiration for Truman Capote's major work, In Cold Blood, but it isn't a feel-good read or an uplifting one. This story is both.

It is perfectly constructed. It leads the reader from room to room, place to place, experience to memory, without ever breaking the literary fourth wall. Yes, it's a memory, in French this form would be called a récit; but it's never Narrated By A Future Self. Seldom does a wide-ranging reader come across so perfect an example of a memory told as a story as ordinarily authors use this technique in order to comment on either the nature of or the facts within a memory.

Capote tells his adult readers what happened on one happy day and leaves them to it.

There is always an element of summary in any memory, in any récit (brief, streamlined novelish things that they are); here it is the outgrowth of listening to the man Capote's story instead of Capote Making A Point.

This is a favorite reading experience for me and has stood well the cruel test of time when periodically re-read. If this is your first reading of it, I am glad for you that you have found your way here. I hope to see you in our company again soon. ( )