Well written story of 15 year old Collin Fenwick, the narrator, and other inhabitants of a small Alabama town in the 1930s. Collin, adopted "aunt" Dolly, Catherine the cook, and other characters take to living in a tree house. Comical and heart-wrenching, My favorite lines, "Big Eddie Stover was legally born a bastard; the other two made the grade on their own" and "I disliked going past it, for Miss Bell's guests, ladies thorny as the blighted rosebushes littering the yard, occupied the porch in a dawn-to-dusk marathon of vigilance." ( )

The Grass Harp: 4-stars

After a failed attempt to listen to The Grass Harp on audio, I purchased this book and began again. I am quite glad that I did, since the beauty of the language minus the fake Southern accent is remarkable. I loved the Truman Capote I heard in my own head, with the softness of the accents of my own Aunts Pearl and Maybelle echoing in the words of Miss Dolly.

The audaciousness of the concept of a boy and two old women living in a tree is lost in the genuine delight of the image Capote paints--the defiance of those who are the weaklings in the eyes of everyone else in this town. Dolly is a marvelous character, but Catherine made me smile almost every time she spoke. I could see her, hands on hips, calling Verena “That One”.

Capote achieves a lot in a short time. With less than 100 pages in which to tell a fairly complicated story, he says exactly what needs to be said and wastes not a word. Quite an accomplishment. He also manages to incorporate a real humor and a poignant sense of loneliness into this brief moment in a bunch of fractured, and perhaps wasted, lives.

I intend to read the other stories in this collection, but not right now. Hoping to come back soon and complete the review. Meanwhile, I have rated this book with only The Grass Harp in mind.


( )

I am not really a fan short stories but I'm a fan of Capote and have read everything else he has written so I decided to read this novella and short story collection too. The unifying theme is broken people. All the stories are about broken people, often set in the south, but sometimes NY. These are mostly true southern gothic stories. Some dark, almost psychological horror, others just tales with woeful mysterious twist. As usual, Capote's writing is poetic, atmospheric, and very evocative of the south. ( )

The Grass Harp is a lovely coming-of-age story about a teenager growing up with two older spinster women. Verena is a businesswoman while her sister Dolly maintains the house with her friend Catherine. Collin comes to live with them when his own parents die. He's particularly friends with Dolly. When she gets into a spat with Verena over the patent medicine she and Catherine make for dropsy, Dolly, Catherine, and Collin decamp to a treehouse at the edge of town.
The writing is wonderful, descriptive, and full of charming Southern characters. I didn't read the short stories included yet though I may get back to them. It's a very enjoyable read. ( )

None of the stories quite rose to the level of "A Christmas Memory," but that story would be hard to top. The titular "Grass Harp" came close, but it struck me as though Capote hadn't quite found his own voice yet. ( )