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The Grass Harp
The Grass Harp
The Grass Harp
Audiobook10 hours

The Grass Harp

Written by Truman Capote

Narrated by Cody Roberts

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

Set on the outskirts of a small Southern town, The Grass Harp tells the story of three endearing misfits-an orphaned boy and two whimsical old ladies-who one day take up residence in a tree house. As they pass sweet yet hazardous hours in a china tree, The Grass Harp manages to convey all the pleasures and responsibilities of freedom. But most of all it teaches us about the sacredness of love, “that love is a chain of love, as nature is a chain of life.”

This volume also includes Capote's A Tree of Night and Other Stories, which the Washington Post called “unobtrusively beautiful . . . a superlative book.”
LanguageEnglish
Release dateAug 14, 2018
ISBN9781977386649
The Grass Harp
Author

Truman Capote

Truman Capote (1924-1984) es uno de los mejores escritores norteamericanos del siglo XX. Anagrama le ha dedicado una Biblioteca Truman Capote: Otras voces, otros ámbitos, Un árbol de noche, Desayuno en Tiffany’s, A sangre fría, Música para camaleones, Plegarias atendidas, El arpa de hierba, Retratos, Tres cuentos, Los perros ladran, Cuentos completos y Crucero de verano.

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Reviews for The Grass Harp

Rating: 4.0761421319796955 out of 5 stars
4/5

197 ratings13 reviews

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I liked the grass harp,but found all the rest of the stories depressing and with abrupt endings that signified nothing.Of course,all stories were extremely well written,with intriguing beginnings..beautiful phrasing and metaphor,but none the less,I did not enjoy anything but the Grass Harp.Read it and skip the rest
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a semi-autobiographical story by Truman Capote. His writing is, as always, superb.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    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.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    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.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    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.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Weird and weirder: Capote's early stories delve into small town America. The Grass Harp was published in 1951, but the other stories included in this edition are from the late 1940's. Strange characters, oddball events was it really like this? Is it still like this in America? or is this more typical of Capote, there is no hint of modernity these stories could have taken place 40 years earlier. Anachronistic perhaps because of the character profiles that Capote presents to his readers. Elderly ladies, young girls, pre teens people the stories, dysfunctional characters who rarely lift their heads from their own private worlds, but when they are forced to do so they present a challenge that must be snuffed out. The Americans in these small town stories seem to live with a certain amount of oddball behaviour: it is part of the fabric of their lives, but when weird gets weirder people get hurt.The Grass Harp is of novella length taking up nearly half of this publication and is the best and most developed of this collection. It is narrated by Colin a young teenager small for his age a runt who when his mother dies is sent away to live with the Talbo sisters, who are well into their sixties. Verena is a business woman and runs the household; Dolly wears a veil outside the house; she ventures out once a week with her friend/servant/companion Catherine Creek a coloured woman. They collect herbs, bark and grasses to make a potion that they sell as a cure for dropsy, strictly by mail order. Dolly and Catherine live apart from Verena in their own part of the house and Colin becomes their new friend confessing that he is in love with Dolly. The event which fractures this strange household is when Verena seeing a business opportunity attempts to take over the selling of the Dropsy cure. Dolly, Catherine and Colin run away to an abandoned tree house in the woods, where they make their last stand against the forces of law and order. A young roustabout Riley Henderson and a 70 year old judge join the unlikely trio as they defend themselves against the extreme redneckery of the sheriff and his posse. There is hardly room enough in the old tree house.Capote treats his oddball characters with sympathy in most of his stories, they are tolerated by their community and it is only when their actions challenge others that they run into problems. His characters are not quite in the same realm as Todd Brownings film "Freaks" (1932) but some come pretty close for example in Tree of Night a young woman meets a couple on a train and the man appears to be suffering from some sort of somnambulism. The woman reveals they have a stage act entitled Lazarus where the man is buried alive. Miriam is another typical story a precocious young teen haunts the flat of a lonely 60 year old woman, taking over her life.In another story Miss Bobbit is a precocious ten year old who moves into a small town and dominated the local people. What sets these stories apart from other weird tales collections that were popular in the 1950's is the quality of the writing and Capote's affinity with his characters. Although the Grass Harp stands head and shoulders above some of the other shorter stories Capote does not fail to provide an atmosphere of strangeness in nearly all of them. Some readers may be offended by Capote's references to black people, but one has to remember that these tales were set in 1950's small town America. Not an essential collection but worth it for the Grass Harp and so 3.5 stars.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I was in a play based on The Grass Harp -- actually, a musical--in 1980. One of my very few acting experiences. I think it was at Theatre for the Open Eye. I enjoyed it very much. I think I played Burma-Shave. I was surprised Capote could be so sweet.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Capote's early work, before the booze, drugs and despair ruined him. These are finely-written stories, full of Southern Gothic misfits and grotesques. The language is beautiful, the subject matter, especially in hindsight, quite heartbreaking. In a world full of outcasts and marginalized dreamers, one senses how the author himself felt alienated and out of place.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    One of Capote's early works, this novella is in the Southern gothic tradition nad is highly autobiographical. CApote was such a great writer. It's a shame that he let his talent fritter away as he got older & decided to live the life of a celebrity instead of a serious artist.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Book Group. An autobiorgraphical novel filled with wonderful and imaginative Southern characters. Running away to live in a tree house with a wonderful supporting cast, this novel is an endearing read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Engaging, eccentric little tale.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Capote's early works are among the most tender and exquisite in American literature. Pathos, love, and all the eccentricity many readers have come to expect in classic Southern female characters.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is probably my favorite short story collection of all the ones I've read. The characters are believable, engaging, and draw you into their stories. At the same time, while Capote's style is consistent throughout, the subjects, themes, and plots are so different as to keep you engaged and fully involved with the book even if you read it cover to cover. It is Capote, so it is not fast reading, but the writing, characters, and stories are beautiful and well worth the time it takes for a good reading.