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Other Voices, Other Rooms

truman capote

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Published when Truman Capote was only twenty-three years old, Other Voices, Other Rooms is a literary touchstone of the mid-twentieth century. In this semiautobiographical coming-of-age novel, thirteen-year-old Joel Knox, after losing his mother, is sent from New Orleans to live with the father who abandoned him at birth. But when Joel arrives at Skully’s Landing, the decaying mansion in rural Alabama, his father is nowhere to be found. Instead, Joel meets his morose stepmother, Amy, eccentric cousin Randolph, and a defiant little girl named Idabel, who soon offers Joel the love and approval he seeks.

Fueled by a world-weariness that belied Capote’s tender age, this novel tempers its themes of waylaid hopes and lost innocence with an appreciation for small pleasures and the colorful language of its time and place.

This new edition, featuring an enlightening Introduction by John Berendt, offers readers a fresh look at Capote’s emerging brilliance as a writer of protean power and effortless grace.


From the Hardcover edition.

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1948

This edition

Format
232 pages, Paperback
Published
February 1, 1994 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
ISBN
9780679745648
ASIN
0679745645
Language
English

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About the author

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truman capote

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Truman Capote was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognised literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a "non-fiction novel." At least 20 films and TV dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.

He was born as Truman Streckfus Persons to a salesman Archulus Persons and young Lillie Mae. His parents divorced when he was four and he went to live with his mother's relatives in Monroeville, Alabama. He was a lonely child who learned to read and write by himself before entering school. In 1933, he moved to New York City to live with his mother and her new husband, Joseph Capote, a Cuban-born businessman. Mr. Capote adopted Truman, legally changing his last name to Capote and enrolling him in private school. After graduating from high school in 1942, Truman Capote began his regular job as a copy boy at The New Yorker. During this time, he also began his career as a writer, publishing many short stories which introduced him into a circle of literary critics. His first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, published in 1948, stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks and became controversial because of the photograph of Capote used to promote the novel, posing seductively and gazing into the camera.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Capote remained prolific producing both fiction and non-fiction. His masterpiece, In Cold Blood, a story about the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, was published in 1966 in book form by Random House, became a worldwide success and brought Capote much praise from the literary community. After this success he published rarely and suffered from alcohol addiction. He died in 1984 at age 59.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 99 votes)
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99 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
ILMFP
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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De Truman Capote li um livro excepcional,"A Sangue Frio" e depois disso ainda nada li que me entusiasmasse ao mesmo nível.
Este é o seu primeiro livro, tinha apenas 23 anos quando o escreveu e há algo de autobiográfico nele.
É um livro interessante, mas cheio de "malabarismos literários", um pouco à imagem que o autor veio depois a construir sobre a sua vida.
Eu chamar-lhe-ia um livro com muita coisa de barroco, pelo estilo demasiado evidente com que ele descreve imagens e situações e que nem sempre resulta.
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irrationalhuman
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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62-oji XX a. Aukso fondo knyga. Mistinis romanas, kuris pagal kritikus, turėtų žavėti. Deja man tokia mistika per daug primityvi ir amerikietiška. Chaotiški veikėjai, chaotiškas siužetas, chaotiškas ir paviršutiniškas pasakojimas.
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_ryuk-
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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"Other Voices Other Rooms" is at times massively confusing, intensely beautiful, and mystical. Often, all at the same time. Capote's command and use of language and style is unquestionably brilliant, and many times the text reads like poetry. Capote is simply a masterful composer of language. Every word in its rightful place.
Capote also has the gift that many writers lack and that is a descriptive prowess that completely surrounds the reader and engulfs them in the world of the text. The first time that Idabel describes the history of the Cloud Hotel to Joel the reader finds themselves seeing this world materialize in front of their eyes. To be so completely lost in a work speaks highly of the writer's abilities!
Another great strength of this text is how accurately it displays how a child left to his own devices has to create and interpret the world around him. Joel is left to figure out the world for himself, and considering his age and limited experience he does a decent job of it. Joel's interpretations of the world are oftentimes not concrete, or even accurate, and this is where the adult reader will find themselves at moments confused. Reread, it will be worth it.
The main theme of this novel is love and acceptance, and how we all pine for it from our earliest memories. Every character longs for it in some form. The successful ones find it first in themselves. The recognition of that is the greatest achievement in this text, and the scariest.
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CruelDelta
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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my favorite quotes:

"...all his prayers of the past had been simple concrete requests: God, give me a bicycle, a knife with seven blades, a box of oil paints. Only how, how, could you say something so indefinite, so meaningless as this: God, let me be loved."

"...so few of us learn that love is tenderness, and tenderness is not, as a fair proportion suspect, pity; and still fewer know that happiness in love is not the absolute focusing of all emotion in another: one has always to love a good many things which the beloved must come to symbolize; the true beloveds of this world are in their lover's eyes lilac opening, school bells, a landscape, remembered conversations, friends, a child's Sunday, lost voices, one's favorite suit, autumn and all it's seasons, memory, yes, it being the earth and water of existence, memory."

"the brain may take advice, but not the heart, and love, having no geography, knows no boundaries: weight and sink it deep, no matter, it will rise and find the surface: and why not? any love is natural and beautiful that lies within a person's nature; only hypocrites would hold a man responsible for what he loves, emotional illiterates and those of righteous envy, who, in their agitated concern, mistake so frequently the arrow pointing to heaven for the one that leads to hell."

"What we want most is to be held...and told..that everything (everything is a funny thing, is baby milk and papa's eyes, is roaring logs on a cold morning, is hoot owls and the boy who makes you cry after school, is mama's long hair, is being afraid and twisted faces on the bedroom wall)...is going to be alright."

loved this book. LOOOOVED it.




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MokkeKat
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Other Voices, Other Rooms is a coming-of-age novel but I felt there was no real plot or point; I struggled to understand what was happening for half the novel. I’d finally feel I got to grips with it and understood what was happening, only to turn the page and feel lost all over again. I feel like this novel was meant to be a profound piece of literature but it felt a bit like Capote tried too hard, tried to be too poetic and mysterious and totally lost me, as a reader, along the way.

My favourite parts of this novel were Joel Knox’s interactions with Idabel, mainly because Idabel was such an interesting character – in a world were ladies are supposed to be ‘proper’, she was a tomboy that wanted to run free.

Now this is where real life gets more interesting than fiction; after finishing this novel, I was thoroughly confused so I decided to read the Introduction, written by John Berendt, hoping it’d shed some light on the novel. I found out that Capote and Harper Lee, the very Harper Lee who wrote ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’, were childhood friends. Capote based the character of Idabel on Harper Lee [which probably explains why I liked her character], in return she based one of her characters in ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ on him.

Throughout this read, I took a particular disliking to Joel’s stepmother, Miss Amy, mainly because she said things like:

“Just a hotbed of crazy nigger-notions, that girl.”

“Her mouth worked in a furious way. ‘Niggers! Angela Lee warned me time again, said never trust a nigger: their minds and hair are full of kinks in equal measure.’”

I just didn’t care for the language; this novel was first published in 1948 so I completely understand language is used in this text that wouldn’t necessary be used today but Miss Amy was just so vulgar in her speech at times, always thinking she’s better than everybody else. As I read the Introduction, it turned out Miss Amy was based on one of Capote’s relatives.

The plot thickens…. Capote always denied this book was somewhat autobiographical, despite himself sharing so many similarities with Joel, for example, they were both born in New Orleans and longed for their fathers, they were both sent South to live with relatives, both took their mother’s surnames. Later Capote said he was not aware, except for a few descriptions, that he had made the book so autobiographical.

Berendt in the Introduction, also mentions that for Capote’s career his real life would go on to interest people more than his written works. So, while this book didn’t hold my interest because I wasn’t sure what was happening half the time, I certainly found its comparison to Capote’s real life interesting.
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Yato-Yaboku
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Truman Capote's "Other Voices, Other Rooms" is a beautiful, creative, delectable novel. In short, it is like a magnificent and diverse banquet that overwhelms all your senses. This is the book, his first book at the age of 24, that immediately shot him to literary and international fame.

It is lyrical, enchanting, spiritual, haunting, and at times it hinges on the supernatural. The writing at times is so effortless that it reminded me of Byron (a super high compliment), at other times so painstaking and thoughtful and descriptive that it reminded me of Conrad (another super high compliment). The dialogue, the story, and the location reminded me of Faulkner (still another super high compliment) and finally the creative and imaginary vision reminded me of Twain (another super high compliment). But, have no doubt, in the end it is one hundred per cent Capote.

The characters are unforgettable, even characters seen only in a photo are bestowed with a richness and distinction that makes them unforgettable. The struggle of young Joel and his ability to survive under the strangest of circumstances while living in a house without electricity and running water and a with cast of individuals that are both eerie and unpredictable, yet, fascinating is engrossing and gripping.

This is the work of pure genius. This is the book that you hand to an aspiring writer and simply remark, "If you ever want to know what great writing is, just read this book. Don't try to imitate the style because that would be futile and stupid but try to set your standards as a writer at the level of this book and the dedication to detail and character development that is required to be a great writer.
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NewCountry13
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Suggested by Greg as pure southern Gothic, and good to read before rereading Carson McCullers
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Amewolfgang
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Why is it that when I find a book worthy of five stars I'm at a loss for words, and can't write anything sensible about it? Well, let's just say that I fell head over heels with Capote after this one. One hundred percent more skill than his friend Harper Lee. The way Capote uses words is simple yet it creates a strong sense of place. The lack of plot doesn't really matter for me personally, because there's everything I could ever need from a Southern Gothic novel. Eccentric characters, ambiguous sexuality, abandoned houses, weird stories told by even weirder people, suffocating sense of alienation, dream-like sequences and overall cigarette and brandy fumed melancholia.
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