Other Voices Other Rooms by Truman Capote

Summary:

After the death of his mother, thirteen-year-old Joel Knox is summoned to live with a father he has never met in a vast decaying mansion in rural Alabama, its baroque splendour now faded and tarnished. But when he arrives, his father is nowhere to be seen and Joel is greeted by his prim, sullen new step-mother Miss Amy and his debauched cousin Randolph - living like spirits in the fragile decadence of a house full of secrets.

About the Author:

Truman Capote (1924-1984) grew up in various places in the South of the United States. Other Voices Other Rooms was his first novel, published in 1948 to critical acclaim. His other works include Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood. He was childhood friends with the writer Harper Lee. 

Rating:

4 stars - ★★★★☆

Review:

Other Voices Other Rooms was nothing like what I expected. I was imagining something quite serious and self-reflective, maybe a bit too self-aware. But it was instead like a book-long fever dream filled with the most beautiful descriptions, unique characters and the chaotic thought process of a 13 year old boy. I thought that I was going to struggle reading it but I really enjoyed the read once I got into the style of writing. 

Other Voices Other Rooms launches you into the story straight away. It’s one of those where, right from the start, you’re waiting with baited breath for something to happen. You know there’s some kind of surprise around the corner - but what will it be?

This is a book that I would consider lacking in a traditional story arc and it’s more about that vibes. There is a story and a few sub-plots too, but there’s not a huge finale with everything coming to a neat conclusion. More like, everyone tried something different but everything stayed the same in the end. The conclusion was deliberately left open and you end up with more questions rather than less. It’s like a snapshot of their lives. Because what story actually ends when the book ends. Life isn’t really like that so why do we expect that of all stories.

I was a little confused in the last part where Joel is ill, it wasn’t entirely clear to begin with that that was what was happening. But once I cottoned on, I was surprised that Other Voices Other Rooms managed to become even more hallucinatory than it already was!

The writing was stunning. Every sentence was bursting with feelings and colours and sounds. My favourite place was the Cloud Hotel. I almost feel like it’s a place I’ve seen before in a dream. I once had a dream that I was restoring an old hotel and my memory of it seems very similar to the Cloud Hotel. It was the perfect balance of eerie and nostalgic. 

Each and every character was memorable, although maybe a little surface level and reduced to their physical attributes, but with it being from a child’s point of view, that may be quite accurate.  I mean, if someone was kind but had a hairy wart on their chin - what will the child remember?

I loved seeing Idabel’s character. This was the whole reason that I read Other Voices Other Rooms in the first place as Idabel is based on Harper Lee who was a childhood friend of Truman Capote. There were so many similarities between Idabel and Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird. Lee was apparently quite self aware. I found less similarities between Joel and Dill who are both based on Capote however I felt that Capote was more critical of his childhood self in Other Voices Other Rooms, whereas Lee saw the nicer parts of him.

I would struggle to pick a favourite and least favourite character as they were all memorable and perfectly flawed. However Zoo really stands out as someone who I genuinely felt sorry for, she had a real rough time of it and I hope that she finds peace eventually. 

You do get the feeling that Capote was working through some things in this book. He seemed to have had quite an unsettled childhood, and he was maybe giving his childhood self the chance to live out some fantasies, such as running away. 

The environment matched To Kill A Mockingbird incredibly well, both these books clearly exist in the same universe. However Other Voices Other Rooms is more haunting and romantic. I think this is the perfect example of Southern Gothic literature from the descriptions to the society. 

I have immediately added more Truman Capote books to my list. I won’t be so scared of reading his work now. I would highly recommend Other Voices Other Rooms if you’re into beautiful descriptions and don’t mind feeling like you’re in someone’s crazy dream! 

New Words:

Peregrination: A journey, especially a long or meandering one

Quotes:

Idabel might be splashing through a field of grass, running with Henry at her heels.

Youth is hardly human: it can’t be, for the young never believe they will die… especially would they never believe that death comes, and often, in forms other than the natural one.

Late afternoon when I woke up rain was at the window and on the roof: a kind of silence, if I may say, was walking through the house, and, like most silence, it was not silent at all: it rapped on the doors, echoed in the clocks, creaked on the stairs, leaned forward to peer into my face and explode. Below a radio talked and sang, yet I knew no one heard it.