Capote in Kansas: A Ghost Story by Kim Powers
Release date: 2007 / 251 pages
First line: “She back. She’s after me.”
Synopsis (from back cover): They were children — she, a tomboy in overalls; he, a summer visitor from New Orleans, always dressed in immaculate white linen. Twenty-five years later, he had exchanged the white linen for a velvet suit and a poison pen, and had taken New York’s literary world by storm while she struggled to put pen to paper and sweat out the story of her childhood. He was Truman Capote; she was Harper Lee.
Review: When Capote in Kansas arrived, I was filled with apprehension. I had been asked to review it for TLC Book Tours and after spending many years teaching To Kill A Mockingbird to 9th graders — the vast majority of whom became just as enamoured with Lee’s classic as one would hope – I worried a bit about Powers appropriating Lee’s voice and persona, especially since she is such a well-known recluse.
As a teacher, I have always struggled when asked to provide biographical information about an author — who am I to turn a complex, frequently tortured life, into a single page of notes, placed neatly on the overhead? Inhabiting another life in the name of fiction — at a time when we are forced to wonder whether a ”memoir” is less truth than fable and have begun to blur the lines ourselves – made me a bit uncomfortable.
I knew I would be tempted to believe that Powers speaks for Lee and Capote – after all, a truly great writer makes us believe in his characters, figuratively bringing them to life for their readers.
My other concern was that I had not read Capote’s In Cold Blood and really only knew him through the character of Dill and other, more amorphous associations.
So, I approached the book in a matter-of-fact manner and decided to do a bit of research by watching Capote, which I had been meaning to rent for quite some time. The film provided excellent background and context for Powers’ novel and I recommend you rent it, if only for the acting, before reading Capote in Kansas.
But, as my due date quickly approached, it was time to actually read the novel, so I embarked on a plan to read 50 pages a day, for a week. Well, that plan was discarded after the first few pages.
Powers’ writing is gripping, compelling and nearly impossible to put down. He creates believable personas from documented facts from both Lee and Capote’s lives — separately and as friends.
His deft use of 3rd person omniscient — which inhabits not only the psyches of Lee and Capote, but of Myrtle, Capote’s beloved maid, and Danny, his lover. This perspective allows us access to the private (Lee) and haunted (Lee and Capote) lives of two talented writers who could not escape one another.
When the story opens, Lee (“Nelle”) has become, by her own admission, a Boo Radley of sorts — hiding out with her protective sister from the fame Mockingbird has garnered. In addition, she is haunted by her inability to write a second novel, despite her belief that writing can irradicate evil — she even has another important story to tell — and by her grief over her brother, long dead. We feel as if we are privileged to witness an adult Scout, left bereft after the deaths of Jem and Atticus, and she reacts somewhat as we might expect.
Truman Capote, on the other hand, is larger than life and Powers’ dry sense of humor inhabits and illuminates the Capote of lore, while somehow revering the very human and very sympathetic aspects of this exceptional, miserable man. Throughout the narrative, Capote is still trying to recover psychologically from mining the tragedies of others in order to fuel his own fame, but is still delightfully quick with the double entendres.
Which is where I must return to my earlier fear. On page 129, Nelle ruminates
“But ever since Truman’s first call, nights ago, a new and different thought had come to her: did The Reverend’s victims want her help with justice? Or would they rather the whole thing, the crimes committed years ago, just vanish, so they could be left in peace, to go on with their lives of anonymity? Is that what the Clutter children, the two grown-up girls who were out of the house that night, would have wanted? Had she and Truman done right by them? Who knows; they never bothered to ask.”
I couldn’t help but notice the irony — isn’t Powers mining the privacy of Capote (who wouldn’t mind, most likely) and of Lee (who most likely would mind very much) in writing this novel? So, while Capote is haunted by using the true lives of others to inspire his fiction, why will Powers not be haunted in a similar fashion? Obviously, and fortunately, Capote and Lee were not murdered — but Harper Lee’s fictionalized “outing” could be seen as an invasion of privacy nevertheless.
But, back to what I truly loved about this novel. In addition to his masterful use of perspective and narrative pacing (just try to put it down…!), Powers’ sense of place is exquisite — from New York City to rural Kansas to South Alabama, we are transported into each setting and realize how fundamental setting is to our identity and psyche.
And, after all, isn’t setting the primary reason we become friends with others in the first place? One can’t help but imagine how different Harper Lee’s life would have been if “Dill” had not been plopped anachronistically into her childhood, inspiring her to pen one of the most beloved novels in American fiction.
Now, if you would like to read a free copy of this novel, simply drop me a comment! I’ll randomly draw a winner this Friday. Not sure if you want a copy or not? Check out the first chapter of Capote in Kansas. And I’ll be sure to pass along my review of Powers’ first work The History of Swimming…
Be sure to check out the other reviews of Capote in Kansas on TLC’s Book Tour!
Wednesday, Oct. 1st: Bookgirl’s Nightstand
Friday, Oct. 3rd: Book Room Reviews
Monday, Oct. 6th: A Guy’s Moleskin Notebook
Wednesday, Oct. 8th: Tripping Toward Lucidity
Friday, Oct. 10th: book-a-rama
Monday, Oct. 13th: Ready When You Are, C.B.
Wednesday, Oct. 15th: Bibliolatry
Friday, Oct. 17th: Books and Movies
Monday, Oct. 20th: Booking Mama
Wednesday, Oct. 22nd: Diary of an Eccentric
Thursday, Oct. 23rd: Maw Books
Friday, Oct. 24th: Book Club Classics
Monday, Oct. 27th: Books and Cooks
Tuesday, Oct. 28th: Devourer of Books
Wednesday, Oct. 29th: Literate Housewife
I *think* I want to read this book. I love To Kill a Mockingbird, but like you am not familiar with Capote’s work. I know of him, of course, but have not read anything by him. What I’ve heard of his work has always turned me away from reading any of it.
I KNOW I want to read this – I’ve been following the blog tour. Thanks for your review – and I like your comment about Powers’ ability to invoke a sense of place. That’s how I really get lost in a book! Thanks for the chance to win a copy.
geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com
I love when a book makes me throw out my “plan” of reading for “only half an hour”, or for “just 50 pages”, or “one more chapter”.
It seems you enjoyed both the book and your movie viewing to prep for it!
Karina and gwendolyn — you are in the running!
Dawn — You are right… My book club book, on the other hand, I barely get through my allotment of 10 pages a day!!
Karina! You won!! Congratulations…
Great review! I enjoyed this book as well. I haven’t read To Kill a Mockingbird or In Cold Blood, but reading Capote in Kansas has made me want to read them. I liked how you didn’t have to be familiar with Capote or Lee to like and understand the book.
How very cool! Now I can read it and find out if I do want to read it.
Perhaps it will make me want to read Capote’s works.
And my 15yo son is currently reading To Kill a Mockingbird for his English class.
Thanks Kristen!
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