BBC Radio 4, 9-13 December 2013
Read by Kerry Shale, this Book
at Bedtime series comprised three stories - "A Christmas Memory," "The Thanksgiving Visitor," and "One Christmas." Based
largely on Capote's early life, the stories focused on the cultural clash of values taking place during festive times, especially
involving characters from different parts of the United States. The stories had particular virtues - most notably a
sharpness of observation and a sympathy for characters obviously ill-at-ease in difficult situations - characteristic of Capote's
work as a whole.
Capote himself considered "A Christmas Memory" one of his best works of fiction, as he enters the mind of a seven-year-old
boy Buddy, preparing for the festive season with his elderly companion Miss Sook. "The Thanksgiving" continues the story
by having Miss Sook inviting Buddy's worst enemy to the celebration dinner. In "One Christmas" a reluctant Buddy
is invited to New Orleans to spend Christmas with his estranged father, an experience that could most charitably described
as unbearable.
Kerry Shale is one of our best readers of prose. His readings of the Capote works were both sympathetic
yet gently humorous.
