"Theeeeeeeeeeeeeere's a Suuuuuuuuuuumer Place,
Where it won't raaaaaaaaaain or snow!!!!!!!!!!!"--
Theme from "A Summer Place"
Herman Raucher's raunched up adolescent crap, both in print and on screen, back in 1971, still makes me sick to my stomach. I was hoping for a lyrically evocative tale of summer romanticism from Truman Capote. Instead, this earlier work, which precedes even "Other Voices, Other Rooms," foreshadows "Breakfast At Tiffany's," "In Cold Blood," and "Answered Prayers." And it is dark, with an ending in the vein of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery!"
Wow! With all that going for it, not to mention the name Truman Capote, this should have been some kind of gem. Instead, it is an interesting bauble in the development of a writer's future--which, if one, like I, is a Capote devotee, will know in detail.
Grady McNeil is a teenage girl from Manhattan's Upper East Side, in 1945!
Darlings, 1945 or not, where else in Manhattan is one going to live! It would be like going to Paris and not living on the Eighth Arrondissement!!!!!!!! She hooks up with a Jewish war veteran from Brooklyn who parks cars, and lives in Brooklyn. Romance escalates to darkness with a climax so startling that---WOW!
Of course, Grady's problem was that she just never learned that you do not mix with those from the Wrong Side Of The Tracks. How could she learn this, when, unlike yours truly, she never had the example of Goat Alley to rely upon?????????? So, Grady gets herself in a situation--somewhat predictable--but her resolution will startle you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How can one not read Truman Capote! But do not expect a lyrical summer romance! It's more like a social class morality tale!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From one who knew the social classes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As do I, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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