"Summer Crossing" by Truman Capote

Ever since I read The Swans of Fifth Avenue, which tells the story of Capote's rise and fall in the high society of New York, I've been interested in reading some of his work. Summer Crossing has an interesting background. It was never published during Capote's lifetime. In fact, a box with the notebooks containing the manuscript was discarded after his death and then later resurfaced and was purchased by the New York Public Library at one of the auctions. It is not clear to me what Capote thought of this work. The fact that he never submitted it for publishing tells me that he was either still working on it, or did not quite like it and decided to set it aside. Nevertheless, Summer Crossing is in print now and I am very glad I read it.

Capote's writing is beautiful. He is a true master of metaphor and his characters are very well fleshed out. In fact, his writing is so good that after I finished Summer Crossing and picked up something else, I was immediately struck by how jarring the language was in this other book. Even though in some places the narrative seems to jump around a bit, it did not take anything away from the story. I cannot even imagine what his polished work would look like.

Summer Crossing is a coming of age story. It is also a book about beautiful dreams and bitter disappointments. Our main character Grady is the daughter of a New York financier who talks her parents into leaving her in New York for the summer while they sail to Europe. What her parents do not know is that Grady is having a secret affair with a parking lot attendant from Brooklyn. This book gave me the same feel as Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby. Summer Crossing is about crossing social lines, crossing from childish dreams into the reality of adulthood, crossing from friendship to love and from hope to disappointment. As you see, I really like the title of the book. I think it reflects the multiple facets of the story with surgical precision.

Overall, I really enjoyed the writing and the story. Now that I read Capote's unfinished work, I cannot wait to read his famous writings. What a gem! I highly recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars for me.