"An abundance of riches. . . . It is not hard at all to open to any page . . . and be amused, moved, intrigued." –Newsday
"To best experience Capote the stylist, one must go back to his short fiction. . . . One experiences as strongly as ever his gift for concrete abstraction and his spectacular observancy."
–The New Yorker "It is a stunning experience to reread this fiction . . . and to realize how very golden this boy was. . . . We are in the presence of a tremendous talent, and a fully mature technique as well. Norman Mailer's judgment that Capote was the most perfect writer of their generation–'he writes the best sentences word for word, rhythm upon rhythm'–seems true and just."
–The New Criterion "Capote does some things perfectly than many writers can't do at all. . . . He summons the sensory world in its bewildering, inexhaustible richness."
–Los Angeles Times Book Review